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J. Robert Whittle, the Central Saanich author, entrepreneur and longtime Bastion Public Market vendor, has died at age 84.
The Yorkshire-born former mining engineer succumbed to the effects of black lung disease, which he incurred while working as a first-responder in coal mines in England, Asia and Russia, his wife, Joyce Sandilands, said.
At age 24, Whittle was hired by Britain鈥檚 National Coal Board to lead a first-response team into coal-mine disaster areas, where he inhaled a combination of coal and explosives dust that prompted him to switch careers, Sandilands recalled.
The couple met in Victoria in 1977, and began their relationship in 1985 when Leeds University graduate Whittle returned here after living in England for seven years. They married in the fall of 1996, two years after becoming literary business partners when Sandilands encouraged him to take his passion for storytelling to a new level.
Sandilands published and co-authored 13 novels that Whittle produced, most sold online and at local craft shows and markets, notably during his years as 鈥渢he book guy鈥� in Bastion Public Market from 2002 to 2016.
Whittle became best known for his self-published Victoria Chronicles trilogy, the family adventure saga set in and around Victoria and the Pacific Northwest during the early 20th century, and his series of Lizzie novels set in 19th-century England.
The wordsmith first visited Victoria on a holiday in 1970 with his first wife, Bessie, and their children, Robert and Carol.
After leaving the mining industry at age 34, his family emigrated to Australia, where he held several jobs, including one as manager of a construction company that built huge, open-air warehouses in the Western Australia desert.
Several years later, he moved to sa国际传媒 and worked on Baffin Island (now Nunavut), where he built a school for Inuit children on the tundra before joining his family in Winnipeg.
Whittle worked in construction again in Winnipeg until he fractured the top of his spine and suffered other injuries resulting from a 30-foot fall from a broken swing-stage onto the pavement during a building project.
Whittle, who played professional cricket in England, was lucky to have avoided paralysis and had to have a spinal fusion, said Sandilands, 72.
鈥淭he word 鈥榪uit鈥� was not in his vocabulary,鈥� Sandilands said, recalling how Whittle, the eldest son in a farming family of 10 children, took less strenuous jobs in sales before deciding it wasn鈥檛 for him.
Many of his injuries plagued him for the rest of his life, Sandilands said.
An old mining injury that caused him to limp became so painful he required leg surgery in 1994, resulting in a potentially deadly staph infection.
鈥淏efore he went in for surgery, I said: 鈥榃hat are you going to do with yourself while you鈥檙e recovering?鈥� 鈥� Sandilands recalled. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e not going to have time to garden so why don鈥檛 you start on your memoirs?鈥�
Although Whittle was always busy with various projects, he wasn鈥檛 writing creatively when the couple first met. However, he did have some writing experience, Sandilands said.
鈥淚t was because he had to make reports to the coal board about the accidents he was involved in,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat was more medical, of course, and he was always a reader.鈥�
She said it wasn鈥檛 until Whittle chose to focus on writing historical fiction rather than his memoirs that she realized that her husband, on crutches and out of commission for six weeks in 1994, didn鈥檛 even know how to type.
鈥淎t that time, he was smoking, which helped ease his pain,鈥� she said. 鈥淥ne hand held his cigarette and the other hand tapped the keys.鈥�
She said despite having to endure inclement weather at markets, the affable raconteur loved chatting with locals and tourists whose support kept their self-publishing labour of love alive.
Comments from fans, who told Whittle he had a wonderful voice, prompted the couple to produce an audio book of his bestseller Lizzie, and his semi-autobiographical CD Laughing Through Life: Tales of a Yorkshireman.
鈥淗e had so many experiences in life, many more than the average person would ever have,鈥� she said.
For more information on Whittle, go to jrobertwhittle.com.