Martha Pym bought an almost complete Crown Derby tea service at an estate sale 30 years ago, but the single missing plate has always annoyed her. When she discovers that the current owner of the house, an eccentric and reclusive lady, is also a collector of china, Martha decides to appeal for her help in finding that elusive plate... The story begins at 00:01:20

Narrated/performed by Simon Stanhope, aka Bitesized Audio. If you enjoy this content and would like to help me keep creating, there are a few ways you can support me:

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00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:20 The Crown Derby Plate
00:31:29 Credits, thanks and further listening

A textual note: The "governess cart" which Miss Pym drives in the story was a small two-wheeled horse-drawn cart with a tub body; it appeared around 1900 as an early 20th century successor to the Victorian "dog cart". They were designed light enough to be drawn by a well-tempered pony, making them popular with single lady drivers; and as the cart's name suggests they were often used by governesses to transport the children in their care. More information (including photographs and artwork) are available here:
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About the author: Marjorie Bowen was the best known of several pen names used by Margaret Gabrielle Vere Long (1885–1952). She also published fiction under the names Joseph Shearing, George Preedy, Robert Paye and John Winch, as well as variations on her real name, Margaret Campbell and Mrs. Vere Campbell. Marjorie was born Margaret Gabrielle Vere Campbell on Hayling Island, Hampshire, and her early years were hard and poverty-stricken, following the abandonment of the family by her alcoholic father, who died soon afterwards. She trained at the Slade School of Fine Art and subsequently spent time studying in Paris.

Marjorie wrote her first novel, 'The Viper of Milan', set in medieval Italy, at the age of just 16, although she struggled to find a publisher for some years – the manuscript was repeatedly rejected, not least on the grounds that it was "inappropriate" for a young woman to produce such work – but when it was finally printed in 1906, when Marjorie was 20, it became a best-seller and became the foundation for a prolific career as an author. She went on to write more than 150 books over the next 45 years, including historical fiction, gothic horror and mystery stories, as well as a number of mystery novels inspired by true-life crimes and non-fiction history books for a general readership. Marjorie Bowen's name appeared regularly in popular periodicals, her first listed story being 'Sic Transit Gloria Mundi', printed in The Lady’s Realm in December 1906; over the next 25 years she contributed innumerable short stories to the Strand Magazine, Hutchinsons, The Story-Teller, and many others.

Margaret/Marjorie married Zefferino Emilio Constanza, a Sicilian, in 1912; they had two children, a son and a daughter who died in infancy, before Constanza himself died of tuberculosis in 1916. A year later she married her second husband, Arthur Long, with whom she had two further sons.

Bowen's supernatural fiction remains highly regarded today by connoisseurs of the genre, and 'The Crown Derby Plate' is perhaps one of her best-known tales. Its earliest publication date is uncertain. It's frequently incorrectly dated to 1933, but the story is listed in the contents of 'Grace Latouche and the Warringtons', a collection of Bowen's short stories published by Selwyn & Blount in January 1931. Several of the other stories in that volume had previously appeared in different London periodicals as early as 1923, so it seems likely that 'The Crown Derby Plate' was first published in a similar format.

Marjorie Bowen died on 23 December 1952 in Kensington, London, following suffering serious concussion after a fall at home. She was 67.

Recording © Bitesized Audio 2024.

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