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O F Walton Biography & Facts

Amy Catherine Walton (9 August 1849 – 5 July 1939), born Amy Catherine Deck and better known as Mrs O. F. Walton, was an English author of Christian children's books, mainly but not exclusively fictional. She was the daughter of an Anglican priest and married his curate, with whom she spent four years living in Jerusalem. Life Amy was the daughter of John Deck (1815–1882), Vicar of St Stephen's Church, Spring Street, Hull, and Mary Ann Sanderson Gibson (1813–1903), a hymnist. Her writings began with My Mates And I, written in 1870 but not published until 1873. Meanwhile her first published work was My Little Corner in 1872. In 1874 came one of her most famous books, Christie's Old Organ, which has been regularly reprinted up to the present day. It tells of orphaned Christie and his friend, an aged organ-grinder named Treffy. The book was introduced into Japan in 1882 and published there in 1885 in a translation by Tajima Kashi, as one of the earliest books in Japan on the history of Christian and of children's literature. It was translated again in 1903 and 1994. In 1875 Amy married Octavius Frank Walton, who was her father's curate at the time. It was under her husband's name, as Mrs O. F. Walton, that she would become better known. In the year of their marriage they moved to Jerusalem, where Octavius held a ministry in a church on Mount Zion until 1879. Meanwhile her book A Peep Behind The Scenes was published there in 1877. It tells the story of Rosalie, a child who works in a travelling theatre. The Waltons lived at Cally, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland, for a time, while he worked in a chaplaincy for English textile workers there. From 1883 Octavius was in the ministry at the church of St Thomas's, York, moving to St Jude's, Wolverhampton, in 1893 and Leigh, Tonbridge, Kent, in 1906. There his wife became heavily involved in parish work, to the detriment of her writing. They retired in 1918, but soon returned to live in Leigh. Amy Catherine Walton died in Tonbridge on 5 July 1939, of heart failure precipitated by a domestic fall. Still available Although Amy Catherine Walton wrote many books, only A Peep Behind the Scenes and Christie's Old Organ that have remained well known. They continue to be available from the Lutterworth Press, successor to their original publisher, the Religious Tract Society. Works References External links Much of this article derives from an article published by the British Library: Mrs O.F. Walton (1849–1939) Works by Amy Catherine Walton at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Amy Catherine Walton at Internet Archive Works by Amy Catherine Walton at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks) . Discover the O F Walton popular books. Find the top 100 most popular O F Walton books.