John Lawrence Nettleship (1 August 1939 – 12 March 2011) was a British schoolteacher who taughtchemistry atWyedean School,Gloucestershire. His pupils there includedJ. K. Rowling, and he has been stated to be a major inspiration for the character ofSeverus Snape in Rowling'sHarry Potter series of fantasy novels.
Nettleship was born inNottingham, the son of Albert Victor Nettleship and Lilian (née Slack). He studied chemistry at theUniversity of Leeds in the late 1950s. He joined theLabour Party at that time, and remained an active member for the rest of his life. After leaving university, he taught inBirmingham, where he married and had three children; the marriage later ended in divorce and he remarried in the 1980s.[1]
In 1970, he began teaching atCaldicot School inMonmouthshire,Wales, moving to become Head of Science at Wyedean School inSedbury, Gloucestershire, a few miles away, in 1974.[1]
As theHarry Potter series gained international recognition, Nettleship was often recognized as a personal character inspiration forSeverus Snape.[2] He described himself in hindsight as "a short-tempered chemistry teacher with long hair...[and a] gloomy, malodorous laboratory."[3] He was first questioned about his links to Rowling's character of Snape by journalists, saying: "I was horrified when I first found out. I knew I was a strict teacher but I didn't think I was that bad."[4] After being initially unhappy about the comparison, Nettleship came to terms with the connection, and wrote a short book,Harry Potter's Chepstow, about Rowling's connections withChepstow.[2] He also gave talks on the connections that the Chepstow,Wye Valley andForest of Dean areas had with theHarry Potter books.[5][6]
Nettleship retired in 1997. As well as being an active member of the Labour Party, he was a member ofCaerwentcommunity council, serving as its chairman in 1991. He was instrumental in setting up Caerwent Historic Trust, becoming its secretary and researching the history of the area.[5]
He died of cancer on 12 March 2011, aged 71, after having been diagnosed in 2006. A spokeswoman for J. K. Rowling said that the author was sorry to hear of his death.[1]
He was played by Andrew Kavadas in the J.K. RowlingbiopicMagic Beyond Words.[7]