Richard J.C. Hoskin

Richard Hoskin has written for pleasure and profit ever since he grew up in a family of
journalists in Cornwall, the Celtic tip of Britain. Cornwall is the legendary home of
ghoulies and ghosties, and long, leggity beasties, of pirates and smugglers and of
King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.

After five years of research, writing and rewriting he has recently published The Miner
& the Viscount, an historical novel set in Cornwall in the eighteenth century. It was a
turbulent period when the Royal Duchy of Cornwall had 44 Members of Parliament, hundreds of deep
tin and copper mines, and was a microcosm of the industrial and agricultural revolutions,
the disruption of Methodism, and the Sunday school movement.

Richard’s fascination with British history, which he studied at Oxford University, gave
birth to this story. His tutor, Steven Watson, author of The Reign of George III, excited
his interest in this period. His deep knowledge and love of Cornwall originated early. His
father owned and edited The Cornish Times, and was a bard of the Cornish Gorsedh
and president of the Old Cornwall Society. He took Richard to the great houses and
introduced him to their people and their stories. A unique source for his research is the
history of his birthplace published by his father’s firm in 1856. His brother-in-law, a
Cambridge history professor who wrote Cornwall for the National Trust, took him on
field trips. His uncle was steward of the mine-owning Lanhydrock estate. He lectures on
Cornwall: History, Mystery, Mansions and Mines and on The Cornish Chronicle.

Doing the extensive research for this lecture, and its enthusiastic reception, further
excited his passion and understanding for his roots and revealed amazing connections
with the characters and places that people his story.

Richard Hoskin has been published for profit in Oxford’s Directory of Opportunities for
Graduates; The Journal of Quality and Participation; Strategy & Leadership and Agility
Forum, among numerous magazines and newspapers. He also wrote a training paper for
High Schools That Work, for which he consulted on education transformation.

He has written entertainments, including An Evening of English Music Hall; Oceanic
Matrimony, or a Voyage of True Love and The New Motel Book; a collection of
autobiographical essays, Memoirs While Memory Lasts; and for children aged 11-15
several short stories and a novel, The Queen of Geometrica, targeted additionally to the
adults who encourage children to be endlessly curious (and who also retain their own
youthful delight in the absurd).

Richard Hoskin was educated in England at Liskeard Grammar School, Clifton College,
Bristol, and The Queen’s College, Oxford. He is a retired business executive and
management consultant and lives in northern Kentucky.