Josephine Tey

by Jennifer Morag Henderson

  13. Gordon Daviot, Plays [2] (London: Peter Davies, 1954), p. 75.

  14. Citizens Theatre Company Archive, Scottish Theatre Archive, University of Glasgow.

  15. The debate about whether or not the Citz should produce plays in Scots rumbled on: later that year, Bridie spoke publicly about it, and Mathew Forsyth was drawn into an argument with Hugh MacDiarmid, that staunch supporter of Scots, which played out on the letters pages of the Glasgow Herald. Alan Bold (ed.) The Letters of Hugh MacDiarmid (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1985).

  16. Citizens Theatre Company Archive, Scottish Theatre Archive, University of Glasgow.

  17. Letter 12, Mac to Dave, 24th May 1946, Acc 7708, no. 33, National Library of Scotland – Mairi MacDonald’s papers.

  18. Marguerite Steen talked of her recollections of Gordon Daviot on 7th December 1953, on BBC Radio’s Woman’s Hour. Unfortunately I have found no recording or details of the piece other than the Radio Times listing.

  19. Ramsden, (1984), p. 60.

  Chapter Sixteen: Miss Pym Disposes

  1. Beth’s friendship with Elisabeth Kyle is discussed in letters between Kyle and Mairi MacDonald, Acc 7708, no. 33, National Library of Scotland – Mairi MacDonald’s papers. Kyle does not describe how they met, but, from her knowledge of Beth’s life, it seems likely that they became friends later in life.

  2. Citizens Theatre Company Archive, Scottish Theatre Archive, University of Glasgow.

  3. They toured Richard of Bordeaux to Edinburgh, where one member of the audience was the future librarian of the SCDA. His memory of this performance led him to make sure that the SCDA library had a stock of Gordon Daviot plays – which I used many years later.

  4. Citizens Theatre Company Archive, Scottish Theatre Archive, University of Glasgow.

  5. Tour dates and arrangements from Citizen’s Theatre Company Archive, Scottish Theatre Archive, University of Glasgow; press clippings and reviews also.

  6. John Gielgud, ‘Foreword’, in Gordon Daviot, Plays (London: Peter Davies, 1953), p. x.

  7. See Chapter 4; see also Aird, (2011), p. 65.

  8. Josephine Tey, Miss Pym Disposes (London: Arrow Books, 2011), p. 199.

  9. She says she thinks Gordon Daviot is rather good. Gladys Mitchell, Laurels are Poison (London: Vintage, 2014), p. 191.

  10. See, for example, Martin, (2001). Martin says that Tey quoted from Mitchell, but I haven’t been able to find this.

  11. Mitchell was also a member, by virtue of her background in PE teaching and interest in sport, of the British Olympic Association.

  12. The list of members is readily available online, e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detection_Club

  13. I read this once in passing, but unfortunately haven’t been able to find the reference again. It seems worth mentioning as it’s so likely. However, searches of Dorothy L. Sayers’ published letters have brought up no references to Tey.

  14. Josephine Tey, The Daughter of Time (London: Penguin, 1976), p. 34.

  15. For a good short biography of Sayers, see Martha Hailey Dubose, Women of Mystery: The Lives and Works of Notable Women Crime Novelists (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000), pp. 161–224.

  16. According to Old Girls at an Anstey reunion meal I attended.

  17. Anstey College Jubilee magazine (1897-1947), p. 10.

  18. Anstey College Jubilee magazine (1897-1947), p. 10.

  19. Crunden (1974).

  20. The trips to Glenmore Lodge were remembered very fondly by the Anstey Old Girls who I met at their reunion dinner. More than one Anstey girl married an instructor from the lodge.

  21. Colin wrote regularly to his youngest daughter, letters which remain in the family, and, although he never complains too much, it’s clear that he is feeling his age.

  22. Will of Colin MacKintosh, National Archives of Scotland.

  23. See Chapter 4 for information about the Hornes.

  24. Beth’s nephew had never heard of these family members; if Moire and Beth had known, they had not passed on the information. As both their names are very common, and frequently spelt in several different ways, searches amongst death and marriage certificates have been futile. Census records after 1911 are not available. There is no mention of them in any surviving family letters which I have seen. No military records can be found for Donald to indicate whether he signed up in the Second World War.

  25. See death certificates, and gravestones in Tomnahurich cemetery for information on this branch of the Horne family.

  26. She writes to Moire from the address of the family home she shared with Humphrey (letters in private family archive). Neighbours do remember that Colin was frequently visited by one of his daughters other than Beth, but it’s not clear if this was Jean or Moire. Both sisters certainly visited Inverness in the late 40s and 50s, but neither moved back permanently.

  27. Letter from Colin MacKintosh to Etta, dated 6th May 1946, private family collection.

  28. Letter from Jean to Moire, dated ‘Thursday 16 May’, private family collection. ‘Olivia’ is unidentified.

  29. See birth records. Colin Stokes stated that he was named after his granddad, Colin MacKintosh.

  30. Will of Colin MacKintosh, National Archives of Scotland.

  Chapter Seventeen: Amateur Dramatics, Valerius and The Franchise Affair

  1. Angela du Maurier, It’s Only the Sister (Cornwall: Truran Books, 2003), p. 254.

  2. Grove (1996); Smith, Look Back With Gratitude.

  3. Huggett (1989); Smith, Look Back With Gratitude.

  4. Webster, Don’t Put Your Daughter on the Stage, p. 146.

  5. Barbara Bruce-Watt persuaded Daviot. Bruce-Watt is quoted in BBC radio programme Gordon the Escapist (1986), transcript available in the Scottish Theatre Archive, University of Glasgow; further information from private correspondence with Bruce Young (producer) and Tinch Minter (writer); the Florians website http://www.florians.org.uk/stuff/previous.html.

  6. Internet Movie Database.

  7. Aberdeen Journal, 11th April 1947; Dundee Courier, 16th February 1948; Glasgow Herald, 15th March 1948.

  8. Gordon Daviot, Plays [2] (London: Peter Davies, 1954), p. 194.

  9. Edinburgh International Festival http://www.eif.co.uk/. The Scotsman, 7th June 1947, p. 6, lamented the lack of Scottish plays at the Festival, and gave Gordon Daviot as an example of a playwright who could have been included.

  10. Obituary for Elizabeth MacKintosh, Inverness Courier, Friday, 15th February 1952.

  11. Letter 14, Mac to Aunt Tibbie (mother of Marjorie Davidson), 12th October 1948, Acc 7708, no. 33, National Library of Scotland – Mairi MacDonald’s papers.

  12. Letter 6, Mac to Dave, 20th Sept 1939, Acc 7708, no. 33, National Library of Scotland – Mairi MacDonald’s papers.

  13. A full discussion of Valerius is in Letter 14, Mac to Aunt Tibbie (mother of Marjorie Davidson), 12th October 1948, Acc 7708, no. 33, National Library of Scotland – Mairi MacDonald’s papers. The date of the production was included when the play was finally published: see Gordon Daviot, Plays (London: Peter Davies, 1953).

  14. See collected reviews, including quotes from the Chicago Sun and the New York Herald Tribune, in Sandra Roy, Josephine Tey (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1980), p. 119.

  15. Sarah Waters, ‘The lost girl’, article in The Guardian, 30th May 2009.

  16. Letters, biography and notes on The Franchise Affair in the Penguin Archive, Bristol University. See bibliography for publication details about individual Tey mystery novels.

  Chapter Eighteen: The Malvern Festival, and Brat Farrar

  1. See Chapter 12. The dedication in the published version of The Stars Bow Down makes the dating of the writing of this play clear.

  2. Max H. Fuller, One-Act Plays for the Amateur Theatre (London: Harrap & Co Ltd, 1949).

  3. http://www.saturday-night-theatre.co.uk/; Obituary of Elizabeth MacKintosh in the IRA school magazine, 1952, HAC ref HCA/C1/5/8/11/9.

  4. The Malvern Festival programme, 1949
; http://www.malvernfestival.co.uk/.

  5. See Margaret Webster’s autobiographies, and Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies’s biographies for examples of just how highly regarded he was. Other books of the time also make his status clear, while his portrait was painted by artists such as Laura Knight.

  6. The Malvern Festival programme, 1949.

  7. Letter from Gordon Daviot to Dodie Smith, undated, from the Dodie Smith Collection, Howard Gottlieb Archival Research Centre at Boston University.

  8. Ramsden, (1984), p. 59.

  9. Aird, (2011), p. 65 – Catherine Aird knew Beth’s sister Moire, and is a reliable source of information about the family. However, although Aird mentions the idea of two-week holiday and a housekeeper in more than one article, and suggests this was something that had been going on for some time, this does not fit the pattern of Beth’s earlier holidays/trips to London. A housekeeper was probably only really necessary towards the end of Colin’s life, when he was frailer and Moire and Jean were unavailable.

  10. Ramsden, (1984), p. 59.

  11. Ramsden, (1984), p. 59.

  12. The Malvern Festival programme, 1949.

  13. Roy, (1980), p. 27.

  14. The Malvern Festival programme, 1949, p. 16.

  15. The Malvern Festival programme, 1949, p. 16.

  16. Private MacKintosh family collection.

  17. Letter 13, Beth to Aunt Tibbie, Acc 7708, no. 33, National Library of Scotland – Mairi MacDonald’s papers.

  18. Rose, (2003), p. 127.

  19. B14, Letter from Gordon Daviot to Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, no date, Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies archive.

  20. See Rose (2003) and Grime (2013).

  21. Lena quotes from many of Beth’s letters in her autobiography: Ramsden (1984).

  22. Ramsden, (1984), p. 54.

  23. Lena got his name slightly wrong – he was more usually known as Frankie More O’Ferrall. See More O’Ferrall Park website http://www.kildangan.kildare.gaa.ie/TimesPast/more-o-ferrall-park

  24. Ramsden, (1984), p. 56.

  25. Orlando: Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present.

  26. Colin Stokes remembered his mother saying that Beth would sometimes phone when she was ‘stuck’ with her writing, saying ‘give me a plot!’ Gielgud also mentioned this ‘weakness’ with plots – see John Gielgud, ‘Foreword’, in Gordon Daviot, Plays (London: Peter Davies, 1953).

  27. Like The Franchise Affair, some later critics have seen Brat Farrar as based on a historical mystery – the Tichborne case of the 1860s/70s. Beth was a keen student of history so it is possible, though I have found no particular evidence of this.

  28. Letter 4, Mac to Dave, 21st November 1935, Acc 7708, no. 33, National Library of Scotland – Mairi MacDonald’s papers.

  29. Josephine Tey, Brat Farrar (USA: Dell, 1964), p. 168.

  30. Josephine Tey, Brat Farrar (London: Arrow Books, 2002), p. 122.

  Chapter Nineteen: To Love and Be Wise

  1. See Colin’s letters to his youngest daughter, e.g. 9th May 1943, private family collection.

  2. Ramsden, (1984), p. 59.

  3. Ramsden, (1984), p. 138.

  4. Letter from Elisabeth Kyle to Mairi MacDonald, April 30th 1953, Acc 7708, no. 33, National Library of Scotland – Mairi MacDonald’s papers; see also letter 13, Gordon Daviot to Aunt Tibbie, no date, Acc 7708, no. 33, National Library of Scotland – Mairi MacDonald’s papers.

  5. Ramsden, (1984), p. 138.

  6. Ramsden, (1984), p. 139.

  7. Gwen and Marda stayed friends, but their relationship had changed – they were no longer so close. Grime (2013); Rose (2003).

  8. Josephine Tey, To Love and Be Wise (London: Pan, 1973), p. 65.

  9. Letter from Gordon Daviot to Marda Vanne, 17th January 1935, Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies archive.

  10. Josephine Tey, To Love and Be Wise (London: Pan, 1973), p. 116.

  11. Gwen and Marda’s address is given in Ramsden (1984).

  12. In Smith, Look Back With Astonishment, p. 169, Dodie describes Basil Dean’s house in Essex, which he had ruthlessly modernized. Basil Dean produced Dodie’s first plays, before she started to work with Binkie Beaumont. Dodie rented her own cottage to Binkie during the Second World War and after, while she and Alec were in America.

  13. Dodie discusses this – still obliquely – in Smith, Look Back With Gratitude. See also Grove (1996).

  14. Josephine Tey, To Love and Be Wise (London: Pan, 1973), p. 33.

  15. Josephine Tey, To Love and Be Wise (London: Pan, 1973), p. 139.

  16. See reminiscences of MacKintosh’s neighbour Hamish Macpherson, described in the article, ‘Fruit followed mystery writer’s angry exchange’ in the Inverness Courier, Tuesday 5th October 1993; and letter from Elisabeth Kyle to Mairi MacDonald April 30 1953, Acc 7708, no. 33, National Library of Scotland – Mairi MacDonald’s papers.

  17. Will of Colin MacKintosh, National Archives of Scotland.

  18. See Aird (2011) – though the condition of the shop is obvious from the condition of Castle Street at that time.

  19. See will of Colin MacKintosh and will of Elizabeth MacKintosh, National Archives of Scotland.

  20. See Valuation Rolls of Inverness (HAC); Mackay (2007), pp. 76–77; Homes for a Highland Town, short film, c.1950, National Library of Scotland, Scottish Screen Archive, SSA ref. 4145; Newton (2003).

  21. Valuation Rolls of Inverness, HAC.

  22. See will of Colin MacKintosh, list of assets, National Archives of Scotland.

  23. Homes for a Highland Town, short film, c.1950, National Library of Scotland, Scottish Screen Archive, SSA ref. 4145. Shown at a special screening in Inverness by the Inverness Local History Forum.

  24. Valuation Rolls of Inverness, HAC.

  25. Josephine Tey, Brat Farrar (USA: Dell, 1964), p. 155.

  26. Letter from Beth to Moire, Sunday 10th September 1950, private family collection.

  27. ‘Smashing’, written as spoken in the distinctive Inverness accent. It’s still said. It’s actually a word from the Gaelic originally.

  28. Letter from Beth to Moire, dated only ‘Saturday’, private family collection.

  29. Death certificate of Colin MacKintosh.

  30. Gravestone in Tomnahurich.

  31. Letter 15, Mac to Dave, 9th October 1950, Acc 7708, no. 33, National Library of Scotland – Mairi MacDonald’s papers.

  32. Death certificate of Colin MacKintosh. Finlayson signed himself ‘intimate friend’. It was only by chance that I discovered Finlayson’s signature as witness on another document, and thus found his place of work at Stewart, Rule and Co. The addresses of Finlayson and Colin’s other friends are on Colin’s will.

  33. Will of Colin MacKintosh, National Archive of Scotland.

  34. National Archive currency converter, http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency/.

  35. Inverness Courier 26th September 1950.

  36. The MacEwen archives are in HAC, including notes for a proposed biography by Frank Thompson which was never completed.

  37. Letter from Carmichael to Moire, 30th September 1950, private family collection. Colin was also a Mason, and the Masonic lodge in Inverness sent a condolence letter as well.

  38. Highland News, Saturday 30th September. There were several local papers, but the Inverness Courier and the Highland News are the only two survivors. It’s rather a shame that researchers from outwith the Highlanders gravitate to the Inverness Courier first because of its name (and because of its own promotion of its history) – it certainly means that the negative obituaries of Colin and Beth have been given undue precedence. In fact, the Highland News is often a better source.

  Chapter Twenty: You will know the Truth

  1. Quoted in BBC radio programme Gordon the Escapist (1986), transcript available in the Scottish Theatre Archive, University of Glasgow; further information from private correspondence with Bruce Young (producer) and Tinch Minter (writer); see also Letter 15, Mac to Dave, 9th Oct 1950, Acc 7708, no
. 33, National Library of Scotland – Mairi MacDonald’s papers.

  2. Valuation Rolls for Inverness, HAC.

  3. Letter from Beth to Moire, 5th October 1951, private MacKintosh family collection.

  4. This letter was advertised for sale online via the website www.abebooks.co.uk. I have examined detailed scans and photographs of the letter.

  5. The title of To Love and Be Wise also comes from a Francis Bacon quote.

  6. Josephine Tey, The Daughter of Time (London: Penguin, 1976), p. 11.

  7. Pamela J. Butler, The Mystery of Josephine Tey on http:///www.r3.org/fiction/mysteries/tey_butler.html

  8. Richard III – The King in the Car Park, first broadcast on Channel 4, 9pm, Wednesday 27th February 2013.

  9. Isolde Wigram, interviewed by Colin White, National Trust Sound Archive, Shelfmark C1168/571/01-02, British Library.

  10. Josephine Tey, The Daughter of Time (London: Penguin, 1976), p. 130.

  11. Gordon Daviot, Claverhouse (London: Collins, 1937), p. 33.

  12. Orlando: Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present.

  13. Letter from John Williams to Eunice Frost, 22nd September 1952: The Daughter of Time files, Penguin Archive, University of Bristol.

  14. The Daughter of Time files, Penguin Archive, University of Bristol.

  15. Ramsden, (1984), p. 138; Aird, (2011), p. 67.

  16. Reviews collected in Roy (1980). Roy chose The Privateer as her favourite of Tey’s non-mystery novels (p. 43).

  17. Will of Elizabeth MacKintosh, National Archives of Scotland.

  18. Anstey College Scottish Old Girls Reunion, Wednesday 20th June 2012, Glasgow. See also Crunden (1974).

  19. Letter from Beth to Moire, 5th October 1951, private MacKintosh family collection.

  20. Aird, (2011), p. 67.

  The South London Hospital for Women, with an all-female staff until the end, remained open until 1984, when it was closed by the Tory government in the face of general opposition. The site was occupied for almost a year by some radical staff and their supporters in an attempt to keep it open, but eventually they lost their fight. The hospital was then partially demolished ten years later to make way for a Tesco, but a general outcry meant that the supermarket had to keep the building’s impressive facade intact. (This story was widely reported and details are readily available online. A good starting point is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_London_Hospital_for_Women_and_Children)