by Paula Byrne
What the young exuberant Barbara Pym most wanted was not love, marriage or a conventional life. She wanted to be different: ‘still an original, shining like a comet, mingling no water with her wine’.[5]
Picture Section
Miss Pym’s family album
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
Dor and Links on their wedding day
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
Miss Pym as a child
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
Sisters
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
Schooldays: somewhere among the bonneted girls of Liverpool College, Huyton, at the dedication of the new school chapel in 1927
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
Miss Pym, aged sixteen, writes her first novel, with ‘the makings of a style of [her] own’
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
Miss Pym applying lipstick and hanging out with friends
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
A Shropshire Lass
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
Miss Pym towers over her friends at St Hilda’s College, Oxford
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
courtesy of the Bodleian Library, Oxford
Miss Pym gains admission to the Bodleian (above) and begins to flirt with many young men
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
Rupert Seeley Gleadow (above), whose love affair is captured in ‘A record of the adventures of the celebrated Barbara M C Pym’
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
Miles and Rupert
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
The object of Miss Pym’s enduring affection: Henry Harvey, a.k.a. Gabriel Harvey, a.k.a. Lorenzo, the model for the Archdeacon in Some Tame Gazelle
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
The triumvirate: Pym, ‘Jock’ Liddell, Harvey
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
Henry’s evocative pencil sketch of Miss Pym
courtesy of the Bodleian Library, Oxford
Summer vacation: with Barnicot, Liddell and Harvey at Morda Lodge – all became characters in Some Tame Gazelle
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
Julian Amery addressing the Oxford Union in a debate on conscription, April 1939. Miss Pym clipped this photograph from the pages of the Oxford Mail and kept it on her mantelpiece beside a vase of flowers
Getty Images / Hulton Archive, photograph by Walter Bellamy
Miss Pym in Germany with ‘dearest Friedbert’
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
Miss Pym looking chic on her European tour
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
Miss Pym sunbathing with German friends – swastikas on flagpoles behind
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
Hitler arrives in Hamburg on the same day as Miss Pym
United States Holocaust Museum, courtesy of Michael O’Hara
The Pym family answered the call and took in evacuees from Birkenhead
Gordon Glover and Honor Wyatt’s wedding
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
ARP girl wearing her tin hat, like Miss Pym, and ready for fun
World War Two postcard by William Henry Barribal; Amoret Tanner Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
Miss Pym, with hat, behind Gordon Glover, who broke her heart (again), after which she became Wren Pym
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
Wren Pym sees the world in the last year of the war: the view from Villa San Michele on Capri
Creative Commons Licence, photograph by Berthold Werner
Miss Pym at her desk in the African Institute: editor by day, novelist by night
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
At last, a published author: ‘a funnier Jane Austen’
In the act of writing: manuscript of Excellent Women
courtesy of Tom Holt (the Estate of Barbara Pym), photograph by permission of the Bodleian Library, Oxford
Beloved cats
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
Beloved Skipper
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
Beloved sister (outside Barn Cottage, Finstock)
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
Miss Pym with her friend and loyal fan, Philip Larkin
courtesy of the Barbara Pym Society
Letter to Larkin: ‘Dear Barbara, Dear Philip’
courtesy of Tom Holt (the Estate of Barbara Pym), photograph by permission of the Bodleian Library, Oxford
Miss Pym’s last notebook entry, as she lay dying
courtesy of Tom Holt (the Estate of Barbara Pym), photograph by permission of the Bodleian Library, Oxford
Notes
This book is based primarily on the Archive of Barbara Mary Crampton Pym (1913–80), novelist, in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, MSS. Pym 1–178. For the sake of chronological clarity, letters, notebooks and diary entries are cited by date, not manuscript number, but a manuscript number is given for the first citation of each source. Specific page numbers within draft novels are not given. To avoid cluttering the text with reference note markers, only one note is given in passages where there are several quotations from the same source. A detailed listing of the contents of the archive is online at https://archives.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/repositories/2/resources/3235/collection_organization.
The following abbreviations are used in the Notes:
The novels of Barbara Pym:
AGB – A Glass of Blessings (1958)
AQ – An Academic Question (written 1970–72; published posthumously, 1986)
CH – Crampton Hodnet (completed 1940; published posthumously, 1985)
CS – Civil to Strangers and Other Writings, short stories and extracts from unpublished novels, edited posthumously by Hazel Holt (1987)
EW – Excellent Women (1952)
FGL – A Few Green Leaves (1980)
JAP – Jane and Prudence (1953)
LTA – Less Than Angels (1955)
NFRL – No Fond Return of Love (1961)
QIA – Quartet in Autumn (1977)
SDD – The Sweet Dove Died (1978)
STG – Some Tame Gazelle (1950)
UA – An Unsuitable Attachment (rejected 1963; published posthumously, 1982)
Where possible, quotations give page references to the readily accessible Virago Modern Classics paperback editions.
Other abbreviations:
ALTA – Hazel Holt, A Lot To Ask: A Life of Barbara Pym (1990)
AVPE – Barbara Pym, A Very Private Eye: An Autobiography in Diaries and Letters, posthumously selected and edited from her papers by Hazel Holt and Hilary Pym (1984)
BP – Barbara Pym
EH – Elsie Harvey
HH – Henry Harvey
JA – Julian Amery
PL – Philip Larkin
RG – Rupert Gleadow
RL – Robert ‘Jock’ Liddell
RR – Richard Roberts (‘Skipper’)
RS – Robert Smith (‘Bob’)
* * *
PROLOGUE
1. Literary Notebook XXVIII (MS. Pym 67, Bodleian Library, Oxford), 11 August 1969.
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2. BP to PL, 10 December 1969 (Letters from Barbara Pym to Philip Larkin, Bodleian Library, Oxford, MSS. Eng. lett. c. 859–60).
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3. ‘Gervase and Flora’ (MS. Pym 7), chapter 10.
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* * *
BOOK THE FIRST: A SHROPSHIRE LASS
CHAPTER I
1. Letter from BP to RL and HH and EH, Oswestry, early 1938 (MS. Pym 153).
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2. Diary (MS. Pym 104), 11 March 1938.
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3. Diary, 11 March 19
38.
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4. BP to RL, 12 April 1938.
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5. ALTA, p. 12.
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6. AVPE, p. 4.
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CHAPTER II
1. ALTA, p. 2.
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CHAPTER III
1. Ruth Johnson, The Story of Our Chapel (1927).
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2. ALTA, p. 14.
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3. ALTA, p. 14.
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4. Barbara Pym, Finding a Voice, recorded 8 February 1978, broadcast BBC Radio 3, 4 April 1978 (MS. Pym 96).
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5. Pym, Finding a Voice.
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* * *
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CHAPTER IV
1. ‘Young Men in Fancy Dress’.
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2. ‘Young Men in Fancy Dress’.
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3. ‘Young Men in Fancy Dress’.
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CHAPTER V
1. Letter of recommendation from Pym’s Headmistress, Miss Gertrude Anthony, MS. Pym 98.
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2. ‘Young Men in Fancy Dress’, p. 45.
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3. ALTA, p. 22.
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4. CS, p. 183.
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5. L. W. B. Brockliss, The University of Oxford: A History (2016), p. 465.
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6. See Brockliss, University of Oxford, p. 462.
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7. Brockliss, University of Oxford, p. 465.
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8. Brockliss, University of Oxford, pp. 462–3.
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9. Evelyn Waugh, A Little Learning (1964), p. 171.
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CHAPTER VI
1. Holt, ALTA, p. 21.
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2. AVPE, p. 13.
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3. JAP, p. 84.
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CHAPTER VII
1. Diary (MS. Pym 101), 1 January 1932.
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2. Diary, 1 January 1932. Blackgate was a central street in Oswestry, where Pym went shopping.
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3. ‘Beatrice Wyatt’ (MS. Pym 6/1), p. 30.
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4. ‘Beatrice Wyatt’, p. 31.
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5. Diary (MS. Pym 101), 14 January 1932.
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* * *
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CHAPTER VIII
1. Diary, 15 January 1932.
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2. Diary, 16 January 1932.
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3. Diary, 17 January 1932.
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4. Diary, 20 January 1932.
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5. Diary, 20 January 1932.
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6. Diary, 22 January 1932.
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7. Diary, 23 January 1932.
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8. Diary, 25 January 1932.
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9. Diary, 27 January 1932.
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10. Diary, 28 January 1932.
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11. Diary, 2 February 1932.
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12. Diary, 7 February 1932.
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CHAPTER IX
1. Diary, 24 April 1932.
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2. Diary, 26 May 1932. AVPE misdates the entry a month before on 26 April.
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3. Her letters from RG constitute MS. Pym 149.
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4. RG to BP, 18 May 1932.
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5. Diary, 27 May 1932.
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6. RG to BP, 28 May 1932.
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7. RG to BP, no date.
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8. Diary, 29 May 1932.
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9. Diary, 31 May 1932.
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10. RG to BP, 1 June 1932.
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11. Diary, 5 June 1932.
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CHAPTER X
1. Diary, 8 June 1932.
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2. Diary, 15 June 1932.
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3. Diary, 18 June 1932.
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4. Diary, 20 June 1932.
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5. Diary, 20 June 1932.
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6. Diary, 23 June 1932.
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7. Diary, 24 June 1932.
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8. Diary, 24 June 1932, added comment 26 July 1933.
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CHAPTER XI
1. RG to BP, 23 June 1932.
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2. RG to BP, 26 June 1932.
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3. RG to BP, 26 June 1932.
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4. RG to BP, 26 June 1932.
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5. RG to BP, 7 July 1932.
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6. RG to BP, 17 July 1932.
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7. RG to BP, 22 August 1932.
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8. Diary, 15 and 16 September 1932.
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9. Diary, 21 September 1932.
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10. Diary, 22 September 1932.
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11. RG to BP, 25 September 1932.
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12. RG to BP, 25 September 1932.
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13. RG to BP, 3 October 1932.
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14. RG to BP, 3 October 1932.
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15. RG to BP, 3 October 1932.
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CHAPTER XII
1. Philip Larkin, Jill (1946), p. 21.
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2. RG to BP, 12 October 1932.
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3. Diary, 15 October 1932.
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4. RG to BP, 17 October 1932.
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5. RG to BP, 17 October 1932.
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6. Diary, October to November 1932.
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7. RG to BP, 3 November 1932.
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8. RG to BP, 2 November 1932.
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CHAPTER XIII
1. RG to BP, 12 November 1932.
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2. RG to BP, 1 December 1932.
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3. RG to BP, 29 December 1932.
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4. Diary, 17 January 1933.
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5. RG to BP, 22 March 1933.
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6. RG to BP, 29 March 1933.
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7. RG to BP, 10 October 1934.
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8. RG to BP, 10 October 1934.
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9. RG to BP, 3 August 1935. My italics.
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CHAPTER XIV
1. Diary, 18 January 1933.
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2. Diary, 18 January 1933.
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3. Diary, 25 January 1933.
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5. Diary, 26 January 1933.
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6. Diary, 26 January 1933.
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CHAPTER XV
1. Diary, 12 February 1933.
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2. Diary, 13 February 1933.
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3. BP to HH, 10 March 1933. Pym’s letters to Harvey are in a separate Bodleian file: ‘Letters of Barbara Pym to Henry Harvey, with cartoons’ (MS. 9827).