by Andrew Wilson 2nd Edition published June 1999 with Foreword by the U.S. Ambassador to the U.K.  It
was first published in June 1996 to coincide with the Centenary of Woodrow
Wilson's first visit to Carlisle, where his mother was born, and to the
English Lake District, the area with which he fell in love. This was his
first trip abroad, and his priority had been to visit Carlisle to see
his mother's birthplace and the church where his grandfather had preached,
although it was only on a subsequent visit that he found the site. He returned to the Lake District four times over the next 12 years: in 1899 on a cycle tour with his brother-in-law Stockton Axson; in 1903 with his wife Ellen; in 1906 with his wife and their three daughters, staying for the whole summer in a rented cottage; and in 1908 on his own for the summer. When on his own, he wrote wonderful love-letters back home to his wife, and many extracts from these are quoted in the book. He also made friends with local people, particularly the artist Fred Yates, who painted him several times and became such a close friend that he was invited to his Presidential Inauguration on 4 March 1913. On his way to the Peace Conference in Paris at the end of the Great War, President Wilson returned to Carlisle again, with his second wife Edith, on what he called "a pilgrimage of the heart". This took place on 29 December 1918 and was a very sentimental affair, which he insisted on fitting in between meetings with Prime Minister Lloyd George and banquets with King George V and Queen Mary, with whom the Wilsons were staying.  President
Wilson's affection for the area continued in correspondence both throughout
the war and until the end of his Presidency - when he wrote to a Lake
District hotelier saying that he wanted to return again "incognito"(!)
- and right up to his death in 1924. My book, which was originally titled "A President's Love Affair with the Lake District", won the 1997 Lakeland Book of the Year Award for the best book on Cumbria's characters and people. It shows the more human side of the President and reveals him as a very loving, warm and affectionate man - full of geniality and good humour - unlike the rather dour and stern image people had of him in his public life. I have re-published the book as a Second Edition, to coincide with the Centenary of his second visit to the Lake District and with the launching of a Woodrow Wilson Trail in Carlisle by the newly-formed Woodrow Wilson Society which is believed to be the first such society outside the USA. Eventually it is intended to develop the Trail through the Lake District, although that can already be done via my book.  The
book includes details of all the places associated with Woodrow Wilson
and a map showing where they are. But those who want to obtain specific
information on the Woodrow Wilson Trail in Carlisle (for which a guided
tour is available), or wish to contact the Woodrow Wilson Society (to
join, etc.) should contact the Society's Secretary, Carol Donnelly at
35-37 Fisher Street, Carlisle, Cumbria, England CA3 8RF (Telephone: +44
(0)1228 515120; Fax: +44 (0)1228 515190; E-mail: carol.donnelly@dial.pipex.com).
Those who want to contact me or buy the book should write to me at: Lakeland Press Agency, 57 Thornton Road, Morecambe, Lancashire, England LA4 6PD (Telephone: +44 (0)1524 413356; Fax: +44 (0)1524 419699; E-mail: wilson@dedicate.co.uk). The price of this well-illustrated, 124-page book, which now contains a Foreword by the US Ambassador to the UK, Philip Lader, especially written for this Second Edition, is £9.99 (including postage and packing to anywhere in the world). |
| Andrew Wilson |
Dedicated Partnership
