[forwarded to The Anchorage, Grand Manan, Maine]
Letter 91.
It was good of you to write at as much length as you did, (no. 96) while in the midst of rehearsals with what energy the heat left you (I don’t think extreme heat suits you very well). By this time I trust that you will have had some refreshing sea breezes, after such an exhausting climax in Wisconsin. For I know how much you would put into any part – more, probably, in this case, than some of the others will have put into more conspicuous parts, and probably more than a local company and audience could appreciate: and I only hope you have also got something out of it. I look forward to an account, together with any cuttings of interest, in due course.
I'Rudyard Kipling'laid aside;a3 haveChristian News-Letter (CNL)TSE's guest-editorship of;b8 had to lay Kipling aside (as well as a good deal of correspondence) this last weekend in order to write a number of the Christian News Letter. As I told you, four people are each writing one, inOldham, Josephneeds holiday;d7 order to give Oldham a holiday: MrsStocks, Mary Danverswrites CNL;a1. Stocks1 (a rather Fabian sort of woman, who is the head of Westfield College but I don’t know what Westfield is, except that it is a women’s college and not in Oxford or Cambridge), WalterMoberley, Sir Walterwrites CNL;a5 Moberly, theMcLeod, Revd George;a1 Rev. George McLeod2 and myself. This was rather a toil, as I had no particular News to communicate. IOldhams, the;a1 also had to spend Thursday night (in lieu of a weekend) with the Oldhams at their house in Chipstead, where they were the guests of their tenants – not altogether satisfactory to be the guest of a guest: they had wanted me to go long ago, and would have been disappointed. So my week was rather cut up, with two nights at Much Hadham. ThisGregory, Eric;a1 week I spend one night with Eric Gregory (a friend of John Hayward and the Kauffers) at Swan Court, Chelsea,3 andde la Mares, thegive TSE wartime refuge;a6 the second night with the De la Mares: rather tiring these one night stands. ThenFabers, the1941 summer holiday with;f8 nextFaber, Thomas Erle ('Tom', TSE's godson)bought fishing rod;b7 week Itravels, trips and plansTSE's 1941 Faber summer holiday;e2Kipling and fishing-rod packed for;a5 go off to Wales, for ten days or so, taking'Rudyard Kipling'taken on holiday;a4 Kipling with me and a fishing rod for Tom (IRoberts, Edward Adamsilver mug bought for;a2 have at last obtained the silver mug for Edward Adam Roberts)4 and after that the autumn is at hand.
IBukhari, Zulfiqar Alihis umbrellas;a3 don’t want you to get the impression that the umbrellas were altogether foolish. They must have been very expensive, as they were made to order, and the tobacco pipe handle is a beautiful piece of carving, though too ornate for the present purpose: the other umbrella I have become attached to and am using, though I fear that in the U.S.A., where such eccentricities are more noticed, it would call too much attention to the carrier. DidSpeaight, Robertbroadcasts East Coker;d7 I remark, by the way, that Bobby Speaight’s reading of E. Coker was very fine? He is one of the few actors who can read non-dramatic poetry properly. ShamleyCoker, Margaret Rosalys ('Margot', née Mirrlees)described for EH;a3 Wood has been refreshed at the weekend by the presence of Mrs. Coker – she must be forty something but looks much younger and has a good deal of her mother’s efficiency. ThisHealey, Robert C.;a2 week is crammedHuysmans, Camille;a1 with engagements: the American attaché,5 thenLoeb, Walterdiscusses anti-Nazi publishing venture;a1 two Belgian politicians,6 several waifs who want help etc. I shall be glad to get away, but I shall miss your letters: I am always fearful of asking people to forward letters unless I am absolutely sure of their efficiency, and Ty Glyn Aeron, Ciliau Aeron, Lampeter, is rather much of an address for the ordinary English speller.
Whenever I see that there is an enclosure I hope that there will be a snapshot of yourself – though it is a long time since I have had one which gave more than an identification of yourself. ISeaverns, Helen;d4 will write to Mrs. Seaverns: indeed, I have often thought of her, and ought to have written months ago.
1.MaryStocks, Mary Danvers Danvers Stocks (1891–1975), economist and campaigner for women’s suffrage, was Principal of Westfield College (at the time a women-only constituent college of the University of London), 1939–51. Later, ennobled as Baroness Stocks.
2.RevdMcLeod, Revd George George McLeod (1895–1991), Scottish soldier; minister in the Church of Scotland; a distinguished social campaigner; founder of the Iona Community.
3.TSEGregory, Eric dined and stayed overnight with Eric Gregory (who had been responsible for the private printing of Noctes Binanianae, and who was working at this time for the Ministry of Information) at 141 Swan Court, London S.W.3, on Tues. 19 Aug.
Eric Craven Gregory (1888–1959) – ‘Peter’ Gregory – printer and publisher: patron of art and artists (including Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson, Victor Pasmore and Barbara Hepworth) and poets. Printing and publishing manager of The Country Press, Bradford. Later chairman of Percy Lund, Humphries & Co. Ltd., and a director of the Burlington Magazine. With Peter Watson, Herbert Read and Roland Penrose, he founded the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA). See Marian Williams, ‘A measure of leaven: the early Gregory Fellowships at the University of Leeds’, in Artists and Patrons in Post-War Britain: Essays by postgraduate students at the Courtauld Institute of Art, ed. Margaret Garlake (Aldershot, Hants.: Ashgate, 2001), 55–93.
4.TSE’s godson Edward Adam Roberts (b. 29. Aug. 1940), son of Michael Roberts and Janet Adam Smith.
5.Robert C. Healey.
6.TSELoeb, Walter was to have a meeting with Walter Loeb and CamilleHuysmans, Camille Huysmans. Loeb (1895–1946), a dissenting German social democrat and author, had set up in London a publishing venture called ‘Fight for Freedom’, in order to disseminate anti-German propaganda. Huysmans (1871–1968), Belgian politician; Mayor of Antwerp, 1933–40; President of the Chamber of Representatives, 1936–9. In WW2 he lived in London, working to commission and publish anti-Nazi propaganda. After the war he was to become 34th Prime Minister, 1946–7.
1.ZulfiqarBukhari, Zulfiqar Ali Ali Bokhari/Bukhari (1904–75), born in Peshawar, was Director of the Delhi Broadcasting Station of All India Radio before removing to London in July 1937. Director of the Indian Section of the BBC Eastern Service, 1940–5; instrumental in recruiting George Orwell. In 1945 he returned to India as Director of All India Radio Station, Calcutta; later to Karachi to work as Controller in Broadcasting for Radio Pakistan. See Talking to India, ed. Orwell (1943); Ruvani Ranasinha, South Asian Writers in Twentieth Century Britain: Culture in Translation (Oxford, 2007); W. J. West, Orwell: The War Broadcasts (1985).
5.MargaretCoker, Margaret Rosalys ('Margot', née Mirrlees) Rosalys Mirrlees – ‘Margot’ (b. 1898) – wasCoker, Lewis Aubrey ('Bolo') married in 1920 to Lewis Aubrey Coker, OBE (1883–1953), nicknamed ‘Bolo’, a major in the Royal Field Artillery. T. S. Matthews, Great Tom: Notes towards the definition of T. S. Eliot (1974), 126: ‘The married daughter, Margot Coker, had a large country house near Bicester …’
4.ThomasFaber, Thomas Erle ('Tom', TSE's godson) Erle Faber (1927–2004), TSE’s godson and principal dedicatee of Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, was to become a physicist, teaching at Cambridge, first at Trinity, then for fifty years at Corpus Christi. He served too as chairman of the Geoffrey Faber holding company.
3.TSEGregory, Eric dined and stayed overnight with Eric Gregory (who had been responsible for the private printing of Noctes Binanianae, and who was working at this time for the Ministry of Information) at 141 Swan Court, London S.W.3, on Tues. 19 Aug.
1.RobertHealey, Robert C. C. Healey, Office of the Military Attaché, American Embassy, London – but ‘normally a student of English Literature and Drama,’ as TSE told Hayward (10 Apr. 1942). TSE to the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, c/o Naval Intelligence, London, 22 Mar. 1942: ‘I am writing to recommend Mr. Robert C. Healey who is, I understand, applying for a Naval commission. I have known him since his arrival in England … He is evidently extremely intelligent, and well educated, and possess[es] as well considerable social charm, which ought to be helpful in any work of a diplomatic nature. He ought to be able to hold his own in any company, and made the best of impressions upon friends to whom I have introduced him.’
6.TSELoeb, Walter was to have a meeting with Walter Loeb and CamilleHuysmans, Camille Huysmans. Loeb (1895–1946), a dissenting German social democrat and author, had set up in London a publishing venture called ‘Fight for Freedom’, in order to disseminate anti-German propaganda. Huysmans (1871–1968), Belgian politician; Mayor of Antwerp, 1933–40; President of the Chamber of Representatives, 1936–9. In WW2 he lived in London, working to commission and publish anti-Nazi propaganda. After the war he was to become 34th Prime Minister, 1946–7.
6.TSELoeb, Walter was to have a meeting with Walter Loeb and CamilleHuysmans, Camille Huysmans. Loeb (1895–1946), a dissenting German social democrat and author, had set up in London a publishing venture called ‘Fight for Freedom’, in order to disseminate anti-German propaganda. Huysmans (1871–1968), Belgian politician; Mayor of Antwerp, 1933–40; President of the Chamber of Representatives, 1936–9. In WW2 he lived in London, working to commission and publish anti-Nazi propaganda. After the war he was to become 34th Prime Minister, 1946–7.
2.RevdMcLeod, Revd George George McLeod (1895–1991), Scottish soldier; minister in the Church of Scotland; a distinguished social campaigner; founder of the Iona Community.
2.SirMoberley, Sir Walter Walter Moberley (1881–1974), Professor of Philosophy, University of Birmingham, 1921–4; Principal of the University College of the South West of England, 1925–6; Vice-Chancellor, University of Manchester, 1926–34; Chairman of the University Grants Committee, 1935–49. Keith Clements, Faith on the Frontier, 367: ‘Combining the academic and man of affairs, (Sir) Walter Moberley was perhaps the nearest anyone ever attained to Oldham’s ideal of the theologically aware and responsible Christian layperson … Since 1935 he had been chairman of the University Grants Committee, the most powerful and politically influential position in higher education in England. His close association with Oldham already long-standing …’
8.JosephOldham, Joseph (‘Joe’) Houldsworth Oldham (1874–1969), missionary, adviser, organiser: see Biographical Register.
4.EdwardRoberts, Edward Adam Adam Roberts (b. 29 Aug. 1940) was in due course to be Montague Burton Professor of International Relations and a Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford; President of the British Academy. Knighted in 2002.
3.HelenSeaverns, Helen Seaverns, widow of the American-born businessman and Liberal MP, Joel Herbert Seaverns: see Biographical Register.
2.RobertSpeaight, Robert Speaight (1904–77), actor, producer and author, was to create the role of Becket in Murder in the Cathedral in 1935: see Biographical Register.
1.MaryStocks, Mary Danvers Danvers Stocks (1891–1975), economist and campaigner for women’s suffrage, was Principal of Westfield College (at the time a women-only constituent college of the University of London), 1939–51. Later, ennobled as Baroness Stocks.