Colonel Sir Walter Coote Hedley c. 1920
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.
Monarch Butterfly Madeira
Captain of the 11
Book sent to George Calderon in Russia by his mother, Christmas 1895.
K.N. Das Gupta and Margaret Mitchell in an Indian Dramatic Society production of The Maharani of Arakan, 1913?
Christmas 1901 Cartoon by George Calderon
Patrick Miles in his summer house, 11 December 2016
Basic form of the Calderon coat of arms
Sir Richard Vincent Sutton c. 1913
George Calderon c.1901
George and Kittie Calderon 1905
George Calderon, 1912
Jean Ryckaert, May 1916.
Frontis piece by Frank Calderon
The entrance to Fort Brockhurst (picture from Britain’s Past)
Unpublished watercolour by George Calderon, Tahiti 1906
Michel and Vera Fokine in “Scheherazade”, 1914 (The Music And Theatre Library of Sweden, creative commons)Recent Comments
- Patrick Miles on Guest post by Philip Andrews-Speed: The concept of path dependence explains much in today’s world All this is HIGHLY relevant to my question, Philip -- thank you yet again. I must say, to the uninformed observer like myself it seems as though China studiously cultivates... (October 28, 2026 at 3:42 pm)
- Philip Andrews-Speed on Guest post by Philip Andrews-Speed: The concept of path dependence explains much in today’s world Thank you, Patrick. I will answer your question indirectly. It can be argued that China's political and legal cultures continue to reflect a mix of Confucian and Legalist... (October 28, 2026 at 11:58 am)
- Patrick Miles on Guest post by Philip Andrews-Speed: The concept of path dependence explains much in today’s world Excellent summary, Philip, thank you enormously as my O Level history of China is very thin. This is political culture, but what about other forms of culture? Could their... (October 27, 2026 at 2:48 pm)
- Philip Andrews-Speed on Guest post by Philip Andrews-Speed: The concept of path dependence explains much in today’s world A trite answer, Patrick, that makes no reference to path dependence would be that after decades of chaos the Party leadership sought stability. After the collapse of the... (October 27, 2026 at 2:39 pm)
- Patrick Miles on Guest post by Philip Andrews-Speed: The concept of path dependence explains much in today’s world Thank you so much, Philip, for your time in writing these succinct and admirable responses. I was very interested to read that Pierson switched from 'increasing returns'... (October 27, 2026 at 12:24 pm)
Category Archives: Uncategorized
15 March 1915: The strain tells
After the naval bombardment at the Dardanelles was suspended on 8 March, the weather worsened but the highly energetic Commodore Roger Keyes was able to make some progress with the minesweeping by replacing trawlermen with Navy volunteers. On 11 March … Continue reading
10 March 1915
Today, Wednesday 10 March, a War Council meeting was held at which Kitchener announced that he would now send his last Regular Army division, the 29th, comprising about 15,000 men, to the Mediterranean to join the forces being despatched from … Continue reading
9 March 1915
Today, the Commander of the East Mediterranean Fleet, Admiral Sackville Carden, suddenly telegraphed the Admiralty that he could do no more to knock out the Intermediate Defences of the Dardanelles until he had received more planes for aerial reconnaissance inland. … Continue reading
8 March 1915
On this day the East Mediterranean Fleet’s bombardment of the shore batteries at the Dardenelles that had begun on 25 February was suspended. It had not gone well. The shelling of the outer forts, from a very safe distance, appeared … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Dardanelles, Gallipoli, Geehl, George Calderon, Kum Kale, Nusrat, Sedd el Bahr, The Great War, World War I
Leave a comment
Back to Brockhurst
About today, 3 March 1915, George Calderon returned to barracks at Fort Brockhurst near Gosport in Hampshire. He had lost about a month through illness. Now his training probably began in earnest. The aim was to make him, at the … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Fort Brockhurst, General Kitchener, George Calderon, Gosport, New Army, The Great War, World War I
2 Comments
‘Le Bain de Loti’
Both George and the Russian Byzantinist Alexander Vasilieff (who accompanied him at the beginning of his Tahitian visit) greatly admired Le Mariage de Loti, the autobiographical novel by Julien Viaud published in 1880. One of the most atmospheric passages in the … Continue reading
19 February 1915: The die is caught…
At a meeting of the War Council on this day, Kitchener withdrew his agreement to send the crack 29th Division to the Dardanelles. Before the die could hit the cloth, he had caught it and pocketed it again. His action … Continue reading
16 February 1915: The die is tossed…
Since the War Council had decided on 28 January (see my post of that date) to mount a purely naval operation to force the Dardanelles a month later, not a great deal had happened. Churchill, as First Lord of the … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Dardanelles, Gallipoli, General Kitchener, George Calderon, The Great War, Winston Churchill, World War I
Leave a comment
They all fall down
Suddenly, in early February 1915, the inmates of Fort Brockhurst were struck by influenza. Kittie says the ‘whole regiment’ went down, but presumably this is figurative. Certainly hundreds were affected, so perhaps the whole 9th (Service) Battalion was garrisoned in … Continue reading
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
Posted in Uncategorized
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
Leave a comment
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
