James Herriot

Alf Wight ("James Herriot") was born on 3 October 1916 in Sunderland, near Newcastle. However the family moved to Yoker, a suburb of Glasgow, when Alf was three weeks old. He attended Glasgow Veterinary School. He moved to Thirsk, North Yorkshire, in 1940, to work for Donald Sinclair ("Siegfried Farnon") at his practice at 23 Kirkgate. He married Joan Danbury ("Helen Alderson") on 5 November 1941 at St Mary Magdalene church in Thirsk. They had two children, Jim (born 1943) and Rosie (born 1947): Jim is a vet who used to work in the Sinclair/Wight practice and Rosie is a General Practitioner (family doctor). Alf died on 23 February 1995 of prostate cancer at his house, "Mirebeck", in the village of Thirlby near the town of Thirsk that became famous in his books as "Darrowby".