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Jane’s Biography

Jane (Davies) Buttery was born in Kent, England to Welsh parents and was educated at the Simon Langton Grammar School in Canterbury. After achieving an Honours History degree, she married her husband, a scientist, and they went to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for 5 years. Jane enjoyed teaching English and history for GCE students until 1964. That year Brian and Jane travelled from Calcutta to Canterbury by road, using a Ford Dormobile over some 11.000 miles!They travelled through India, Pakistan, the Middle East, Istanbul and Europe for around three months, having spent sometime in Thailand before that.

By 1970, Jane had 2 daughters and had finished a B. Ed in Windsor. She taught for another 23 years, mainly in Essex County with one year mainly at a High School in Canberra, Australia.

While teaching here, she saw the need for local books and wrote about the famous Harrow Fair which never missed a year from 1854 until 2019. Jane has published eighteen books; these include 8 picture books, a local history, two early chapter books, a grade 4-5 novel about Jack Miner, and two historical novels. Most of her books aim to celebrate where people live in S.W. Ontario, but she recently wrote about her Welsh heritage in an exciting chapter book called Red Dragon Rises which involves the wizard Merlin. She is now working on another historical novel,centered on a servant who worked at the John R Park home in the 1860’s

Through self-publishing, she has used the talents of local artists, especially with Marilyn McLean who has illustrated 4 books. Several of her books are for sale on Amazon and she is adding more ebooks. Jane’s main interests are her family, her Anglican Church, classical music, reading and the theatre, as well as travelling to many countries which has enriched her family’s lives. As a volunteer, Jane has given 30 years to Hospice visiting and is now teaching an online course about Writing Your Life Story, this winter for Seniors. It’s fun to meet people this way! After 61 years of marriage, Jane feels fortunate to have had such a full life.