Chasing Lost Time
Page 37
2. Ibid., 25.4.1895
3. Ibid., 24.6.1895
4. Ibid., 1.8.1895
5. Ibid., 25.9.1895
6. Ibid., 30.4.1896
7. Ibid., 20.8.1896
8. Ibid., 10.2.1897
9. Ibid.
10. M&L, 3
11. JMSM, Diary, 19.4.1898
12. Ibid., 11.8.99
13. David Thompson, Nairn, 86
14. JMSM, Diary, 6.7.1900
15. Ibid., 13.8.00
16. Prep school letter, undated. FC
17. CKSM to mother, undated. FC
18. From his father, 27.6.02. FC
Chapter 3: Winchester
1. JMSM, Diary, 7.7.03
2. From George to Meg, 16.9.03. Christina Scott Moncrieff
3. To his mother, undated, 1903. M&L, 13
4. To his mother, Winchester, undated. M&L, 21
5. To his father, ‘Moberly Library, Wednesday afternoon’. Christina Scott Moncrieff
6. To his mother, 1904. M&L, 14
7. To his mother, 30.4.05. M&L, 19
8. To his mother, 1905. M&L, 20
9. JMSM, Diary, 1904
10. CKSM, letters. FC
11. Rendall to JMSM, 1904. M&L, 16
12. To his mother, undated. M&L, 21–2
13. CKSM, notebooks. FC
14. CKSM, letters. FC
15. M&L, 19
16. To mother, 30.4.05. M&L, 18
17. To mother, 1905. M&L, 17
18. CKSM, poetry notebook, 6, 1906. FC
19. Ibid.
20. CKSM to Colin, 18.11.07. FC
Chapter 4: First Love Affairs
1. M&L, 19
2. CKSM, poetry notebook, 12. FC
3. Ibid., 13
4. CKSM undated letter, Winchester. FC
5. CKSM undated story. FC
6. CKSM, poetry notebook. FC
7. M&L, 25
8. M&L, 21
9. Fussell, The Great War and Modern Memory, 284
10. Corvo was a talented writer and artist, thief, liar and pederast. A. J. A. Symons’s Quest for Corvo is a masterly exercise in redemption through biography.
11. Ross continued to be a good friend to Wilde after the latter’s imprisonment, working to have his writings endorsed, collected and legally published, ensuring the money went to Wilde’s two sons. He tracked down and bought the rights to texts of Wilde’s that had been sold off and scattered, and he fought the traffic in black-market copies of Wilde’s books and of bogus erotic books under Wilde’s name.
12. Wykehamist, no. 439, Nov. 1906. Academy 10.8.07
13. Joseph Pearce, The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde
14. Ross to Millard, 27.5.07. AC (UCLA)
15. Ross to Millard, 5.5.07. AC (UCLA)
16. Ibid.
17. A. J. A. Symons, Quest for Corvo
18. Monthly academic journal covering the decorative arts, established 1903. The editors were Roger Fry and More Adey.
19. C. J. Hope-Johnstone. Powell, Memoirs, 95
20. FC
21. National Archives, HO 140/346
22. ‘Gross indecency’ was the criminal term used for acts where sodomy could not be proven. The penalty for sodomy was life imprisonment.
23. CKSM to VBH, 27.11.27. HRC
24. JMSM, Diary, 15.4.07
25. CKSM to VBH, 27.11.27. HRC
26. To mother, undated. FC
27. New Field, March 1908
28. New Field, April 1908
29. Plato, Symposium
30. Poetry notebook, Nov. 1907. New Field, March 1908
31. From the 1923 Francis Murray limited edition. FC
32. Burge to Charles’s father, 7.4.08. Christina Scott Moncrieff
Chapter 5: To Edinburgh
1. To mother, Sept. 1908. M&L, 20
2. JMSM, Diary, 25.3.09
3. JMSM, Diary, 4.4.09
4. JMSM, Diary, 6.4.09
5. CKSM, poetry notebook, ‘Lanark April 1909’, 40. FC
6. Ibid. ‘May 1909’, 39. FC
7. ‘To a Public Man’, poetry notebook, 17.8.09. FC
8. Ross to Millard, 6.1.09. AC (UCLA)
9. CKSM, poetry notebook, 45. FC
10. Francis was a journalist and critic and his father, Sir Augustine Birrell, was Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1907–1916. Cecil Spring Rice was a diplomat and poet; he wrote the hymn ‘I Vow to Thee, My Country’ while ambassador in Stockholm. It is not known whether this meeting was with him or one of his brothers.
11. To mother, July 1910. M&L, 30
12. Gale, 84. ‘Long ago, there was an admirable series dealing with the Roman Emperors written, I believe, by Charles Scott Moncrieff, whom I never met,’ wrote E. Clerihew Bentley in his autobiography, Those Days. Authorship of the clerihew quoted is now in dispute. According to C. D. Broad it is by F. W. Haskins. Book Collector (1980) vol. 29, p. 26
13. Gale, 67
14. Dedicatory poem in Chanson de Roland, written Christmas 1918
15. Holland, Son of Oscar Wilde, 126
16. CKSM to VBH, undated. HRC
17. (Lister House) CKSM to VBH, undated. HRC
18. (Edgemoor Lanark) CKSM to VBH, undated. HRC
19. (Lister House) CKSM to VBH, undated. HRC
20. CKSM to VBH, undated. HRC
21. (Argyll) CKSM to VBH, undated. HRC
22. To mother, 28.1.10. M&L, 29
23. To mother, 24.5.11. M&L, 33
24. Poetry notebook, 39. Dated Edinburgh, 1909. FC
25. JMSM, Diary, 9.4.09
26. Saintsbury, A History of Criticism and Literary Taste in Europe from the Earliest Texts to the Present Day, Vol. 3, 611
27. To mother, 19 to 29 Aug, 1912. M&L, 34–40
28. Westminster Gazette, no. 4684, May 1908
29. It was never published but Charles’s typescript still exists in possession of Eileen Scott Moncrieff.
30. To mother, Oct. 1913. M&L, 41
31. JMSM, Diary, 8.8.13
32. CKSM letter. Collection of Malcolm Gibbs
33. H. R. Pyatt, reminiscence written for M&L, 43
Chapter 6: Lightness in War
1. CKSM original diary, 24.7.14. FC
2. CKSM diary, 25.7.14
3. Ibid.
4. To mother, July 1914. M&L, 45
5. CKSM diary, 25.7.14. FC
6. CKSM diary, 26.7.14. FC
7. CKSM diary, 27.7.14
8. CKSM diary, 2.8.14
9. CKSM diary, 8.8.14
10. CKSM diary, 20.8.14
11. To his mother, 18.9.14. M&L, 47
12. Ibid.
13. General information from Royle, Flowers of the Forest
14. Royle, 51
15. CKSM diary, 25.8.14. FC
16. ‘Does Sir reside in the hotel?’ ‘No, I reside in the dust.’
17. To mother, 13.10.14. FC
18. Unit Diary, National Archives, WO 95 1552
19. To mother, 26.10.14. M&L, 55
20. To mother, 27.10.14. M&L, 57
21. Ibid.
22. There were 48,000 Germans and two British divisions of between 10,000 and 15,000
23. Unit Diary: ‘31st October Messines 11am. Great-coats left in village as bayonet charge from east side ordered (coats badly wanted at night. They will never be left again). A and C Coys in firing line. C Coy pushed the line half by the cavalry to the East edge of the village, clearing the Germans out of the convent with the bayonet. House to house fighting ensued. Position south of the village taken by A Coy.’
24. To mother, 2.11.14. M&L, 61. The official casualty list and CWGC database record two subalterns of the 21st Lancers killed in action on the 30th October 1914: Lieutenants Philip Francis Payne-Gallwey and John Herbert Butler Hollings. The subaltern killed was Lieutenant George Henry Cox 3 KOSB att. 2 KOSB. Both the CWGC and official casualty list give the date of death as 30th October (and record one man killed on that day). According to the war diary (and Stair Gillon) the action commenced on the 31s
t.
25. Gillon, The KOSB in the Great War, 52
26. To mother, 2.11.14. M&L, 62
27. Oldham, Messines Ridge, 24
28. To mother, 5.11.14. M&L, 65
29. Unit Diary, National Archives, WO 95 1552
30. Ibid.
31. To mother, 9.11.14. M&L, 68
32. To mother, 5.11.14. M&L, 65
33. To mother, 20.11.14. M&L, 76
34. To mother. M&L, 77. The lines in William Morris’s poem to which CKSM was referring read:
‘The draggled swans most eagerly eat
The green weeds trailing in the moat;
Inside the rotting leaky boat
You see a slain man’s stiffened feet.’
35. To mother, 20.10.14. FC
Chapter 7: God in the Trenches
1. JMSM and CKSM letters. FC
2. E. B. Osborn, The Muse in Arms, 1917
3. To mother, 2.6.15. M&L, 86
4. To mother, 6.6.15. M&L, 86
5. From Mrs Macleod to David Scott Moncrieff, 5.6.52. FC
6. Ibid. M&L, 87
7. Which he kept all his life, left to his mother among his things, and which I now have – when the book is published, I will give the fragment back to Ypres Cathedral with a copy of the book.
8. To mother, 18.7.15. M&L, 91
9. Chapman, A Passionate Prodigality
10. To mother, 22.7.15. M&L, 93
11. Tadié, Marcel Proust, 350
12. Tadié, 326
13. From Knox to JMSM, 12.12.30. FC
14. Evelyn Waugh, Knox, 125
15. Knox, 201
16. Fitzgerald, The Knox Brothers, 121
17. Ibid.
18. Postcard from Knox to CKSM, 21.9.17. FC
19. To mother, 25.7.15. M&L, 94
20. To mother, 1.8.15. M&L, 98
21. Psalm 26, Douay-Rheims translation
22. J. Dalrymple, ‘Conversion’ CTS 1985
23. To mother, 25.7.15. M&L, 94
24. To mother, 1.8.15. M&L, 96
25. Ibid.
26. Ibid.
27. To mother, 3.1.15. M&L, 99
28. Ibid.
29. To mother, 7.8.15. M&L, 100
30. JMSM, Diary, 1916
31. Ibid.
32. To mother, 27.9.15. M&L, 103
33. Gillon, 390
34. To mother, 25.11.15. FC
35. Private Patrick Beattie, 2nd Bn., KOSB, to Charles’s mother, May 1930. M&L, 107
36. Lance-Corporal William Buchanan, 2nd Bn, KOSB, to Charles’s mother, May 1930. M&L, 107
37. To mother, 29.11.15. FC
38. To parents, 29.12.15. M&L, 109
39. To parents, November 1915. M&L, 108
Chapter 8: Critic at War
1. National Archives, WO 339/53655
2. JMSM, Diary, 7.2.16
3. JMSM, Diary, 6.2.16
4. JMSM, Diary, 12.2.16
5. Papers of E. J. Dent, King’s College, Cambridge. Dent composed music for the ballad.
6. To H. R. Pyatt, 19.2.16
7. To the Pyatts, 19.2.16. M&L, 112
8. To mother, 13.2.16. M&L, 110
9. Ross to Millard, 4.9.16. AC (UCLA)
10. To mother, 24.2.16 M&L, 113
11. To mother, 26.2.16. M&L, 114
12. London Mercury, Oct. 1922
13. To mother, 3.3.16. M&L, 116
14. Bridges, Spirit of Man, ii
15. To a friend, 22.3.16. M&L, 118
16. Herbert Charles Lunn to his sister Constance Scott Moncrieff, 20.4.16. FC
17. Lord Kitchener, whose bewhiskered face famously adorned recruiting posters, had been criticised for not organising the supply of necessary munitions and had his responsibilities diminished until he was in charge only of recruitment and manpower by 1916. He was sent on a diplomatic mission to Russia in June 1916 and his armoured cruiser was sunk by a mine from a German U-boat west of Orkney.
18. To mother, 29.4.16. M&L, 119
19. Gillon, 179
20. ODNB
21. The New Witness (NW), 26.8.15
22. NW, 26.10.16
23. NW, 8.2.17
24. NW, 15.11.18
25. JMSM, Diary, 26.12.16
26. Major-General Sir George Kenneth Scott Moncrieff, 1855–1924, was a Royal Engineer serving in India, Afghanistan and China, and then in the War Office 1911–18.
27. Telegram to mother, 27.12.16. FC
28. To mother, 28.1.17. M&L, 122
29. Gillon, 188
30. NW, 8.2.17
31. Holland
32. NW, 12.4.17
33. Ibid.
34. Ibid.
35. To mother, 2.4.17. M&L, 126
36. To mother, 22.4.17. M&L, 127
Chapter 9: Wounded Out
1. To mother, 26.4.17. M&L, 130
2. To mother, 1.5.17. M&L, 128
3. To mother, 28.4.17. FC
4. To Trant, 4.5.17. Winchester College Archives
5. To mother, 14.5.17. M&L, 129
6. NW, 20.9.18
7. To the Pyatts, May 1917. M&L, 133
8. From Lt-Col. Welch to 87th Infantry Brigade headquarters. FC
9. CKSM notebook. FC. Also NW, 8.12.22
10. Westminster Gazette, 30.11.18
11. New Statesman, 30.11.19
12. NW, 28.6.17
13. NW, 2.8.17
14. NW, 6.9.17
15. Ian Hay, The Oppressed English, 30
16. NW, 20.9.17
17. NW, 27.9.17
18. CKSM to Burdell, 23.10.17. NLS
19. Professor Peter France, email to author
20. Ibid.
21. Catherine was the first of four daughters of Major-General Sir George Scott Moncrieff and grew up at Elie Castle. Charles was very close to Catherine all his life and later helped her get work in the Intelligence Services.
22. Sassoon quoted in Joseph Pearce, Literary Converts (San Francisco, 2006), 319
23. Cohen quoted by Jeffrey, MI6, 314
24. Jeffrey, 58
Chapter 10: In Love with Wilfred Owen
1. CKSM, NW, 10.12.20
2. National Archives, HO 140/346
3. ‘In English preparatory and public schools, romance is necessarily homosexual. The opposite sex is despised and treated as something obscene. Many boys never recover from this perversion. For everyone born homosexual, at least ten permanent pseudo-homosexuals are made by the public school system: nine of these ten as honourable, chaste and sentimental as I was.’ Robert Graves, Goodbye to All That, ch. 3
4. Ross had tried to discourage Graves from marrying by hinting that there was ‘negro’ blood in the Nicholson family and that one of their children might revert to coal-black (Goodbye to All That).
5. Owen, Collected Letters, 499
6. Graves to CKSM, 1.1.18. NLS
7. NW, 14.2.18
8. Moorcroft Wilson, 361 (Letter in Sassoon’s press cuttings book in William Reese Collection, New Haven, USA)
9. Moorcroft Wilson, 399
10. Ibid., 400
11. Owen, Collected Letters, 5.10.17
12. NW, 10.12.20
13. Owen, Collected Letters
14. JMSM, Diary, 11.2.18
15. Graves to CKSM, 11.2.18. NLS Acc. 7243
16. Ibid.
17. To mother, copied into diary, 26.4.18
18. NW, 10.12.20
19. Song of Roland, Translator’s Note, xiii
20. NW, 10.5.18
21. NW, 27.9.18
22. EFL, Oxford, dated May 1918. This was not used as the final dedication; instead there were three dedicatory poems to three dead friends, only one of which was Owen.
23. To Marsh, undated. Berg Collection, NYPL
24. Ibid.
25. CKSM to Owen, 19.5.18. EFL, Oxford
26. Owen to his mother, 21.5.18
27. Wilde had argued that Shakespeare had been in love with his sonnet’s ‘onlie begetter’, ‘Mr WH’, and Charles felt he was in the same predicament
with ‘Mr WO’. Shakespeare’s alleged aim had been to immortalise his young friend even though they could not be lovers. Charles was more modest, hoping his sonnet would live by basking in Owen’s reflected glory.
28. CKSM to Owen 27.5.18
29. George Scott Moncrieff, the nephew to whom Charles left all his papers, had a bonfire just after the Second World War and after his wife’s death. He later confessed to his daughter that he had then burnt things that he never should have destroyed.
30. NA, WO 339/53655
31. Graves to CKSM, 24.5.18. NLS Acc. 7243
32. Ibid.
33. The Nation, 15.6.18
34. NW, 21.6.18
35. To mother, 2.4.17 M&L, 126
36. CKSM to VBH, 14.6.18. HRC
37. Ibid.
38. JMSM, Diary, 18.6.18
39. JMSM, Diary, 18.7.18
40. Owen to mother, 31.8.18. CL
41. NW, 10.12.1920
42. Owen to mother, 31.8.18. CL
43. NW, 10.12.20
44. Conversation with author, Oxford, 5.5.2009
45. War Office file, 339/53655
46. NA, WO 339/53655
47. JMSM, Diary, 1918
48. ‘Intimate’ in 1918 did not necessarily mean physical intimacy.
49. Moorcroft Wilson, 512
50. Sassoon, Diary, Oct. 1918
51. Gale. Also http://www.poetropical.co.uk/4.html
52. CKSM, NW, 10.12.20
53. Owen to CKSM. Dennis Welland Collection, John Rylands Library, Manchester University, DSW/1/1/1/23
54. To mother, 12.11.18. M&L, 142
55. To mother, 29.1.19. M&L, 143
56. Wykehamist, 1907. Winchester College Archives
57. CKSM to Susan Owen, 11.2.21. EFL Oxford
Chapter 11: Sniping in the Literary World
1. Major Neville Lytton, 25.12.18, Service Book. FC
2. Sitwell, 22
3. The Nation, 11.10.19
4. NW, 24.10.19
5. NW, 28.11.19
6. Ibid.
7. NW, 14.11.19
8. It is touching that Sassoon, this one-time enemy of Charles, at odds politically and poetically, and so hurt by Charles’s criticism, would later come to embrace the same Catholic faith as Charles and choose the same priestly mentor and friend, Ronald Knox. In fact he asked to be buried near Knox in Mells, Somerset.
9. NW, 21.10.19
10. NW, 9.1.20
11. Stanley Baldwin of the new MPs elected in 1918; quoted by J. M. Keynes in Economic Consequences of the Peace, ch. 5.
12. NW, 24.10.19
13. NW, 12.09.19
14. NW, 26.09.19
15. Ibid.
16. Gale, 202
17. Swann’s Way, 55
18. Mercer (1889–19??) studied at the Slade, then in Holland, Italy and Spain. A classical realist painter, he held his first exhibition in 1912. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and was a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters.