Vera Brittain and the First World War

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Vera Brittain and the First World War Page 19

by Mark Bostridge


  Oxford

  Somerville for Women. An Oxford College 1879-1993 by Pauline Adams (1996) provides historical background for Vera Brittain’s time at Somerville.

  Vera Brittain’s The Dark Tide (1923, reprinted 1999) is a roman à clef, which offers a thinly disguised account of Vera Brittain’s return to Somerville after the war.

  VADs, First World War nurses and hospitals

  Lyn Macdonald’s The Roses of No Man’s Land (1980) is a pioneering study, using first-hand testimony, of the British volunteer nurses of the First World War.

  The relevant chapter in Sharon Ouditt, Fighting Forces, Writing Women. Identity and Ideology in the First World War (1994), looks at the experiences of Voluntary Aid Detachment nurses and the ways in which they were portrayed in writing.

  Janet S. K. Watson, Fighting Different Wars. Experience, Memory, and the First World War in Britain (2004) considers the relations between trained and amateur nurses during the war.

  The website ‘Lost Hospitals of London’ (http://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/index.html, accessed 21 August 2014) contains many interesting details about London hospitals, including the First London General, Camberwell, during the First World War.

  Douglas Gill, in his article ‘No Compromise with Truth. Vera Brittain 1917’, Krug Und Literatur, V, 1999, 67–95, first identified the discrepancies in Vera Brittain’s account of her nursing at Etaples. The official records of the 24 General at Etaples, covering Vera Brittain’s time there, are in the National Archives, WO 95/4085.

  War books and the writing of Testament of Youth

  All the manuscripts of the early versions of Testament of Youth are preserved in the Vera Brittain Archive at McMaster University.

  There are interesting discussions of War books, and the controversies they inspired, which I have drawn on here, in: Gary Sheffield, Forgotten Victory. The First World War: Myths and Realities (2001); Hugh Cecil, The Flower of Battle. British Fiction Writers of the First World War (1995), which includes a chapter on R. H. Mottram, and the Spanish Farm Trilogy; Samuel Hynes, A War Imagined. The First World War and English Culture (1990); and Janet S. K. Watson, Fighting Different Wars. Experience, Memory, and the First World War in Britain (2004).

  Women’s Writing on the First World War, edited by Agnes Cardinal, Dorothy Goldman and Judith Hattaway (1999) contains interesting extracts from a large number of female writers, including Mary Borden. Claire M. Tylee, The Great War and Women’s Consciousness. Images of Militarism and Womanhood in Women’s Writings, 1914-64 (1990), includes an extensive bibliography of women’s writings about the war.

  Biographical material about the writing of Testament of Youth can be found in Selected Letters of Winifred Holtby and Vera Brittain, edited by Vera Brittain and Geoffrey Handley-Taylor (1960); and in Chronicle of Friendship. Vera Brittain’s Diary of the Thirties 1932-1939, edited by Alan Bishop (1986).

  Phyllis Bentley’s unpublished diary is housed in the Calderdale section of West Yorkshire Archives Department, Calderdale Central Library, Halifax (PB/C/14/1). For a description of the parts of it relating to Vera Brittain, see Dave Russell, ‘Province, Metropolis, and the Literary Career of Phyllis Bentley in the 1930s’, The Historical Journal, 51, 3, 2008, 719–40.

  Some of the best literary critical analysis of Testament of Youth, which I have drawn on, is by Jean E. Kennard in Vera Brittain and Winifred Holtby. A Working Partnership (1989).

  The myth of the lost generation is analysed in demographic terms by J. M. Winter in The Great War and the British People (1985).

  Dramatisations

  BBC Television’s five-part adaptation of Testament of Youth (1979) is available on DVD from Acorn Media (2010).

  For background to the 1979 television series, see the article by Philippa Toomey, ‘Vera Brittain and the Testament that came late to life’, The Times, 9 August 1980.

  BBC Radio Four’s 15-part adaptation of Letters from a Lost Generation is available on CD from BBC Audio (2014).

  Rachel Beaumont’s article (2014) on ‘The Personal Inspiration behind Kenneth MacMillan’s Gloria’ can be found online at http://www.roh.org.uk/news/the-personal-tragedy-that-inspired-kenneth-macmillans-gloria (accessed 21 August 2014).

  Index

  Abyssinia 152

  According to Mark 194–5

  Agate, James 141

  Albert 73, 77

  Aldington, Richard 125, 127

  Death of a Hero 125

  Alison, Rosie 173, 177, 181, 182, 184

  All Quiet on the Western Front 125

  All Quiet on the Western Front (film) 188

  Anderby Wold 116

  Annual Register 132

  ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ 164

  Armstrong, Moira 163

  Arras, Battle of 148

  Asquith, H. H. 27

  Atwell, Hayley 184

  autobiography 123, 125, 130, 143

  BAFTA see British Academy of Film and Television Awards

  Bailey, Jonathan 184

  ballet 167–9

  Barker, Pat 192

  Toby’s Room 192

  Bayley, John 185

  BBC see British Broadcasting Corporation

  BBC Films 169, 176, 178, 182, 184

  Beaumont, Rachel 168

  Belgium

  German invasion 28

  Bennett, Arnold 2

  Bentley, Phyllis 135–6, 137

  diary 136,

  Inheritance 135

  ‘O Dreams, O Destinations’ 136

  Bergner, Elisabeth 155

  Berry, Paul 197–202, 207, 208, 211

  letters 200

  Bervon, Ann Isabel (Belle) 38, 40, 41

  Bervon, Bill (Uncle Bill) 89

  Bervon, Edith (later Edith Brittain) 4, 6

  Bervon, Emma 4

  Bervon, Florence 8–9, 17, 40

  Bervon, Inglis 4

  Bevan, Lucy 182

  Birdsong 176–7

  Bishop, Alan 175

  Blunden, Edmund 125, 129

  Undertones of War 125, 129

  Bond, Michael 182

  Bonneville, Hugh 185

  Bookseller, The 161

  Borden, Mary 128

  Forbidden Zone, The 128

  Born 1925 198

  Boy of My Heart 121

  review 121

  Boyle, Consolata 173

  Brahms, Johannes

  German Requiem 77

  Bridges, Robert 131

  Testament of Beauty 131

  Brief Encounter 174, 185

  Brighton

  Grand Hotel 64

  Brighton Gazette 92

  Britannic 80, 81

  British Academy of Film and Television Awards (BAFTA) 166

  British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) 157–8, 161, 164, 165

  Radio 4 176

  British Museum 132

  British Red Cross Society 132

  Brittain, Edith 8, 14, 15, 22, 32, 40, 50, 73, 74, 83, 85, 99–101, 144

  mental health 99–100

  Brittain, Edward Harold 5, 6–7, 15, 18, 19, 20, 22, 24, 25, 28, 34, 35, 40, 43, 47, 54–5, 69, 71, 73, 74, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 84–5, 87, 89, 90, 92–3, 96, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 111, 113, 121–2, 130, 136, 137, 142, 145, 147, 148, 150, 157, 163, 165, 176, 181, 184, 191–2, 202–13

  death 101, 115, 191–2, 202, 204, 209–13

  education 8

  enlistment 32–3

  grave 211–13

  letters 92–3, 132

  Military Cross 79, 203, 205

  portrait 205

  Brittain, Frank 145

  Brittain, Thomas (VB’s great-grandfather) 2

  Brittain, Thomas Arthur (‘Arthur’; VB’s father) 2, 4, 6, 7, 14, 15, 29, 32, 34, 64, 99–101, 114, 135, 138, 144, 147

  mental health 4, 135

  suicide 102, 152

  Brittain, Vera

  ambivalence towards the war 47, 146

  appearance 12

  archive 175, 198, 200, 202, 204, 210

  biogra
phies 175, 196–202

  Born 1925 198

  celebrity 152

  character 14

  children see also Catlin, John Edward and Catlin, Shirley Vivian (later Shirley Williams) 105

  ‘Chronicle of Youth, A’ 116

  Dark Tide, The 105, 116

  death 157

  departure from Malta 90

  diary 13–14, 15, 22, 24, 27, 29, 33, 36, 38, 41, 42, 44, 57, 59, 62, 69, 75, 78, 111, 113, 116, 117, 131, 136, 146, 175

  early education 7, 8–11

  exhibition to Somerville 18

  family obligations 100

  feminism 9, 14, 42

  finals 104

  food poisoning 81

  foreign service 76

  friendships 75

  German patients 95–6, 149, 151

  ‘German Ward, The’ 115

  grief at Roland’s death 71

  hatred of Buxton 14,

  Honourable Estate 192, 204, 211

  intended marriage to Victor Richardson 90

  journalism 104, 113

  lack of humour 162

  ‘Lament of the Demobilised, The’ 116

  ‘Letter to Peace-Lovers’ 153,

  letters 27, 44–5, 48, 49, 69, 79, 83, 85, 87, 89, 94, 96–7, 113, 117, 129, 131, 146, 149, 150, 156, 175, 176, 200

  life at Oxford 36–7, 49

  literary ambitions 103–4

  literary estate 174–5

  literary standing 195

  love of clothes 172–3

  marriage 105, 199

  marriage plans 43

  marriage proposals 13, 54

  Massacre by Bombing 154,

  ‘May Morning’ 115

  mental health 103–4

  Not Without Honour 105, 117

  novels see also individual novels by name 109–13, 118, 205

  nursing 53, 60, 76, 81, 83–4, 95–7, 103, 150

  overseas posting 80

  pacifism 97, 115, 118, 130, 144–5, 149, 151, 152, 153–4, 189, 195, 198

  parentage 2–4

  personality 5, 36, 104, 197

  portrait 195

  pregnancy 131

  ‘Reflective Record’ 13, 44, 116

  religious beliefs 15

  Seed of Chaos 154

  social life in Malta 84

  ‘Superfluous Woman, The’ 116

  Testament of Experience 122

  ‘To My Brother’ 79–80, 116

  Verses of a V.A.D. 114–16

  ‘War Generation: Ave, The’ 167–8

  war poetry 68

  Brittains Limited 2

  Broadcasting Press Guild 166

  Brooke, Rupert 48–9, 81, 163, 176

  ‘Dead, The’ 58

  1914 48–9, 58–9,

  sonnets 59

  Brooklyn 183

  Burgon, Geoffrey 164

  Buxton

  Devonshire Hospital 53, 57

  Hydropathic Hotel 12

  Pavilion Gardens 33

  Town Hall 17, 28

  Caine, Hall 21

  Calendar Girls 181

  Callil, Carmen 159, 196–7, 199, 200

  Camberwell

  First London General Hospital 1, 60

  Cambrai, Battle of 96

  Campbell, Cheryl 163, 166

  awards 166

  Caporetto 99

  Cary, Joyce 206

  Catlin, Delinda 160, 205–6

  Catlin, George 105, 133, 135, 136, 137, 138–9, 144, 155, 160, 196, 205

  Roman Catholicism 105

  Catlin, John Edward 105, 122, 135, 198, 199

  Catlin, Shirley Vivian (later Shirley Williams) 105, 131, 198

  Cause, The 144

  Chancellor, Anna 184

  Chatto & Windus 196

  Chronicle 29

  ‘Chronicle of Youth, A’ 116

  Civil Service, Indian 7

  class 50, 51, 97, 148–9

  Cornell University 105

  cowardice 32

  Daily Express 141

  Daily Mail 20, 141

  Daily Telegraph 143

  Darbishire, Helen 48

  Dardanelles expedition 86

  Dark Tide, The 105, 116, 119

  David Copperfield (Tree’s production) 41

  ‘Dead, The’ 58

  Death of a Hero 125

  Defence, Ministry of 206

  Delmar, Rosalind 159

  Dench, Judi 185

  Dennant, Gertrude 91

  ‘Dirge of Dead Sisters, The’ 138

  disarmament 104

  Downton Abbey 158

  Duffus, R. L. 142

  Edinburgh Festival 161

  Egerton, Taron 184

  11th Sherwood Foresters 35, 71, 98

  Eliot, George 14

  Felix Holt 14

  Ellington, Maurice 29

  Ellis-Fermor, Una 36

  Emmanuel College 24

  Erskine Macdonald 114

  Etaples 98, 113, 114, 115, 187

  hospitals 93–4, 95, 99, 113, 139, 149–50

  Falls, Cyril 128

  Farewell to Arms, A 156

  Fascism 152

  Faulks, Sebastian 176

  Birdsong 176–7

  Felix Holt 14

  feminism 9, 20–21, 42, 118, 130, 197

  equal rights 104, 144

  feminist critics 158

  First Aid 35

  First London General Hospital 60, 62, 76, 111, 129

  Firth, Jonathan 176

  Fishmongers’ Hall Hospital 74

  Fontana 164

  Forbidden Zone, The 128

  4th Norfolks 34, 35

  Fowles, John 176

  French Lieutenant’s Woman, The 176

  Fraser, Ian 90

  French Lieutenant’s Woman, The (film) 176

  Front 55, 62, 128, 148

  Fry, Edith 9

  Galeka 81

  Gallipoli 86

  Gallipoli campaign 81

  Game of Thrones 172

  Garnett, Jerry 122

  gender discrimination 6–7

  gender equality 9

  ‘German Ward, The’ 115

  Germany

  bombing 153–4

  economic blockade 153

  invasion of Belgium 28

  Gloria (ballet) 167–9, 189

  choreography 168–9

  Gollancz, Victor 135, 137

  Goodbye to All That 125

  government propaganda 50

  Grange School 8

  Grant Richards (publisher) 117

  Graves, Robert 49, 125, 129

  Goodbye to All That 125

  Graves, Rupert 176

  Great War, The (documentary series) 157

  Grey, Sir Edward 28

  Haley, William 158

  Hardy, Rob 174

  Harington, Kit 172, 184

  Harry Potter 177

  HBO 172

  Heath-Jones, Louise 8–9, 11, 17

  Hébuterne sector 58

  trenches 58

  ‘Hédauville’ 65, 71, 105

  Hemingway, Ernest 156

  Farewell to Arms, A 156

  Henson, Jon 182

  heroism 29, 47, 48, 51, 79, 80, 151

  Heyday Films 169, 173, 177

  Heyman, David 177–8

  Highland Fifth Garrison Artillery 168

  historians, feminist 158

  Holland, Ruth 129

  Lost Generation, The 129

  Holtby, Winifred 5, 104, 105, 116, 117, 129, 131, 133, 137, 138, 155–6, 162, 164, 175, 189, 197, 199

  Anderby Wold 116

  archive 200

  death 152

  health 135

  journalism 104

  South Riding 175

  Honourable Estate 192, 204–5, 211

  Hoskins, Bob 163

  Hours, The 186

  Hudson, Brigadier C. E. 206–7, 211

  memoirs 207–9, 210

  Hughes, Norah 36

  Hulke, Sally 163

  I Have Bee
n Young 144

  Im Westen Nichts Neues 125

  Imperial War Museum 132, 158–9

  ‘Women at War, 1914–18’ (exhibition) 159

  Imtarfa Hospital 81

  Indian Civil Service 7

  Inheritance 135

  internationalism 104, 189

  Iron Lady, The 173

  It’s a Great War 128, 129

  Italian front 98–9, 100

  James, Clive 164

  James, P. D. 160

  Jameson, Storm 141

  Job To Live, A 194

  Johnson, Celia 185

  Journey’s End 125, 126, 127

  Kent, James 174, 182, 186–7

  Kidman, Nicole 186

  Kipling, Rudyard 138

  ‘Dirge of Dead Sisters, The’ 138

  Kitchener, Lord 50, 169

  enlistment poster 169

  Korda, Alexander 161

  Lads 211–12

  ‘Lament of the Demobilised, The’ 116

  Larkin, Philip 185

  Latham, Harold 137

  le Carré, John 161

  Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy 161

  League of Nations 151, 152

  League of Nations Union 104

  Lean, David 174

  Brief Encounter 174

  Leazell, Eric 202

  Lee, Mary 128, 129

  It’s a Great War 128, 129

  Leete, Alfred 169

  enlistment poster 169

  Leighton, Clare 21, 40–41, 55, 64, 70, 120, 132

  Leighton, Evelyn 21, 55

  Leighton, Marie Connor 20–21, 24, 38, 40, 55, 70, 114, 120–21, 132

  Boy of My Heart 121

  Leighton, Robert 20, 55, 70, 102, 114

  Leighton, Roland 1, 19–22, 25, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 42–7, 48, 49, 50, 53–60, 62, 63, 76, 81, 88, 89, 115, 119, 120, 121, 128, 130, 131, 136, 139, 141, 142, 146, 149, 155, 156, 158, 165, 169–70, 172, 175, 176, 195, 197, 203

  appearance 20

  conversion to Roman Catholicism 71,

  death 64–5, 68, 69, 71, 73, 75, 79, 80, 84, 85, 113, 116, 145, 188

  feminism 20

  grave 73

  ‘Hédauville’ 65, 71, 105

  letters 44–5, 47, 62, 63, 132–3, 175

  marriage proposal 54

  poetry 132

  relationship with his mother 21

  ‘Villanelle’ 46–7, 121

  ‘Letter to Peace-Lovers’ 153

  Letters from a Lost Generation 175

  Lively, Penelope 194–5

  According to Mark 194–5

  London Film Productions 161

  London Weekend Television 158

  Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth 6

  Loos, Battle of 60

  casualties 60

  Lorimer, Hilda 38, 49, 51

  lost generation 148–9

  Lost Generation, The (novel) 129

  Louvencourt 73

 

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