Everybody knows the story of 'Frankenstein' by Mary Shelley, wife of the famous poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, but how many are familiar with the Shelleys connection to Bournemouth.

The Shelley Frankenstein Festival in Bournemouth will be celebrating Percy's bicentennial marriage to Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and Mary's creation of 'Frankenstein'. Under the umbrella organisation of Bournemouth Council, Bournemouth Libraries, Bournemouth University, the Arts University Bournemouth, St Peter's Church, Shelley Theatre Trust, Creative Kids, Sovereign Centre and the Shelley Trust there will be various events throughout the month, including a parade on November 19.

"Percy Bysshe Shelley's heart is buried in Bournemouth, but Bournemouth has a much more significant link with the Shelley family, because Bournemouth, or more precisely Boscombe, is where the Shelley reputation was rescued from ruin and handed down for us to appreciate the intellectual and artistic legacy of the family", said Michael Stead of Bournemouth Library Heritage who has done a recent Shelley walk around the town and will be doing a couple of talks on the family.

"The Shelley footprint in Bournemouth is significant, ranging from the family mausoleum at St Peter's Church in the town centre, to Shelley Manor, the former family home in Boscombe, where Sir Percy Florence Shelley's theatre has recently been restored and is proving to be an important cultural asset to the town".

The roads surrounding Shelley Manor have names associated with the Shelley family or poetry such as Percy Road, Florence Road and Browning Avenue. Shelley Manor and St Peter's Churchyard are now marked by Blue Plaques to celebrate the Shelley connection, and in recent years several public houses are named after members of the family.

A marble Shelley memorial at Christchurch Priory was commissioned by Sir Percy and carved by Henry Weekes showing Mary Shelley gathering the drowned Percy in her arms. It was intended for St Peter's but was refused a place at the time of its execution.

There was a small Shelley museum occupying part of Shelley Manor but this was closed several years ago and the items on display were returned to the Shelley heirs.

"1816 was a dramatic and creative period for the Shelleys. Percy's first wife Harriet, the mother of his eldest two children had drowned herself in the Serpentine. Popular supposition put the blame for her suicide on Percy's relationship with Mary Godwin. She had given birth to Percy's son William in the January. However Harriet may have been suicidal because she thought herself abandoned by her lover Lieutenant Maxwell", said Michael.

Mary's step-sister Claire became the lover of Shelley's friend George Lord Byron who was newly separated from his wife and went on to bear him a daughter. The behaviour of Shelley and Byron caused a scandal in London and Percy was estranged by his father Sir Timothy Shelley.

"Byron and his lover Claire, Shelley and his lover Mary escaped to Switzerland, where Frankenstein would be drawn from Mary's creative imagination during a competition between the authors to create a ghost story".

Six years later, Percy Shelley would be dead, along with four of the five children he had with Mary. Percy was drowned in the Gulf of Spezzia, Italy, returning by boat from a visit to Byron. His body was burnt on the beach and the ashes of his heart were rescued by his friend Edward Trewlawny who gave them to Mary and she kept them in an envelope between the pages of a book which were eventually buried in the family vault at Bournemouth.

"Mary returned to London, rejected by society and estranged by her father-in-law who forbade her to publish any of Percy's writing. She lived in poverty in London, writing, paying off debts and bringing up her son Percy Florence Shelley."

After Sir Timothy Shelley's death, his Surrey home was left to Mary and in 1848 Percy Florence married young widow Mrs Jane St John. Mary employed architect Christopher Crabb Creeke to find a new home for the Shelleys which brought them to Boscombe Lodge, near Bournemouth.

About the same time Mary had to relocate the remains of her parents, William and Mary Godwin, from St Pancras churchyard to St Peter's Church, Bournemouth. In 1851 Mary died aged just 53, leaving the plans to be completed by her son.

Lady Jane Shelley campaigned to restore dignity to the Shelley name. She set up the family mausoleum at St Peter's, collected all the family papers, including manuscripts of work by Percy and Mary, granting only restricted access to the archive.

" Sir Percy and Lady Shelley led exemplary lives as member of Bournemouth society, building a theatre at Boscombe Place where their friends were entertained, and rescuing the reputation of the earlier Shelleys so Shelley, Byron and Keats were viewed as visionary poets", said Michael.

For more information see www.shelleyfrankfest.org.