Edward Capern was born into a poor Tiverton family exactly two hundred years ago. He became a postman following the introduction of the Penny Post, writing poems as he walked through North Devon lanes resplendent with flowers and birdsong. Despite being self-educated, in time he was able to include Charles Dickens, the Prime Minister Lord Palmerston and Baroness Burdett-Coutts among his friends and supporters, but he retained a love of simple pleasures and was above all a family man.
My novel The Postman Poet draws on historical research and Capern’s own writing to tell the story of Bideford’s Postman Poet from obscurity to national renown, capturing the opportunities and inequalities of the Victorian age. It was longlisted for the Hall & Woodhouse DLF Writing Award.
It was while studying the 600 poems that I realised that some of them were intended to be sung. I 
showed the songs to Bideford folk musicians Nick Wyke and Becki Driscoll who were so impressed with them that they have produced a CD which was launched alongside The Postman Poet. It is a real thrill to hear the songs sung – probably for the first time in 150 years! You can order a copy of the CD from www.englishfiddle.com.
I have also published The Poems of Edward Capern, a new selection of his poems, many of them describing local places and people. He loved his job, despite the weather and the long hours, and this love is communicated through his work. In recognition of Capern’s commitment to social justice, £1 will be donated to the Northern Devon Foodbank (charity no. 1162651) for each copy of Poems sold. (April 2021. To date, I have donated £725 to which Gift Aid has been added.)
You can order the books HERE
You can see the BBC Spotlight film here:
The Postman Poet Show
Together with musicians Nick Wyke and Becki Driscoll I have put together a show to bring Devon’s nineteenth century Postman Poet vividly back to life in a vibrant entertainment of words and music. The first performance, to launch the books and the CD, took place on Saturday March 25th 2017 at Bideford’s Royal Hotel. The 180 tickets sold out in advance and we had a great evening with a very appreciative audience.
We also performed The Postman Poet at the Appledore Book Festival, the Bridport Literary Festival and at Buckland Brewer Village Hall in 2017. In 2018 we entertained a very large audience at Sidmouth Folk Festival, and at The Plough at St Anne’s, Barnstaple. In August 2019 we were at the Dartmoor Folk Festival, and there were five performances for Beaford Arts in the autumn of 2019 to commemorate the bicentenary of Edward Capern’s birth.
You can read an article about The Postman Poet in Exmoor Magazine here.
The Rural Postman (an extract):
O, the postman’s is as happy a life
As any one’s, I trow;
Wand’ring away where dragon-flies play,
And brooks sing soft and slow;
And watching the lark as he soars on high,
To carol in yonder cloud,
“He sings in his labour, and why not I?”
The postman sings aloud.
And many a brace of humble rhymes
His pleasant soul hath made,
Of birds, and flowers, and happy times,
In sunshine and in shade.
By Edward Capern