Seeking wisdom in the grounds of Breamore House, Hampshire, 2024.

Hi, I’m Malcolm. This page tells you about me and my main interests which may reveal themselves on this website.

Born in England but raised as a Scot, I grew up on the borders of Surrey & South London, and have now been living in or around Wiltshire for more than 20 years. These days I write, and sometimes talk about, history, fiction and genealogy, and am often found wandering around churches and graveyards looking at stained glass, wall paintings, and memorials to the dead.

At the grave of a childhood friend who was tragically killed on the way to our primary school at the age of 7 in Whyteleafe in Surrey.

About Me

There is a detailed artistic & work biography written in 2023 (updated in 2025) as my first post for this site: ‘This was My Cultural Life’.

For here, suffice to say that I am retired from a career as a psychiatric nurse, drugs worker, trainer, manager and NHS director, and now I spend much of my time writing a novel, and reading, researching and talking about all the themes on this website: Medieval to Victorian History, Churches and Religious History, Genealogy and DNA.

To support and further these interests, I have taken a Masters Degree in Medieval Studies (Distinction) with the University of Wales Trinity St David, I am a member of the Editorial Board of the historical research journal, Sarum Chronicle, on whose behalf I have co-written a book on the Churches of Salisbury and District, and I am a YDNA Group Administrator for Family Tree DNA.

Two other areas of interest are:

  • Music, especially Jazz & Jazz Photography due to the work of my late father whose images can be seen all over the wall of London clubs like Ronnie Scott’s and whose work I have exhibited in Paris, Bristol, Portsmouth and at the Royal Albert Hall;
  • Literature, particularly fiction-writing, which I maintain through membership of a small writers group which helps keep the fiction flame burning, alongside reading my ever growing collection of novels – recent good reads (recorded also on Goodreads) include books by authors including: J.G. Ballard, Iain M Banks, Amor Towles, Margaret Atwood, Isaac Asimov, and Muriel Spark. 

I also am occasionally taken out for a very slow walk by my Basset Hound, Yoshi, and have an unfortunate passion for two football teams: Chelsea FC and Heart of Midlothian FC.

Lastly, and I have been very open about this with family, friends and on social media, I have been living with Kidney Cancer since 2018 when I lost one kidney due to a large tumour. In 2023 a secondary tumour led to further abdominal surgery, an adrenalectomy,  but that has in no way diminished my creative drive, and in some ways it has in fact increased it.

Malcolm Sinclair, Berryfield, Wiltshire.