Full Name:	Helen Waddell
Born:	31 June 1885
Died:	March 1965
Place of Birth:	Toyko
Place of Rest:	Magherally
Claim to Fame:	Famous writer
Link to the Area:	Helen was born in Tokyo where her father, the Reverend Hugh Waddell was a Presbyterian missionary. On returning home, Helen attended Victoria College in Belfast and then Queen’s College (now Queen’s University). After successfully obtaining a BA with first class honours in English followed by a Master’s degree, she later enrolled in Somerville College, Oxford to read for her Doctorate. Her most famous work was 'Peter Abelard', which was published in 1933. Helen lived in Primrose Hill in London where she moved in the highest of literary circles. Her friends included Siegfried Sassoon, Virginia Woolf and George Bernard Shaw. Stanley Baldwin was also a huge fan. She often visited Banbridge and was the guest speaker at Banbridge Academy’s prize day some time in the 1950s. She often came to stay with her sister and brother-in-law, Meg and Reverend J D ‘Clergy’ Martin at Kilmacrew House. It was with the publication of 'The Wandering Scholars' in 1927 that the public first recognised her as a literary sensation. However, it was the awarding of a silver medal by the Royal Society of Literature which sealed her position as one of the most distinguished women of her generation.