Jeff Cowton MBE steps down from Wordsworth Trust role

Anyone who has ever said ‘I don’t understand poetry, it’s not for me’ or whose knowledge of William Wordsworth never grew past those daffodils should consider Jeff Cowton’s story.

As a schoolboy he hated English and as a student he was more interested in the ‘poetry’ of The Sex Pistols and The Clash. Yet he went on to become an authority on the Lakeland poet and, as principal curator and head of learning at Wordsworth Grasmere, custodian of the world’s biggest collection of the late Poet Laureate’s original manuscripts and rare editions.

Jeff is stepping down in January but thanks to his vision and care, the collection is in safe hands. While this means a change of life for Jeff, it also means a change of home. For more than 40 years he has lived opposite the Wordsworths’ home of Dove Cottage, in Town End, his walk to work from the cottage that came with the job simply a case of crossing the road.

He has been immersed in Wordsworth for all his adult life and, thankfully, his connection will not be cut completely while his spirit will be forever Wordsworthian.

As he says: “When you work at a literary museum you are inspired by the writers every day; you live and breathe their words.”

He adds: “There aren’t many literary ‘ians’; ‘Wordsworthian’ is one of the few. His writing and ideas became almost a belief system – that living with nature brings us closer to our better selves.

Jeff Cowton MBE [Gareth Gardner] “Wordsworth states that he writes his poetry in the hope that it will ‘live and do good’. This is the spirit in which we continue to promote his work.”

Jeff comes from a family of North Yorkshire gamekeepers but his father moved north to work for the Duke of Northumberland, which is how Jeff came to be born in Alnwick. He admits to hating English at school. “At 14 I was at the bottom of the class in English. I didn’t get it all, didn’t understand it. I thought you needed a magic key and I just didn’t have one.”

He studied history at Leeds University and says he was born at the right time as a young man during the punk era. “I spent half my time seeing bands and the other watching football. It was an excess of hedonism and needless to say I came out with a poor degree and not knowing what I wanted to do,” he admits.

The link between Johnny Rotten, Joe Strummer, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge is less unlikely than it might appear, the former pair among the contemporary poets of their day, speaking up for the underdog and railing against art and extravagance.

On graduating, Jeff’s mum, who had suffered from early onset dementia for a long time, deteriorated further and died, at which point he admits he lost purpose. “I was out of work and because of that qualified for a government training scheme. I got a call from a recruitment agency offering me an interview for a job at the ‘Wordsworth Museum’. They might as well have said, ‘have a job at a nuclear physics museum’.

“I went to Newcastle University English department for the interview with Robert Woof [the first director of the Wordsworth Trust] and he asked me: why did William Wordsworth hate the Duke of Northumberland? I simply hadn’t a clue.

Dove Cottage [Gareth Gardner] “It was a hard interview, and initially I was unsuccessful. However, a day later Robert rang and offered me a job if I could start the next day! In a diary entry written at the time I wrote: ‘Read a bloody long boring book about William Wordsworth’.”

Once at Dove Cottage, which was crowded with tourists, Jeff had to learn fast and did so by following other guides. “After lunch on the first day I started doing my own guided tours of Dove Cottage. My legs were like jelly. I had never spoken to people in public before but that first afternoon I did four tours. After a while, I learned that there were only about seven or eight standard questions that people asked so I made sure I knew the answers to those.

“I lived in a shared house opposite Dove Cottage with my fellow workers. We were a motley crew – we’d work together and then go to the pub most evenings. Looking back, it seems a very carefree existence.

“Some girls from Charlotte Mason College, in Ambleside, lived up at Allan Bank on the other side of the village. We lads would go up there for parties, and here I met my future wife, Gill. The highlight of our week was the disco at Tweedies Bar.”

Jeff and Gill have lived in Town End all their married lives, in four different trust properties. They have three sons, the first of whom spent his first year in a room in the shared staff house. All three boys went to Grasmere School.

In the early days, there were far fewer staff than today. As well as guiding, Jeff worked to the librarian, Pete Laver, “a free spirit, and very charismatic personality” who died tragically on a trust-led summer conference walk up Scafell Pike. He was just 36.

Town End, where the Wordsworth and Jeff Cowton lived [Gareth Gardner] At this point, Jeff started to take greater responsibility for the manuscript and book collection.

The collection grew enormously and in 1987 there was a major exhibition in America, William Wordsworth and the Age of English Romanticism. The trust lent 80 of its greatest treasures, including Dorothy Wordsworth’s Grasmere Journal. Jeff spent several years preparing for the exhibition and travelled with the loans to and from America, crossing the Atlantic eight times in all visiting New York, Indiana and Chicago.

“We had sponsorship from British Airways to get there but only for unguaranteed stand-by seats. I had never been on a plane before and had no idea what to do. With only half an hour until take-off, the 80 precious manuscripts were loaded on the plane but I was still at check-in.

“Luckily the more experienced registrar from the V&A was in the same position and said that if we weren't on the plane that she was going to make a phone call to hold up the flight. This worked, and what’s more, we were given seats in first class. The same ‘stand-by’ problem happened on the final leg – this time I ended up travelling in the 747’s cockpit.

“I loved the idea of the registrar’s role, so I developed it for myself at Grasmere and took it upon myself to join the books and manuscripts with the objects into a single catalogue system. It meant you could go onto the computer system to look up anything about Langdale, for example, and you would get the history, the book, pictures and a stone axe all connected to it.”

In the 1980s and 90s, Dove Cottage welcomed about 80,000 visitors a year. “In the Eighties we were showing round 500 people each day in August, many coming on a pilgrimage having discovered Wordsworth at school. Being a guide was exhausting,” says Jeff.

Jeff and a colleague hang Grasmere, 1849, by James Baker Pyne Into the 1990s, he took over from Terry McCormick as curator, a very proud moment for him. In 1997 the museum’s pre-eminence was recognised by its being named a Designated Collection by HM Government, one of one of only 23 from 2,500 museums nationwide and ranking it alongside the Ashmolean, in Oxford, the Fitzwilliam, in Cambridge, and Tyne and Wear Museums.

“For some museums, the Designated status relates to just part of their collection but our whole collection is Designated. The scheme has served us really well, bringing with it different funding opportunities to support programmes around the collection.

“At this time, the collection was stored in what had been the first museum, a converted barn which, while secure, lacked environmental controls and was simply full.

“Our work in the 1990s focused on rehousing the 60,000 manuscripts, books and pictures, which led to The Jerwood Centre, a state of the art collections store and research facility, being opened by Seamus Heaney in 2005.”

Jeff worked on several applications to the National Lottery for funding, and then on the appeal when planning permission wasn’t granted.

“The planning appeal reminded us that Town End is a living community as well as a place of international literary significance. Over the last few decades, the hamlet has received thousands of people who have come to enjoy literary and artistic treasures from collections all over the world, but at the end of each day Town End quietens and reverts to being the home of the inhabitants of a Lakeland hamlet.”

The Prince of Wales visits Wordsworth Trust on April 3, 2012 The trust’s team was changing at the turn of the century and saw Michael McGregor, the current director, return in a fundraising role. “Our early working years were shaped by Robert Woof as director. From him, I learned the importance of working with the best people in their field.

“One example was our conservator, Chris Clarkson, who when not working with us was repairing manuscripts of the New Testament or the mediaeval Mappa Mundi in Hereford. Chris shaped my whole approach to caring for Wordsworth’s manuscripts and books.”

A key moment in Jeff’s career came when he delivered his first serious talk about the collection in Robert’s presence. “Afterwards he didn’t say anything and I thought, ‘oh, boy’. A few months later, a day or two before he died, he said, ‘you know that talk you gave? It was really good’. I was so pleased he said that – it felt like I’d passed a milestone.”

Michael became the trust’s third director, a fellow Northumbrian. They have made a great team. “Michael has been my boss since 2008 and he is a friend as well. Our work has taken us to special places, meeting remarkable people. We often comment on what our parents would say if they could see us at such moments. We like to think they’d be proud of us.”

For his part, Michael says: “Along with many others I find it hard to envisage the Wordsworth Trust without Jeff. I have been his colleague for 30 of the 43 years that he has worked here, and have never met anyone as conscientious, considerate or committed.

“The depth of his knowledge of the place and the collection is matched only by the depth of his modesty regarding his achievements. He is a person of the utmost integrity; in many respects he is the conscience of the Trust.

Jeff (far left) was joined by representatives of the Parachute Regiment through Trek Therapy for a re-creation of a historical walk and meal, originally embarked upon by Captain Budworth in 1792 He is wonderfully generous in his sharing of knowledge and experience, a natural teacher. His enthusiastic embrace of new ideas and new opportunities is an inspiration. I have learnt so much from him, as both a colleague and a friend, and I’m delighted that he will continue to have an association with the trust.”

In 2010 Jeff and Michael went on a tour of the US and Europe to research innovative ways of interpreting manuscripts. “What we found was that other museums weren’t very far ahead of us in this field – it was an area with great potential,” says Jeff.

He went on to develop bespoke short courses where students could come and learn how to handle important manuscripts and become ‘curators’, which was also a valuable source of income for the trust. This carefully managed sharing of the collection signalled a change in direction – from this point onwards, a wide range of people came to enjoy and engage with original material, a contrast to the days when access depended on academic references and approval by trustees.

“We aren’t reckless or carefree – we are very, very careful – but under our supervision, people who have never been in an archive in their lives can get up close to, for example, an original letter from 1800. It can be a magical experience for them and for us.

“I’d like to think we were pioneers in opening up the manuscripts to others, especially marginalised people. We use our collections with partner organisations to support the work of many disparate groups.”

The culmination of the change in ethos came in 2022 when Jeff worked with a Zweilbelfish, a community interest company, to host groups of people with experience of homelessness who drew on their personal stories in a 21st century remix of Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads in poetry, art and song.

Jeff leading a manuscript workshop in the Reading Room It resulted in an exhibition called Refuge from the Ravens and the production of a leather-bound book of their poetry. “Part of this project’s success was that marginalised people felt trusted and taken seriously.

“We also welcome service veterans who come to us knowing nothing about poetry but find things in Wordsworth that resonate. Recently, with some Parachute Regiment veterans, we read one of Wordsworth’s poems about a soldier feeling lost and disorientated. As former soldiers they recognised those feelings and it became clear that Wordsworth was writing about a discharged soldier that they could relate to. They helped me to better understand the poem in one of the best conversations I’ve ever had about poetry.

“Wordsworth says, at one point, that the ‘public roads were schools to me’. He learned from people whose lives were different to his. As a curator, I too have learned the value of talking with people whose experiences are different to my own. To me, a curator is someone who loves the artefacts, and cares equally about the people they are being shared with.”

Throughout his time, Jeff has played a pivotal role in the training and development of young people who come to the trust to learn. “There has always been a training scheme of one kind or another, at some points involving 20 or more people a year working with visitor experience and the collections.

“I’ve been to museum conferences where people have come up to me and said, ‘I was a trainee at Grasmere once’. One gave me a hug and said the experience had changed their life, which is kind of humbling. Being at the trust has given me the opportunity to develop a career – it has been my wish to give that opportunity to others.”

The most recent phase of the trust’s development led to Reimagining Wordsworth, a £6.5 million transformation of the Town End site funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund along with donations from trusts, foundations and individuals that saw it given a new identity as Wordsworth Grasmere.

Wordsworth Grasmere [Tom McNally Photography] Jeff’s role was to lead on the re-interpretation, selecting stories and artefacts and the best method of connecting visitors with them. The result was a completely new approach to how visitor experience the Worsdworths’ home, the writings that came from it and the value found in them today.

In Jeff’s mind, there is no question that Wordsworth’s writing and ethos still resonate. Indeed, with the focus on good mental health and wellbeing, his messages are more relevant than ever, he says.

“When visitors come today, we invite them to slow down, to connect with nature and develop an empathy for others.

“In 1807, Wordsworth looked to the future believing his poetry would have a lasting value because it enables people ‘to see, to think and to feel’. I like to think he would be pleased to know that we introduce the poems to people who might not otherwise have access to them. We can help those people who want to give poetry a chance.”

Among them are children, who still learn about Wordsworth on the school curriculum and in the year up to April 2024, Jeff’s colleagues in schools’ education recorded 6,000 engagements to further youngsters’ understanding.

More than four decades on, the collection is still developing under Jeff’s guidance. “We recently acquired a rediscovered a late portrait of William Wordsworth by Mrs Adders. We knew it once existed, but its whereabouts were unknown. Then a man from Suffolk contacted us to say he’d recently bought it and kindly accepted our offer to buy it from him. We’ll be unveiling it soon.

Dove Cottage [Gareth Gardner] “I have been privileged to know many, many generous donors to the collection, including trustees of The W.W. Spooner Charitable Trust, who have transformed our fine art holdings over the last 25 years.”

He hopes there will be more. “My hope for the trust is, obviously, that it has a financially sustainable future, that the collections and scholarship remain at the heart of what it does and that it tries to connect with as many people as it can either through the visitor experience, schools, outreach or events and that, wherever possible, the barriers to engagement are removed.

“I hope it continues with the spirit in which William and Dorothy lived; they came to Grasmere to better the world through their imagination and creativity.”

Although he and Gill are leaving Town End and moving to north Cumbria, his continuing connection to the trust will see him involved in other special projects and maintaining the networks he has built up. Retirement is definitely not on the cards.

Whilst he will forever be connected to Wordsworth, his allegiance is shifting to another great artist, Thomas Bewick, from his native North East. As it happens, Wordsworth Grasmere has one of the most important collections of wood engraver Bewick’s blocks, printing equipment and letters, given by Iain Bain in 2013 with a further donation in 2018.

Wordsworth Grasmere [Tom McNally Photography] By undertaking a PhD on Bewick at Northumbria University, Jeff hopes to bring the collection to life and bridge the gap between the North West and North East in time for the 200th anniversary of the engraver’s death in 2028.

He says he is confident he is leaving the Trust in safe hands. “I have tried to set an ethos and to point in a general direction, steering from behind. The Curatorial and Learning Team have ideas, knowledge and are very creative,” he says.

“I’m not a scholar but I try to be scholarly in my approach. I’ve learned what I know by teaching, and people say I’m a good teacher and I’m pleased by that,” he adds.

“To be that boy who was bottom of the class in English being able to enthuse other people about poetry, that makes me very happy too.”