The entrance to Fort Brockhurst (picture from Britain’s Past)
Patrick Miles in his summer house, 11 December 2016
Figure from Gauguin’s 1899 painting ‘Tahitian Women with Mango Blossoms’ (left); George Calderon’s pencil sketch ‘Manu’ (right)
Monarch Butterfly Madeira
Frontis piece by Frank Calderon
Christmas 1901 Cartoon by George Calderon
Jean Ryckaert, May 1916.
George Calderon c.1901
Basic form of the Calderon coat of arms
Captain of the 11
Michel and Vera Fokine in “Scheherazade”, 1914 (The Music And Theatre Library of Sweden, creative commons)
George and Kittie Calderon 1905
K.N. Das Gupta and Margaret Mitchell in an Indian Dramatic Society production of The Maharani of Arakan, 1913?
George Calderon, 1912
Unpublished watercolour by George Calderon, Tahiti 1906
Sir Richard Vincent Sutton c. 1913
A happy memory of Trinity College: undergraduates breakfast together in Downy V. Green, p. 77.
Book sent to George Calderon in Russia by his mother, Christmas 1895.
Colonel Sir Walter Coote Hedley c. 1920
Recent Comments
- Jim D G Miles on From the diary of a writer-publisher: 28 Excellent entry, Dad. I like the escape room picture, of course, but the story about the Russian and the hole-in-the-wall is exceptional! (28/03/2024 at 9:58 PM)
- Patrick Miles on Short story: ‘Crox’ Thank you, dear anonymous Theo...it is so refreshing to hear the reaction of a Man of the People! Keep a good grip on those cords! 'Part II'?! The rest is secreted in lines (18/12/2023 at 10:33 PM)
- Theo on Short story: ‘Crox’ Delicious! "Are you being Served?" meets "Keeping up Appearances" via Calderotica. But Patrick, you cannot leave us dangling like that just before Christmas! One thing - c (18/12/2023 at 1:35 PM)
- Patrick Miles on Cambridge Tales 8: ‘Black Tie’ Thank you, Damian, for sharing your problem with us. It's difficult to know what to prescribe. Perhaps try examining the facts of the story (e.g. there are not 6 medics in the (20/11/2023 at 9:44 AM)
- Damian Grant on Cambridge Tales 8: ‘Black Tie’ Patrick: I read your story 'Black Tie' on Monday, and knew immediately that it didn't work for me. There was something forced, factitious; something that didn't let the elemen (17/11/2023 at 2:26 PM)
Monthly Archives: October 2014
15 October 1914
On this day George wrote his next long letter to Kittie, ‘from a low estaminet by a muddy village wayside’. During the night Captain Fitzgerald of B Squadron had ‘dropped something heavy on his foot in the dark stables and … Continue reading
They enter Ypres
Clearly the Blues were not the vanguard of the 3rd Cavalry Division on the march (this Division, incidentally, possessed only 12 field artillery pieces). That honour seems to have fallen to the Life Guards, who had a far more ‘interesting’ … Continue reading
Posted in Heroism and Adventure
Tagged Belgium, British Expeditionary Force, Bruges, Geluwe, General Edmund Allenby, George Calderon, Izegem, Kemmel, Life Guards, Menin, Royal Horse Guards, Sint Eloois Winkel, Sir Henry Rawlinson, Sir Richard Sutton, Taube aeroplane, The Blues, The Great War, Tielt, World War I, Ypres
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Blood is spilt
Presumably B Squadron of the 7th Cavalry Brigade of the Blues also bivouacked last night near Lendelede. Reveille this morning, Tuesday 13 October 1914, was at four, and two hours later the squadron was moving south again, towards Gullegem, where … Continue reading
12 October 1914
From the Château […] we went on to what they were pleased to call a ‘billet’ in the country, but it was only a bivouack, except for myself, who, having a cold, slept in the kitchen on straw. The others … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Belgium, Boulogne, Calais, George Calderon, Izegem, Lendelede, Royal Horse Guards, Rumbeke, Sir Richard Sutton, The Blues, The Great War, The Life Guards, World War I, Ypres
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Pause and enigma
The Calderon quotations that feature in my preceding two posts come from a letter George wrote to Kittie today, 11 October 1914, which was a Sunday. This was now the pattern: every few days he would write her a long … Continue reading
10 October 1914
Up at 3.30 to go out on a Patrol with [Sergeant] Mackintosh, to see that the country was clear of Germans for the Regiment to move. Out (with a little cocoa inside) between misty grey fields; very keen eyed at … Continue reading
9 October 1914
The 3rd Cavalry Division had arrived in Belgium with a crack infantry force, the 7th Division. The latter’s orders were to go to Antwerp, sixty miles away, to assist in its defence. Little did they know that on the night … Continue reading
8 October 1914
The transport ship ‘Huanchaco’ arrived at Zeebrugge at 5.30 this morning. Mid-morning George wrote to Kittie that the voyage had been ‘much like other sea voyages; meals, tobacco, chat and a little music’, But down below something between a menagerie … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged "Huanchaco", Antwerp, Belgium, George Calderon, Kittie Calderon, Royal Horse Guards, The Blues, The Great War, World War I, Zeebrugge
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Darkness
By yesterday night the Blues had embarked at Southampton. But the transport ships did not move, as there was suspected U-boat activity in the English Channel. They may not have moved next day either, or they may have steamed eastwards … Continue reading
The ‘off’
‘So as not to crowd’ Ludgershall station, as Calderon wrote his mother yesterday, at six o’clock that evening the Blues set off on horseback from Windmill Hill Camp across Salisbury Plain to another station (presumably Amesbury). The Life Guards had … Continue reading
5 October 1914
Windmill Hill … Continue reading
4 October 1914
It was Sunday. Kittie probably went to church. She fervently believed in the power of prayer, and one can imagine what she prayed for. After lunch, they set out for Waterloo station. As George was coming out of 42 Well … Continue reading
3 October 1914
This morning, which was a Saturday, Kittie suddenly received a telegram from George to say that, in her words, ‘after all a lot of them were getting 24 hours leave and he would be home in a few hours’. When … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian marriage
Tagged Coote Hedley, George Calderon, Kittie Calderon, The Great War, William Hogsden, World War I
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1 October 1914
The first attempt at implementing the Schlieffen Plan for defeating France had failed and Moltke was replaced as chief of the German general staff by Falkenhayn. The Germans now began a second attempt. Their intention was to invade the rest … Continue reading
Language issues again
The version of Binyon’s ‘For the Fallen’ published in The Times (see my post of 21 September) seems to contain a misprint in line 11: ‘stanch’ instead of ‘staunch’ (‘to the end against odds uncounted’). Last week I was in the … Continue reading →