Sue Appleby

Sue Appleby has a deep interest in the history of all things Cornish. Her first book, The Hammers of Towan: a Nineteenth-Century Cornish Family, looks at the impact of the Great Emigration on Cornish ancestors on her mother's side of the family. A new and much expanded edition - based on new research, and featuring new photos and traditional Cornish recipes - was published in 2023.

Her second book, The Cornish in the Caribbean: from the 17th to 19th Centuries was published early in 2019, and was shortlisted for the 2020 Cornish Publishers Awards - the Holyer an Gof. A paperback version was published in 2023. It tells the story of the contribution made by some of the Cornish people who went to the Caribbean: the miners in the copper mines of Cuba and Virgin Gorda, and the mines of then British Guiana and Aruba; the captains and crews of the Falmouth Packet Mail service to the West Indies; Methodist missionaries; colonial governors; wealthy planters; navy and army personnel stationed in the Caribbean; pirates and buccaneers. The Cornish in the Caribbean also became the catalyst for songs written and performed by the Cornish-Cuban band Kewbanda as part of their Cornish in the Caribbean Project.

In her latest book, Wives-Mothers-Daughters-Widows: Cornish Women in the Caribbean from the 17th to 19th Centuries, published in June 2024, she examines the lives of Cornish women who went out to the Caribbean, filling a gap in the literature of the Cornish diaspora which previously focused on the male-dominated mining industry of the USA, Australia and South Africa. Wives-Mothers-Daughters-Widows - along with a trip to Jamaica - inspired the actor Yana Penrose to write a play about a young indentured Cornish woman who boards a ship bound for Jamaica. Entitled 'The Price of Passage', it was  performed at the Minack Theatre as part of their Play in a Day programme

Sue has spent most of her adult life in the Caribbean, working for various international, regional, and national organisations. Married to Bernie Evan-Wong, she has two daughters, Meiling and Sarah, and lives in Antigua.