William Henry Davies lived a life that sounds almost invented: freight trains, homelessness, poetry, the loss of a leg and finally an unexpected romance that brought stability after decades of wandering.
Davies was born in Newport, Wales in 1871. In his twenties he travelled through the United States and Canada, often hopping freight trains and living as a vagrant.
In 1899, while attempting to jump onto a moving train on his way towards the Klondike goldfields, he suffered a terrible accident and lost part of a leg.
Back in Britain he lived in lodging houses and struggled for money while writing poetry. His breakthrough came with 'The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp', published in 1908. Decades later the rock band Supertramp took its name from the title.
Kent became part of Davies's literary life. His friend Edward Thomas helped him find a tiny cottage near Sevenoaks where he could write in peace.
Then, in 1922, at the age of fifty-one, Davies met twenty-two-year-old Helen Payne by chance at a London bus stop.
Their courtship was unconventional and emotional. They married on 5 February 1923.
After years spent on the edges of society, Davies had found companionship and stability. The couple lived in several places, including Sevenoaks, and remained together for the rest of his life.
Davies died in 1940. Helen survived him and did not remarry.
The man who had spent years wandering finally found somewhere, and someone, to call home.
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