The Last Englishmen

by Deborah Baker

  Violet liked to dress … backs of their knees. Humphrey Spender interview, BLASR.

  Sometime between … egged Harold on. Stephen Spender, The Backward Son, 134–35. Humphrey Spender interview, BLASR.

  Wystan and Michael … to Oxford. Balliol Record, 2008, 18–19.

  They explored … lead and gold. Stephen Spender, W. H. Auden, 26.

  2. The Steamship and the Spinning Wheel

  Before he knew … never would. Townsend, “Journal,” Vol. 5, July 2, 1929. PRO. This account of Auden’s passage is put together from other, roughly contemporary, accounts of passages to India.

  The scene in the hallways … remarked upon at dinner. J. A. Spender, Indian Scene, 5, 7, 14.

  At Port Said … Gulf of Suez. Muggeridge, Chronicles, 95.

  All at once, a hundred … at nightfall. Spender, “1935 Everest Journal,” 4–5. PSA.

  The next morning … stentorian cry of “Boy!” Muggeridge, Chronicles, 95.

  He always got … up Cader Idris. John Auden, “1913 Journal of Family Holiday in Rhayader.” BERG. Spender, W. H. Auden, 26.

  Egalitarian, they … and a cook. Spender, W. H. Auden, 26.

  Stowed in a trunk … Expedition of 1922. Papers of John Bicknell Auden. BL: Mss Eur D 843/12.

  Launches flying … British Empire. Muggeridge, Chronicles, 96.

  The infernal hubbub … a curious face. Spender, Indian Scene, 17–19.

  Between dawn … preposterous topee. Auden, Reminiscences of Retired Officers, 41.

  Aunt May prided … Night Thoughts with her husband. Spender, World within World, 86.

  His Harrow- and Cambridge … agreed. Bose, The Indian Struggle, 210.

  Indeed, even Alfred despaired … minority Muslim community. Spender, Indian Scene, 231.

  Even the Great War … inevitability of progress. Ibid., 139. Spender, World within World, 77.

  Once a scrub forest … silhouetted against the sky. Auden et al., Centenary of the Geological Survey, 6.

  Pit mines worked … of their caste. Peterson, Bengal District Gazetteers, 173.

  As John sweated through … the Roman Wall. J. B. Auden, “1929 Journal.” AMA.

  When John confessed … in the library. WHA to JBA [June or December 1927]. BERG.

  As for John’s fears … would save him. WHA to JBA [April and December 1927]. BERG. John Auden, “1929 Journal.” AMA.

  Modeled on the Alpine Journal … literature, and sport.” Mason, Abode of Snow, 190.

  John’s GSI supervisors … of the Himalaya? Auden et al., Reminiscences of Retired Officers, 42.

  The highest point on a sixty-mile … the Krol Belt. Valdiya, The Making of India, 344.

  John drew cross sections … How did this happen? “The Geology of the Krol Belt,” in Radhakrishna, J. B. Auden, 55, 121.

  3. Bengali Baboo

  Following British traders … their English airs. Datta, World of Twilight, 51–52, 58.

  They granted Bengalis … a ruling race. Spender, Indian Scene, 220.

  “By his legs … always must be.” Steevens, In India, 73.

  A British Resident … demand a reckoning.” Sarkisyanz, From Imperialism to Fascism, 163–64, citing Al Carthill, Verlorene Herrschaft, 141–43. Carthill, whose real name was Bennet Christian Huntingdon Calcraft Kennedy, was the author of Lost Dominion, a handbook on racial imperialism later translated into German and taken up by Karl Haushofer, Rudolf Hess, and Adolf Hitler. Hannah Arendt also noted the widespread influence of Carthill’s handbook on Nazi ideology.

  “What milk … polysyllabic baboo.” Aberigh-Mackay, Twenty-One Days, 51–52.

  “quick to discern the fire of ideas behind the smoke of guns.” Bose, An Acre of Green Grass, 70–71.

  A boycott was called … state of West Bengal. Sarkar, The Swadeshi Movement, 18–20.

  That and other acts … a sense of honor. Datta, The World of Twilight, 64.

  In 1901, this uncle … England unharmed. Datta, Art of the Intellect, 230. Datta, World of Twilight, 73–76.

  When he sailed to England … by British troops. King, Partner in Empire, 104.

  As guarantor of … sunrise to sunset. Datta, World of Twilight, 7–9, 27–29.

  After Sudhin came of age … outside their bedroom. Sinclair, “A Memoir,” 54. PSA.

  Was it surprising … own woolly minds? Datta, Art of the Intellect, 18.

  In Germany he disarmed … return their Heils. Dev, Sudhindranath Datta, 24, citing Edward Shils, introduction to Datta, World of Twilight, xvi.

  The love poems … bitterly controlled wrath. Bose, Acre of Green Grass, 65.

  “A more ill-assorted … you cannot imagine.” Datta, Art of the Intellect, 231.

  As a child … greatest delights. Datta, World of Twilight, 49–50.

  What gunfighters … was to Calcutta. Suraiya, Rickshaw Ragtime, 108–10.

  Among the subjects … European literature. Dev, Sudhindranath Datta, 28, 34–35.

  “Ask a Bengali … his own eloquence.” Suraiya, Rickshaw Ragtime, 108–10.

  At the center of an adda … members orbited. Chakrabarty, Provincializing Europe, 208, citing Nana katha by Srikumar Chattopadhyay, 9, 16.

  In its first year the adda … as a clerk. Sarkar, Essays in Honour, 23.

  On the upper floors … covered with sheets. Muggeridge, Like It Was, 103.

  Two enormous bookshelves … of course, Tagore. Dev, Sudhindranath Datta, 36, citing Amar Jauban, by Buddhadeb Bose.

  A lamp of frosted glass … they were good. Reminiscences of Kanakendranath Datta (nephew), translated by Gouri Chatterjee.

  Even an Englishman … unfailing courtesy. Mukherji, “The Dickens World Revisted.”

  At ease on any number … swerve to a “yet.” Bose, Acre of Green Grass, 55.

  He would consider … unassailable confidence. Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, August 27, 1937, 41. The secret diarist was Shyamal Krishna Ghosh. Though he did come to write in Bengali after his involvement with the Parichaya group, he wrote his diary in English. Unfortunately, the diary was lost, but not before parts of it had been translated into Bengali and published. Gouri Chatterjee retranslated them back into English for me, but I have edited her translations for style.

  The more aggressive nationalists … nothing but Sanskrit. Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, September 16, 1932, 123.

  He took equally … blindingly white dhotis. Datta, Art of the Intellect, 230.

  And the Mahatma’s constant resort … unsettled Sudhin the most. Ibid., 230.

  When he encountered … on his tweeds. Datta, World of Twilight, xviii.

  All assumed the … business interests. See Dasgupta, English Poets on India, 1–2.

  He took shelter … come home. Hassan Shahid Suhrawardy, BL: IOR/L/PJ/12/3, File 1256/17.

  On his reluctant return to … wine, and food. Muggeridge, Like It Was, 92, 95. Muggeridge, Chronicles, 28.

  Both Scotland Yard … not a Bolshevik. Hassan Shahid Suhrawardy, BL: IOR/L/PJ/12/3, File 1256/17.

  A former deputy mayor … disgraceful situations.” Dash Papers, BL: Mss Eur D1066/2.

  He had acquaintances … at the same time. Leonard George Pinnell, “Pages relating to Bengal Famine.” BL: Mss Eur D911/37.

  On his rare visits … local politics. Sarkar, Essays in Honour, 32.

  The Suhrawardy brothers … Nothing. Muggeridge, Like It Was, 100.

  A monologue on classical … the Himalayan foothills. Ghosh, Parichay-er Adda, 118.

  While his interlocutor … appearance of cant. Sarkar, Essays in Honour, 27, 29–31.

  After his father lost … warring intellects. Mitra, Three Score and Ten, 82.

  Finally, there was … slightly exaggerated. Sarkar, Essays in Honour, 23, 30–31.

  To some Sudhin was … nature of truth and reality. Abu Sayeed Ayyub, “Sudhindranath Datta.”

  Yet whatever face he turned … give up his own. Datta, World of Twilight, 60.

  4. The Thrust Fault

  The “fishing fleets” … a th
ousand pounds a year. Sinclair, “A Memoir,” 40. PSA.

  There were Sunday … the Bally, and the Slap. Carritt, Mole in the Crown, 83–84.

  These establishments, too … Girls were extra. Suraiya, Rickshaw Ragtime, 100–101.

  “Not just because of an idea?” J. B. Auden, “1929 Journal,” is the main source for this chapter. Direct quotations, except where otherwise indicated, are from this and have been lightly edited for clarity. AMA.

  It was Wystan who … see Margaret Marshall. WHA to JBA [late July 1927]. BERG.

  Margaret had pronounced Wystan’s libido perfectly normal. WHA to Christopher Isherwood [March/April 1928]. HL.

  John could never bring … more fully expressed. JBA to WHA [June or July 1927]. BERG.

  Petitioners found him … foremost in his mind: Capital. Dash Papers, “A Bengal Diary 1910–1950.” Box 2-5, BL: Mss Eur C188.

  No one needed to tell … peace was preserved. Moon, Strangers in India, 14.

  If Gandhi followed through … English mill worker. Muldoon, Empire, Politics, 14. Straits Times, September 1, 1930.

  “The British government in India … culturally, and spiritually.” Extract from the Independence Day Resolution passed by the INC in 1930. www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/empire/transcript/g3cs3s2t.htm.

  5. Triangles

  While Alfred Spender … vote was reversed. Sarkar, Essays in Honour, 18–20. Citing coverage in Amrita Bazar Patrika, February 14, 1926, 5; February 20, 1926, 10; and March 9, 1926, 4.

  At the war’s end … were starving. Townsend, journals, vol. 1, May 6–12, 1926. PRO.

  Though Michael Spender … for engine drivers. Sutherland, Stephen Spender, 63.

  Driving a locomotive … friend from university. MS to Anthony Bull, undated. PSA. Bull was a future president of the Institute of Transport.

  Michael’s only concern … arrived at the station. Philip Spender, interview, summer 2014.

  By the second … Canning Town. Laybourn, General Strike; Townsend, journals, vol. 1, May 6–12, 1926. PRO.

  “Am not I a man of crisis?”… of the moment. MS to Anthony Bull, undated. PSA.

  By the fifth day … starve, he thundered. Laybourn, General Strike, 16.

  By day eight … dockworkers. Townsend, journals, vol. 1, May 6–12, 1926. PRO. Laybourn, General Strike, 62.

  Still dazed by the glow … now saw, outrageous. MS to Anthony Bull, undated. PSA.

  Even the Conservative … been overdone. MS to Anthony Bull, undated. PSA.

  Researching an article … nightly programming. Chris Baraniuk to Philip Spender, January 6 and 10, 2010. PSA.

  When Alfred finally … the Indian Civil Service. Spender, The Changing East, 153.

  Like the color bar … of the British Raj. Ibid., 148–49.

  The Changing East … were the remedy. Ibid., 155–56.

  On the eve … choose someone else. MS to Anthony Bull, February 18, 1927. PSA.

  Michael Spender was … terribly keen. C. F. Jenkin to Arthur Hinks, February 20, 1928: RGS Archive Gt Barrier Reef CB, 1921–1928.

  On hearing the news … Harold had been. Spender, World within World, 44.

  The four rugby-playing … best jobs going. Carritt, Mole in the Crown, 7.

  Having spent more time … for a posting. Ibid., 15–17.

  He foresaw sharing pegs … chukkers of polo. Steevens, In India, 72.

  But to Carritt’s bitter … of the ICS deck. Carritt, Mole in the Crown, 14.

  Gandhi’s volunteers had offered only … congratulation from prison. www.midnapore.in/town_contai_freedom.html.

  If Carritt distinguished himself … inquiries were threatened. Michael Carritt, “Tour Diary, Tangail.” BL: Mss Eur D 1172/4.

  Yet Carritt did admit that … and no doctor. Carritt, Mole in the Crown, 30–32.

  He died the next morning … two assailants. Special Branch file no. 6234 Outrage—Midnapur shooting murder of Mr. Peddie, ICS Midnapur on April 7, 1931. PMROK.

  Peddie’s assassins were … arrests of young men. Battacharya, Chittagong, 147, 465. www.midnapore.in/town_contai_freedom.html.

  The Marquess of Willingdon … was kindness. Muggeridge, Chronicles, 44.

  When another campaign … with sitting targets. Dash Papers, “A Bengal Diary 1910–1950,” Box 2-5. BL: Mss Eur C188.

  On his return he accepted a job … Then he resigned. Philip Spender’s notes on Nancy Sharp’s memories of Michael Spender, January 9, 1967. PSA.

  To Arthur Hinks … felt futile. MS to Arthur Hinks, January 8, 1931. RGS.

  In 1800 a sweet-tempered … it was begun. Keay, The Great Arc, 9, 31, 80.

  A no less monumental … village in India. Collier, “Impact on Topographic Mapping.”

  Every ICS officer … seen and measured. Carritt, Mole in the Crown, 42, 46.

  The maps of the southern … about that? MS to Arthur Hinks, January 8, 1931. PSA.

  Hinks knew from the Everest Committee … stereographic surveying. Arthur Hinks to Professor Carl Fridolin Baeschlin, December 1, 1930. PSA.

  Just beyond this contraption … here to work.” MS to Arthur Hinks, January 8, 1931. PSA.

  Switzerland’s leading expert … proof of the rotation equation. MS to Arthur Hinks, February 26, 1931. PSA.

  A map, however … fitted onto it. Spender, “Geography at Work.” PSA.

  The algorithms used … mountainous terrain. Collier, “Impact on Topographic Mapping.”

  This physiological phenomenon … and an early night. Spender, “The New Photographic Survey.”

  The Germans were so … mentioning the Wild. MS to Arthur Hinks, February 26, 1931. PSA.

  For some time now … streets for the beggars. Christopher Isherwood to Olive Mangeot, December 1931. Box 64, CI Papers, HL.

  Erica Haarmann. Diary of Erika Haarmann MSS. German e. 16-19. BOD. Erica spelled her name Erika and Erica, Haarmann and Harman.

  “There isn’t a girl … to commit suicide.” Spender, World within World, 47.

  “spiritual astigmatism.” Ibid., 46.

  6. The School of Art

  Until she left for Cheltenham Ladies’ … of her youth into Art. Sharp, “Memoir and Chronology,” PSA. Unless otherwise noted, various versions of Nancy Sharp’s Memoir and Chronology form the basis of this chapter.

  An early self-portrait … at peace. Spender, Nancy Sharp (Nancy Spender), from the introduction.

  If she was going … hall of the Slade. Devas, Two Flamboyant Fathers, 149–50.

  So Nancy’s studio … became her stage. Townsend, journals, vol. 7, July 1, 1930. PRO.

  Her parties and the wild revels … had possessed them. Townsend, journals, vol. 7, June 18, 1930. PRO.

  Thin as a pencil … shrewd look about him. Medley, Drawn from Life, 204. Pery, The Affectionate Eye, 26–27.

  Pictorial art … to be watched. Townsend, journals, vol. 5. January 30, 1929. PRO.

  While his witty … that haunted him. Pery, The Affectionate Eye, 26. Rogers Papers, 8121. TGA.

  The Slade Boys all agreed … holiday a year. Townsend, journals, vol. 5, December 13, 1928. PRO.

  “Herd masturbation” one of them called it. Townsend, journals, vol. 7, November 11, 1930. PRO.

  Mixed parties soon brought … drunken spectacle. Townsend, journals, vol. 7, October 14, 1929, July 1, 1930. PRO.

  The Boys blamed the arrival … detestable creature. Townsend, journals, vol. 7, December 9, 1929. PRO.

  Money, and the lack … and Ben Nicolson. Townsend, journals, vol. 10, January 12, 1936. PRO

  They looked to Bill … but to show them. Townsend, journals, vol. 9, August 5 and 9, 1934. PRO.

  But Bill’s paintings … had been disturbed. Coldstream Papers, 8922/1. TGA.

  He couldn’t draw … out his brushes. Graham Bell to Ann Bell, April 27 and 29, 1938. Coldstream Papers, 8922/4. TGA.

  “Just what does Bill think he’s up to?” Rogers Papers, 8121/9. TGA. Moynihan, Restless Lives, 30.

  Whatever happened … fee
l of his studio. Devas, Two Flamboyant Fathers, 175. Moynihan, Restless Lives, 27.

  Flowers withered before she could paint them. Graham Bell, Coldstream Papers, 8922/4. TGA.

  “I can do nothing with your father … very sorry, sir.” Laughton, William Coldstream, 25. Laughton cites Townsend’s journal for this but the date 1928 is wrong. They were married in 1932. Doubtless, many versions circulated.

  Seeing Bill emerge … like a corpse. Moynihan, Restless Lives, 34–35.

  With her frantic … life out of him. NS to JBA, May 17, 1938. MSS Auden. BERG.

  Where they had … eyeing Bill for answers. Townsend, journals, vol. 7, May 10, 1930.

  Bill told the Boys … newly impressed. Townsend, journals, vol. 9, August 5 and 9, 1934. PRO.

  While Bill was out and about … to be an only.” Pery, The Affectionate Eye, 40. Rogers Papers, 8121/9. TGA.

  Cadging a shilling … for the baby. Rogers Papers, 8121/9. TGA. Moynihan, Restless Lives, 27.

  “We’ll just leave Juliet … that she’s all right.” Rogers Papers, 8121/9. TGA.

  “veteran enemy of compulsory hygiene,” Auden and Isherwood, Journey to a War, 59.

  When Nancy went … thick as thieves. Interviews with Philip Spender, summer 2014.

  Wystan had arrived … his father’s library. George Augustus Auden to NS, May 4, 1946. PSA.

  In Berlin Wystan had … love of men? W. H. Auden, “1929 Berlin Journal.” BERG.

  When Wystan wrote … Bill was jealous. NS to LM, July 12, 1937. BOD.

  If Bill was unable to be faithful … have affairs. Sharp, memoir chronology, PSA. Carpenter, W. H. Auden, 26.

  One afternoon … in the lock. Interviews with Philip Spender, summer 2014.

  Yet when Wystan … didn’t think she’d mind. NS to JBA, May 25, 1938. PSA.

  7. Perfect Monsters

  Then, on Sunday, January 15 … indigestible scraps. Andrews, The Indian Earthquake, 34.

  In Calcutta … masonry and timber. Ibid., 22.

  In Kathmandu … the air unbreathable. Brett, “A Report on the Bihar Earthquake.”

  By the time the earth … made homeless. Andrews, Indian Earthquake, 15–17.

  The king of Nepal … collapse of his palace. Prashad, The Life and Times of Maharaja Juddha, 66.

  John Auden was invited … had to withdraw. J. B. Auden, “Traverses in Nepal.”