Colonel Sir Walter Coote Hedley c. 1920
Book sent to George Calderon in Russia by his mother, Christmas 1895.
Sir Richard Vincent Sutton c. 1913
Basic form of the Calderon coat of arms
George Calderon, 1912
Christmas 1901 Cartoon by George Calderon
George Calderon c.1901
Figure from Gauguin’s 1899 painting ‘Tahitian Women with Mango Blossoms’ (left); George Calderon’s pencil sketch ‘Manu’ (right)
A happy memory of Trinity College: undergraduates breakfast together in Downy V. Green, p. 77.
George and Kittie Calderon 1905
Michel and Vera Fokine in “Scheherazade”, 1914 (The Music And Theatre Library of Sweden, creative commons)
Monarch Butterfly Madeira
K.N. Das Gupta and Margaret Mitchell in an Indian Dramatic Society production of The Maharani of Arakan, 1913?
Unpublished watercolour by George Calderon, Tahiti 1906
The entrance to Fort Brockhurst (picture from Britain’s Past)
Frontis piece by Frank Calderon
Captain of the 11
Jean Ryckaert, May 1916.
Patrick Miles in his summer house, 11 December 2016Recent 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)
Tag Archives: Nina Astley
Edwardian love, sex and the ‘T’other’
The Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 2017 is undoubtedly right to intone the mantra ‘edit, review, revise and then edit again’, but when you have read your 420-page typescript as many times as I have in the last six months, and made over … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian English, Edwardian marriage, Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged Acton Reynald, Alice Keppel, Anita Leslie, appearances, Archie Ripley, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, biographies, biography, comments, Dardanelles, Diana Souhami, discretion, Emmetts, Foxwold, George Calderon, homosexuality, John Pym, Kittie Calderon, Lesbia Corbet, Lily Langtry, Marcel Proust, monogamy, Mormons, Nina Astley, Nina Corbet, Paul Boyer, secrecy, sex, spin, T'other, Tahiti, The Duchess of Duke Street, The Edwardians, The Great War, The Victorians, Third Battle of Krithia, Tom Quinn, visitors books, Walter Corbet, William Rothenstein, World War I
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Fragment of Kittie
Life once more whisked me away from the Sussex Downs — they had made me learn a lot about England & these Islands all of them each in there [sic] particular way – Ireland – Scotland – England – – and yes … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian literature, Edwardian marriage, Heroism and Adventure, Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged biographies, biography, comments, George Calderon, Hampshire, Kittie Calderon, London, Nina Astley, Nina Corbet, The Great War, The South Downs, World War I
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‘He was away, far away…’
The S.S. Aguila, a cruise ship of the Yeoward Line, dropped anchor off Funchal, the capital of Madeira, on 31 March 1913, probably around lunchtime. There were twenty-nine passengers aboard, including George Calderon. Within a couple of hours he was sitting … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian English, Edwardian literature, Edwardian marriage, Heroism and Adventure, Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged acacias, Acton Reynald, African Tulip, Anton Chekhov, Archie Ripley, biographies, biography, Botanical Gardens Funchal, bougainvillea, cable cars, Canary Islands, Charles Lambe, Clara Butt, comments, Dardanelles, Funchal, Gallipoli, George Calderon, Harold Dowdall, Jim Corbet, Kittie Calderon, Las Palmas, Lesbia Corbet, Levada do Norte, Lisbon, Liverpool, Madeira, Manchester, Mary Downdall, Monarch butterfly, Monte, Monte Palace Hotel, Nina Astley, Nina Corbet, Portugal, R.M.S. 'Orsova', Reginald Astley, Revolt, S.S. Aguila, Spain, Tahiti, The Canary Islands, The Fountain, The Great War, Trinity College Oxford, Tropical Gardens Funchal, Well Walk, wicker toboggans, World War I, Yeoward Line
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Kittie Hamilton
I have returned from holiday fired up to put the last tittle on my biography by the end of November and get copies to the interested publishers immediately afterwards. This means writing the Afterword (‘Who George Calderon Was’), radically improving the … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian marriage, Heroism and Adventure, Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged anti-suffragism, Archie Ripley, Arts and Crafts, biographies, biography, Calderon family, comments, Conservative Party, Dardanelles, Eliza Stewart, feminism, Gallipoli, George Calderon, Hove, John Hamilton, Kennington, kenosis, Kittie Calderon, Liberal Party, Mary Simson, Mrs Stewart of Torquay, Nina Astley, Nina Corbet, Petersfield, Pym family, suffragism, Tahiti, The Great War, The Red Cross, Third Battle of Krithia, trade unionism, VAD, William Rothenstein, World War I
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From the diary of a countrywoman
In December 1922 Kittie moved from Hampstead with her housekeeper Elizabeth Ellis to ‘Kay’s Crib’, a Victorian three-bedroomed house with a fair amount of ground to it at Sheet, near Petersfield, in Hampshire. She told a friend of Percy Lubbock’s: … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian English, Personal commentary
Tagged 'Kay's Crib', Alan Lubbock, biographies, biography, Brasted, Bunty, Captain Charles Evelyn Pym, Captain Gilbert Piggott, Charles Letts's Diary, Clara Calderon, comments, Dardanelles, diary, Eliza Stewart, Elizabeth Ellis, Foxwold, Gallipoli, gardening, George Calderon, Gertrude Corbet, Hampshire, Hampstead, Helen Lubbock, Kittie Calderon, Mrs Stewart of Torquay, Nina Astley, Nina Corbet, Percy Lubbock, Petersfield, Sheet, The Croft, The Great War, Third Battle of Krithia, Torquay, Violet Pym, World War I
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Mrs Stewart of Torquay recalibrated
I refer new followers to my post of 1 June 2016. The reason it was important to find out more about the life of Mrs Eliza Stewart, even so late in the project, is that after the sudden death in … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian marriage, Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged biographies, biography, Canada, comments, Eliza Stewart, Fife, George Calderon, golf, James Affleck Stewart, John Tucker, Kittie Calderon, Marge Calderon, Marguerite Calderon, Margy Calderon, Michael Welch, Mrs Stewart of Torquay, Nina Astley, Nina Corbet, Nina Stewart, St Andrews, The Croft, The Nest, Torquay
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Three women follow the Somme
After Kittie Calderon had done all she could to establish George’s fate at Gallipoli on 4 June 1915, and accepted that she would live by the faith that he was in a Turkish prisoner of war camp, she suffered a … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian marriage, Heroism and Adventure, Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged Battle of the Somme, biographies, Captain Charles Evelyn Pym, comments, Constance Astley, Constance Sutton, Dardanelles, Dick Sutton, Evey Pym, Foxwold, Gallipoli, General Henry Rawlinson, George Calderon, Givenchy, Jim Corbet, Kittie Calderon, Nina Astley, Nina Corbet, Sir Richard Sutton, Sir Roland James Corbet, Verdun, Violet Pym, Wimereux
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Mrs Stewart of Torquay
I have been on holiday in Devon. A happy side effect is that I was able to visit what I believe to be the property that ‘Mrs Stewart of Torquay’ lived in from at least 1914 until her death in … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian marriage, Personal commentary
Tagged Brantford, Canada, comments, Dardanelles, Eliza Stewart, Gallipoli, George Calderon, Henry Stewart, James Affleck Stewart, Jane Stewart, Jim Corbet, Kittie Calderon, Lesbia Corbet, Mrs Stewart of Torquay, Nina Astley, Nina Corbet, Nina Stewart, Robert Stewart, Sir Walter Corbet, The Great War, Torquay, Vincent Corbet, World War I
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30 July 1915: ‘Ends’
It does not seem exactly a year since the small boys Jack and Roly Pym ran across from their holiday home at Seaview on the Isle of Wight to greet George Calderon, a kind of uncle to them, who had … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian marriage, Personal commentary
Tagged 'real time', Anton Chekhov, Ashford, biographies, biography, Captain Charles Evelyn Pym, Carl Jung, Clare Hopkins, comments, Dardanelles, Derwent May, Elizabeth Ellis, Gallipoli, George Calderon, Harvey Pitcher, Isle of Wight, Jack Pym, James Muckle, John Dewey, John Pym, Johnnie Pym, King's Own Scottish Borderers, Kittie Calderon, Louisa Scherchen, Michael Welch, Nina Astley, Nina Corbet, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, Percy Lubbock, Peter Hart, Roly Pym, Sam Evans, Seaview, Sheet, Tahiti, The Great War, Third Battle of Krithia, Violet Pym, White Raven, World War I, Ypres
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14 July 1915: Very great concern
The War Office, working with the Red Cross, had established that George was not amongst the wounded or deceased at any point along their lines of medical communication between Gallipoli and Alexandria-Malta-Blighty, hence their telegram to Kittie of 12 July … Continue reading
10 July 1915
POST OFFICE TELEGRAPHS Office Stamp: Hampstead 10 July 1915 Office of Origin and Service Instructions: Wickham Berks Handed in at 8 a.m. Received here at 9.31 a.m. TO: Calderon 42 Well Walk Hampstead Still a fighting chance shall I come … Continue reading
Letter from Alexandria
BRITISH RED CROSS and ORDER OF ST. JOHN. Alexandria June 27. Dear Kitty Your letter of June 16 just reaches me. I scrawl one line to go to you at once. I think it certain that you must know … Continue reading
Commemoration (to be continued 2)
Plan A for a commemoration of George’s death (see yesterday’s post) was really dictated by long accepted British forms of commemorative ritual. These have loosened up in recent years, of course, to a point where you have extended, all-singing-and-dancing customer-devised … Continue reading
Posted in Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged commemoration, comments, Dardanelles, Evey Pym, Foxwold, Francois Rabelais, Gallipoli, George Calderon, John Pym, Kittie Calderon, Nina Astley, Nina Corbet, Peter Hart, The Great War, Third Battle of Krithia, Violet Pym, World War I
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20 June 1915
Today at Hoe Benham Kittie received George’s last two letters (1 and 3 June 1915 — see my posts of those dates 2015), redirected from Hampstead at 5.45 p.m. yesterday. The Field Post marks are clearly 1 and 3 June … Continue reading
Life at Hoe Benham
We may assume, then, that two days ago Kittie arrived at The Cottage at the Crossways, Hoe Benham, to stay for an indefinite period with the closest woman friend in her life, Nina Astley (Corbet). She would have travelled to … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian marriage
Tagged Acton Reynald, Benham Valence, Boxford, Constance Sutton, Dardanelles, Gallipoli, George Calderon, Hoe Benham, Jim Corbet, Kittie Calderon, Lesbia Corbet, Nina Astley, Percy Lubbock, Reginald Astley, Sir Richard Sutton, Sir Roland James Corbet, The Crossways, The Great War, World War I
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Guest Post: Laurence Brockliss, ‘George Calderon and the Demographic Revolution’
George Calderon married Kittie shortly before his thirty-second birthday. For a professional man at the turn of the twentieth century, this was not an uncommon age to wed. For the last ten years I have been leading a cross-generational study … Continue reading →