R. K. R. Thornton, the son of an artist, is retired and balances editing with painting and writing. He was Head of the Department of English at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne until 1990, and a Professor at the University of Birmingham until 2000. He has edited and published on a variety of writers, often supposedly minor figures, including John Clare, Ivor Gurney, Ernest Dowson, and Joseph Skipsey. Hopkins, by no means a minor writer, has occupied much of his time.
