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Ralph Hale Mottram was an English writer, known as a novelist, particularly for the Spanish Farm books, and as a war poet of World War I.
His father was the chief clerk of Gurney's Bank in Norwich and Mottram had an idyllic childhood growing up in 'Bank House' - a magnificent George II mansion on Bank Plain - which was later Barclay's Bank and is now a youth centre. The Mottrams were non-conformist and worshipped at the Octagon Chapel, Norwich in Colegate.
Mottram went from being a bank clerk in Norwich before the war to becoming lord mayor there in 1953. The Spanish Farm won the 1924 Hawthornden Prize. He also wrote a biography of John Galsworthy.
He was a defender of Mousehold Heath - a large open space in the heart of Norwich. On St. James' Hill, there is a sculpture, dedicated to him, which depicts the skyline of Norwich.
He is buried in the non-denominational Rosary Cemetery, Norwich. Being a non-member of the established Church of England, Mottram once said that 'I knew, when I was four years old, exactly where I could be buried.'
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