I am trying to find the title of a most thought provoking book about a man who loses everything, becomes almost a tramp, then gradually rebuilds his life on the banks of an estuary in the West Country of England , finds a wife, and meets again the man who defrauded him. Can anyone help please ? I should think the book was written in the 1930s or 1940s

Though it doesn't sound exactly the same, what you wrote reminds me of the story "The Count of Monte Cristo," which is older than the 1930s and 40s, but maybe the author based his book off the plot?