Ian Yearsley

About the Author:

The author of eight books about the history of Essex and six other books (three fiction, three poetry) that draw on Essex for inspiration. History books include 'A History of Southend' (hardback 2001, paperback 2010) and two histories of neighbouring towns ('Rayleigh: A History', 2005 and 'Hadleigh Past', 1998). His first book, 'Islands of Essex, which includes nearby Canvey Island, was published in 1994. Throughout the 1990s, Ian wrote history articles for a number of county magazines, including 'Essex Countryside' (as was) and 'This Month in Essex'. He has an MA in History (with distinction) from the University of Essex (2011) for which he won a prize for his dissertation on population migration in the Rochford Hundred in the late 19th-century. Ian is on the organising committee of an event to mark the 1,000th anniversary of the local Battle of ‘Assandun’ in 2016 (one of my poetry books is an epic poem about the battle, based on historic accounts).