The entrance to Fort Brockhurst (picture from Britain’s Past)
K.N. Das Gupta and Margaret Mitchell in an Indian Dramatic Society production of The Maharani of Arakan, 1913?
A happy memory of Trinity College: undergraduates breakfast together in Downy V. Green, p. 77.
George and Kittie Calderon 1905
Figure from Gauguin’s 1899 painting ‘Tahitian Women with Mango Blossoms’ (left); George Calderon’s pencil sketch ‘Manu’ (right)
George Calderon, 1912
Michel and Vera Fokine in “Scheherazade”, 1914 (The Music And Theatre Library of Sweden, creative commons)
Jean Ryckaert, May 1916.
Sir Richard Vincent Sutton c. 1913
Captain of the 11
Basic form of the Calderon coat of arms
Monarch Butterfly Madeira
Christmas 1901 Cartoon by George Calderon
Unpublished watercolour by George Calderon, Tahiti 1906
Colonel Sir Walter Coote Hedley c. 1920
Patrick Miles in his summer house, 11 December 2016
Frontis piece by Frank Calderon
Book sent to George Calderon in Russia by his mother, Christmas 1895.
George Calderon c.1901Recent 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)
Category Archives: Uncategorized
The ‘second’ front
Today, Thursday 28 January 1915, the War Council met to make a final decision about the Dardanelles operation. Note that after the meeting on 13 January (see my post of that date) Carden had been appointed commander of the fleet … Continue reading
The Western Front
On 25 January 1915 the Germans unleashed a well planned attack on the British-French front at La Bassée, specifically between Givenchy in the north, Cuinchy on the canal, and further south. At Givenchy they captured British trenches, but were soon … Continue reading
Fort Brockhurst
If my dating of Calderon’s ‘Sunday’ letter to the Sturge Moore family is correct, then today, Monday 18 January 1915, George’s company (about 250 men) of the 9th Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry moved into Fort Brockhurst, which is … Continue reading
17 (?) January 1915
Fortis est veritas 9th Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry … Continue reading
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Tagged Belgium, Dan Sturge Moore, Daniel Sturge Moore, George Calderon, Henriette Sturge Moore, Kittie Calderon, Marie Sturge Moore, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, Portsmouth, Riette Sturge Moore, The Great War, Thomas Sturge Moore, World War I
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15 January 1915: The move to barracks
I conclude, by a process of the usual ‘triangulation’, that the newly commissioned Lieutenant Calderon travelled down by train to report to the Portsmouth base of the 9th Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry today, Friday 15 January 1915: 1. … Continue reading
The military situation
Trench warfare was continuing along the Western Front, but Falkenhayn had no major offensive in view before the spring because he was too embroiled in his Eastern Front (see my post of 5 December 2014). Meanwhile, on 13 January 1915 … Continue reading
Another big ‘Cauldron’
Rather late in the day, I asked my research assistant to look into the eldest of George Calderon’s brothers, Alfred Merigon Calderon, who was born on 7 June 1861, seven years before George, and was known to have emigrated to … Continue reading
Birthday
Today, 2 December 1914, was George Calderon’s forty-sixth birthday. He most likely celebrated it over tea with Kittie and his mother; possibly a sister or brother also looked in. His mother, Clara Calderon (1836-1921), was the sister of painter George … Continue reading
29 November 1914
Today, a Sunday, George Calderon presented in person the white and pale blue blanket that he had knitted for his god-daughter Elizabeth Pym. Her christening took place at Brasted in Kent and the other godparents were Cecil Dawnay and Hannah … Continue reading
22 November 1914
It is Sunday, and presumably a quiet time at Sussex Lodge Hospital, so George Calderon writes to the Sturge Moore children: Dear Riettte and Dan, Thanks for your interesting letters — and to Mrs Moore too. I hope to be … Continue reading
Nuts and bolts
By and large, I believe readers don’t want to hear about the nuts and bolts of writing biography (the ‘difficulties’), they want to read the biography. However, readers of this blog may be interested in a typical example… I know … Continue reading
The ‘Godfather in War’ visits
As Kittie put it, Calderon’s ‘great wish on getting back was to see Colonel Hedley and triumph over him’. (For Coote Hedley, see my post of 26 August.) The reason for this was that, in Kittie’s words, ‘on some occasion … Continue reading
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Tagged Alexis de Gunzburg, Alexis Gunzberg, Belgium, Brigadier-General Charles Kavanagh, Colonel Gordon Wilson, Coote Hedley, George Calderon, Kittie Calderon, military interpreters, Royal Horse Guards, The Blues, The Great War, World War I, Ypres, Zillebeke, Zwarteleen
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25 October 1914
George wrote to Kittie this morning from his billet at, presumably, Nieuwkerke: off this morning on motor trucks with the bully beef. I shall find Gen. Kavanagh tonight. I hope he’ll accept me. Perhaps I shall find the place taken … Continue reading
Another ‘Russian connection’
It is also surprising that in his letter of yesterday Calderon did not mention Captain Fitzgerald, with whom he had shared a hotel room at Ypres. This ‘full-blooded Irishman, black and hairy’ had, we presume, accompanied George to Dunkirk with … Continue reading
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Tagged Alexis Gunzberg, Ballets Russes, Belgium, Bernard Pares, Captain Fitzgerald, Colonel Gordon Wilson, Diaghilev, Dmitri de Gunzberg, Dunkirk, George Calderon, military interpreters, Royal Horse Guards, School of Russian Studies, Steenwerck, The Blues, The Great War, World War I
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21 October 1914
At four o’clock this morning the hospital train arrived in Dunkirk. George could not name the town in his letter to Kittie of 23 October, but we know from his letter of 15th that this was his destination. He heads … Continue reading
The sexiest couple in Europe
Many passenger lists from a hundred years ago are available online, but it seems that those for ‘normal’ voyages within Europe were not preserved except in special circumstances. Thus I haven’t been able to establish exactly when the Fokine family … Continue reading →