Trevor, William

William Trevor Cox was born in Mitchelstown, County Cork, the Republic of Ireland, as the son of a Protestant bank official. Because his father moved around a lot, Trevor grew up in provincial towns all over Ireland and attended many different schools, including St. Columba’s College where he studied art and sculpture under the well-known sculptor Oisin Kelly. As a Protestant living in Catholic Ireland, Trevor always felt like an outsider – he later claimed that this was an important quality for a budding author. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Trinity College, Dublin, in 1950 and continued to work as a sculptor, exhibiting his work in the UK and Ireland. He also taught history in Northern Ireland between 1951 and 1953.