Chasing Lost Time
Page 41
joins the Savile Club
buys a bulldog
works in military intelligence
at Robert Graves wedding
continues painful treatment for his injured leg
love and friendship for Wilfred Owen
survives London air raid
dedicatory words and poems
returns to France as Assistant Press Officer
reaction to the deaths of several close friends
effect of Owen’s death on
cold-shouldered by Half Moon Street group
portrait painted by E. S. Mercer
rents a house with friends
enjoys London theatrical life
reaction to the death of his brother John
works for Lord Northcliffe
meets Joseph Conrad
flies to Germany with Lady Seaforth
comments on German inflation
farewell birthday lunch
life in Italy
moves to Italy
sexual encounters
tries to learn Italian
drops typewriter case into the sea at Viareggio
locked in restaurant toilet by a waiter
buys an owl
continued sojourn in Italy
proposes to write his own book
death of his owl
suffers signs of stomach cancer
returns briefly to Britain
brief return to England
invites his mother to live with him
learns of the death of his father
founds yearly Prize for Idiomatic Translation at Winchester
looks after Creal family in Pisa
harassed and blackmailed
asked to write KOSB regimental history
evicted from flat in Pisa
starts to give away or sell his library
decides to destroy anything incriminating
catches gonorrhoea
travels round Italy, France and Switzerland with his mother
insists his corrected proofs be adhered to
dislike of D.H. Lawrence and Lady Chatterley’s Lover
spends his final year in Rome
sends teasing letter to Marsh
comments on lesbianism
nostalgic for home, Lanark and Pisa
death and funeral
poems and stories
satirical writing
Works by:
books: Snakes in the Grass
index: Moncrieff genealogy
limericks, acrostic, clerihew and a play on a name:
poems:
‘Agnes Dead in Martolm’
‘All Clear’
‘Back in Billets’
‘The Beechwood’
‘Billeted’
‘Domum’
‘The Face of Raphael’
‘A Ghost Story’
‘God and one Man – Make a Majority’
‘Golden Wings’
‘The Grammairian’s Wedding’
‘Hylas’
‘A Mother’s Prayer’
‘My Mistake’
‘The Prince’s Page’
‘Summer Thunder’
‘Sunset in Flanders’
‘To a Public Man’
‘The Willow Tree Bough’
satirical writing:
The Strange and Striking Adventures of Four Authors in Search of a Character
The Child’s Guide to an Understanding of the British Constitution
stories:
‘Ant’
‘Cousin Fanny and Cousin Annie’
Evensong and Morwe Song
‘Free Verse’
‘Mortmain’
‘The Mouse in the Dovecote’
‘The Victorians’
translations:
The Adventures of Zeloïde and Amanzarifdine
Beowulf
‘The Death of Albertine’
The Letters of Abelard and Heloise
Mémoires du duc de Lauzun
Pirandello
Proust
Song of Roland
Stendhal
Scott Moncrieff, Colin (brother) (1879–19)
birth of
dislike of boarding school
childhood
at Oxford university
appointed curate in London’s East End
visited by his brother Charles
marries Constance Lunn
appointed lecturer at St John’s College, Auckland
interest in theosophy
returns to Edinburgh
in 1914 family photograph
Christmas 1914
appointed rector of Little Stanmore (Whitchurch) in Middlesex
visits Charles at Carlton House Terrace
learns of his brother John’s death
health of
Scott Moncrieff, Sir Colin Campbell (great uncle)
Scott Moncrieff, Colin (nephew) (b.1908)
Scott Moncrieff, David (great uncle)
Scott Moncrieff, David (nephew)
Scott Moncrieff, Dorothy (niece) (b.1912)
Scott Moncrieff, William George (father) (1848–19)
illness and death of
marriage
as Sheriff Substitute of Banff
university life
as writer of serial novels
appointed Sheriff Substitute of Falkirk
visits Egypt
friendship with Tony, a schoolmaster
as amateur actor
appointed Sheriff of Inverness
forced to put Dido to sleep
appointed Sheriff Substitute of Lanark
declines to attend coronation of Edward VII
buys house near Lanark
celebrates his silver wedding anniversary
takes Charles to Winchester
entertains Charles in London
in Italy for extended holiday
spends winter on the French Riviera and Italy
Scott Moncrieff, Sir George (mother’s cousin)
Scott Moncrieff, George (nephew) (b.1910)
Scott Moncrieff, Jesse Margaret ‘Meg’ (mother)
description of
marriage
birth of children
keeps daily diary for fifty years (1882–1936)
as writer for magazines and journals
effect of opiates on
health of
meets Prince of Wales and Bismarck at Banff Castle
moves to Weedingshall House
comment on formation of character
carves her own writing desk
family life
involved in social welfare
religious beliefs
celebrates her silver wedding anniversary
unaware of Charles’s sexual preferences
paints a portrait of Charles
in 1914 family photograph
decides to sell Edgemoor house
stays with uncle Colin in Egypt
sent 59th birthday telegram by Charles
visits Charles at Carlton House Terrace
comment on Charles’s health
celebrates Charles 29th birthday and says goodbye to him
interest in spiritualism
reaction to the death of her son John
reaction to translation of Swann’s Way
in Italy for extended holiday
comments on Reggie and Beerbohm
spends winter on the French Riviera and Italy
and death of George
stays with Anna in Oxford
stays with Charles in Italy, France and Switzerland
moves to a flat in Maida Vale
visits Charles in hospital
The True Lover
Memories and Letters
Scott Moncrieff, John Irving (brother) (1881–1920)
birth of
description of his brother Charles
childhood
love of animals
le
aves for job in South America
returns from Uruguay
enrols at Glasgow Veterinary School
marries Anna Wood
qualifies as a vet
in 1914 family photograph
moves to Cyprus
as vet during the War
death of
Scott Moncrieff, John Irving (great uncle)
Scott Moncrieff, Kate (aunt)
Scott Moncrieff, Kenneth (uncle)
Scott Moncrieff, Mary (aunt)
visits Egypt with Meg
marries Tony
helps to run Alton Burn school
Scott Moncrieff, Robert (banker)
Scott Moncrieff, Robert (grandfather) (1828–1908)
The Branches and the Branch
Scott Moncrieff, Robert (great-grandfather)
Scott Moncrieff, Robert (son of John Scott/Madeleine Moncrieffe)
Scott Moncrieff, Sita (niece)
Scott, Sir Walter
Marmion
Scott, William Dundas
Scottish Enlightenment
Scottish National Party
Seaforth Mackenzie, Lady
Seaman, Owen
Seltzer, Thomas
Shakespeare and Co.
Shakespeare, William
As You Like It
The Merchant of Venice
Shaw, Charlotte
Shaw, George Bernard
Shaw Stewart, Katherine
Shaw Stewart, Patrick
Shelley, Percy Bysshe
‘Arethustra’
The Cenci
‘Sensitive Plant’
Siena
Simon and Schuster
Sinn Fein
Sitwell, Edith
The Wooden Pegasus
Sitwell, Sir George
Sitwell, Osbert
All at Sea
Argonaut and Juggernaut
Triple Fugue
Sitwell, Sacheverell
Sitwells, the
Solway Moss, Battle of
Sontag, Susan
Sorley, Charles
Spencer, Stanley
Sprott, Sebastian
Squire, J. C.
Stanley, Venetia
Steenvoorde
Stendhal (Henri Marie Beyle)
The Abbess of Castro
Armance
Chroniques Italiennes
De l’Amour
La Chartreuse de Parme (The Charterhouse of Parma)
Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black)
Stephen, Helen
Stern, G. B.
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Songs of Travel
Strachey, Lytton
Stravinsky, Igor
Streatfield, Philip
Stresa
Regina Palace Hotel
suffragettes
Sunday Times
Swinley, Gordon
Switzerland
Symons, A. J. A.
Tagore, Rabrindranath, La Fugitive
Tailhade, Laurent
Tennyson, Alfred, Lord
‘Come into the Garden Maud’
‘Lotus Eaters’
Theatre Royal, Huddersfield
Theosophical Society
Thomas, William Beach
Thompson, David, Nairn in Darkness and Light
Thorndike, Sybil
The Times
Times Literary Supplement
Titanic
Tollemache, Lyonulphe
Tolstoy, Leo
Tompkins, Laurence
Tompkins, Molly
Tonnochy, Alec
Tortworth Rectory (Gloucestershire)
Treaty of London (1839)
Trollope, Anthony, Last Chronicles of Barset
Turner, Reggie
attends Charles’s farewell birthday lunch
as author and aesthete
South Wind
anecdotes on Wilde
description of
travels to Rapallo to see Charles
Meg’s comment on
sees Charles in Florence
bids Charles farewell
Turner, Walter
Turner, W. J.
Vachell, Horace Annesley, The Hill
Venice
Viani, Lorenzo, Parigi
Viareggio
Victoria, Queen
Viewmount house (Inverness)
Villon, François
Virgil, Aeneid
Vittorio Emmanuelle III, King of Italy
Vogue
Waack, Herr
Walkely, A. B.
Wallows, Lily
Walpole, Hugh
The Dark Forest
The War Illustrated
War Office
Wareing, Alfred
Waugh, Alec
The Loom of Youth
Waugh, Arthur
Waugh, Evelyn
Brideshead Revisited
Decline and Fall
Webster, John, The Duchess of Malfi
Weedingshall House (Polmont-Falkirk)
Welch, Lieutenant-Colonel
Westminster Gazette
Weymouth
Wharton, Edith
Wheels
Whitman, Walt
‘Come up from the Fields, Father’
Whitworth, Geoffrey
Wilberforce, William
Wilde, Oscar
Ballad of Reading Gaol
De Profundis
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Picture of Dorian Grey
Salome
Wilhelm II, Kaiser
William of Wykeham
Williams, Orlo
Wilson, James Steuart
Wiltshire Regiment
Winchester (city)
Winchester College
Charles at
foundation and description of
privilege and wealth associated with
SCROGUS society
Eton-Winchester Cricket Match (1904)
debate on loyalty and courage
Charles founds yearly Prize for Idiomatic Translation at
Wolfe, Teddy
Wood, Anna see Scott Moncrieff, Anna Wood
Wood sisters (Anna, Rita, Molly)
Woolf, Virginia
To the Lighthouse
Wordsworth, William
Wray, Fitzwater
Wright, Ralph
The Wykehamist
Yale Review
Yemen
Ypres
Ypres Cathedral
Zionism
Illustrations
All pictures are from the family collection unless otherwise stated.
Charles Kenneth Scott Moncrieff, aged 23, taken just before the war.
Charles’s parents, Jessie Margaret ‘Meg’ and William George Scott Moncrieff;
Weedingshall House, near Polmont, Stirlingshire, where Charles was born in 1889;
Charles’s mother Meg, as a young woman, with her mother, Katherine, seated.
The extended family at their annual seaside gathering at Elie on the Fife coast on the eve of war, 1914;
Charles, aged 20, with his father and brother John, in 1910.
Charles in his first year at Winchester with other scholars in 1903;
Charles aged 16 when he first met Robbie Ross;
Christopher Millard, Robbie Ross’s secretary, who greatly influenced the young Charles (courtesy of the Master and Fellows of University College, Oxford).
Robert Ross, disciple of Oscar Wilde and art critic, photographed by Elliott & Fry, 1914 (© National Portrait Gallery, London);
A sketch from the Edgemoor visitors’ book of Philip Bainbrigge, a close friend of Charles’s from his university days.
Charles on a visit to Durie in 1916;
Charles surrounded by his first company in the KOSB in 1914, at Portland Bill before they set out for France.
Robert Graves in 1920, photographed by Lady Ottoline Morell (© National Portrait Gallery, London);
Charles (in spectacles) at the Ducane Road specialist leg hospital.
A page from Charles’s Bible showing the places and dates he attended mass while in France from 1915 to 1916.
Portrait of Charles painted in 1922 by Edward Stanley Mercer (© Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh).
Marcel Proust wearing the uniform of the 76th Infantry Regiment, Orléans, in 1889 (© Mondadori via Getty Images);
Charles Prentice with Norman Douglas (© Carl Van Vechten, the Van Vechten Trust).
Luigi Pirandello at his desk, Monteluco, in 1924 (© Mondadori via Getty Images);
Edward Marsh, civil servant and patron of the arts, painted by Teddy Wolfe (courtesy of RSL);
Sketch of Charles by Estelle Nathan, in 1925.
A cinematic flipbook of Vyvyan Holland and Charles at dinner in Milan, mid-1920s (courtesy of Merlin Holland).
Charles (on left) and his friends, sightseeing in Italy, mid-1920s;
Oriana Haynes as a young woman, painted by John Collier in 1898;
Ruby Melville (second left) in Italy in 1923 (courtesy of Merlin Holland).
A postcard of the Hotel Nettuno in Pisa, where Charles often stayed, to his niece, Sita.
Charles on holiday with his cousin Louis Christie at Durie in 1926;
Claude Dansey, spymaster, caricature by H. F. Crowther Smith;
Charles on an Italian mountainside, taken by Vyvyan Holland in 1926 (courtesy of Merlin Holland).
A dedication by Charles to his ancestors.
Charles had this photo taken when he was 23 on a visit to Winchester, before the war. He gave a copy to Wilfred Owen in 1918 and one to Louis Christie in 1926.
Charles’s parents: Meg was a working writer who travelled, took opium for her cough, painted, carved and kept a diary. George was a Sherriff with interests in literature and philanthropy.
Charles’s mother in one of her homemade dresses, reading with her mother, the Gaelic-speaking Katherine, whose portrait as a young woman hangs behind them.
Weedingshall House, near Polmont, Stirlingshire, where Charles was born in 1889.
The extended family at their annual seaside gathering at Elie on the Fife coast on the eve of war, 1914. Charles is standing in the back row (3rd from left), with Tony and Mary Ray on his right. His brothers, Colin and John (back row, 6th and 8th from left), are there with their wives, Anna (back row, 7th from left) and Connie (middle row, 5th from left). Meg and George are in the middle row (4th and 6th from left).
Charles looking mischievous, aged 20, with his father and brother John, in 1910.
Charles (back row, first left) in his first year at Winchester with other scholars, 1903.
Charles aged 16, when he first met Robbie Ross.
Christopher Millard, Robbie Ross’s secretary, who greatly influenced the young Charles. Millard was 36 when he met the 16-year-old Charles.