H. E. Bates Give Them Their Life, The Poetry of H.E. Bates, Evensford Productions Ltd, Eads, Peter, 1995, The Life and Times of H.E.Bates, Northamptonshire County Council Libraries and Information Service, H. E. Bates Herbert Ernest Bates, CBE (16 May 1905 – 29 January 1974), better known as H.E. Bates, was an English writer and author. His best-known works include "Love for Lydia", "The Darling Buds of May", and "My Uncle Silas". H.E. Bates was born on 16 May 1905 in Rushden, Northamptonshire, and educated at Kettering Grammar School. After leaving school, he worked as a reporter and a warehouse clerk. Many of
H. E. Bates story. At this time he was working briefly for the local newspaper in Wellingborough, a job which he hated, and then later at a local shoe-making warehouse, where he had time to write; in fact the whole of this first novel was written there. This was sent to, and rejected by, eight or nine publishers until Jonathan Cape accepted it on the advice of its highly respected Reader, Edward Garnett. Bates was then twenty years old. More novels, collections of short stories, essays, and articles followed, but did not pay well. During World War II, he was commissioned into the