Tag Archives: Kittie Calderon

‘We’re the Jims’

Hunter-Weston’s VIII Corps (in effect, all the British forces on the Helles front) issued its orders today, Thursday 3 June 1915. They were meticulous and ‘for the first time accompanied by a trench diagram, showing the various objectives to be … Continue reading

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Commemoration

In two days time the following ‘In Memoriam’ will appear in The Times: CALDERON George Leslie, Russianist, journalist, dramatist, anthropologist, adventurer, killed at Gallipoli 4 June 1915. ‘What he believed, he did’ (Laurence Binyon). Since George wrote more for The Times than any … Continue reading

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1 June 1915

1st K.O.S.B 87th Bg., 29th Div., M.E.F. June 1st Dearest Mrs P., Nothing in my letters need make you anxious, for you’d know if I was a casualty thro’ the W.O., before any letter had time to alarm you, same … Continue reading

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30 May 1915

1st bn KOSB 87th Brigade 29th Division M.E.F. May 30th Dearest Mrs P, I’m hard up for paper. Please send some. We’re still on the same spot, in broiling sun, dry and beautiful; sea to either side. […] Daily programme … Continue reading

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28 May 1915

It may have seemed surprising, or even shocking, that Calderon did not end his letter to Kittie yesterday with any endearments to her, only a ‘warm embrace’ for their dog! But its beginning — ‘Oh dearest Mrs P.’ — is … Continue reading

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‘New Western Polovtsians’

                                                                                … Continue reading

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26 May 1915

This afternoon the ferry steamer from Mudros with George Calderon on board arrived at Helles and its draft of soldiers from Britain landed ‘under the crumbled ruins of a white castle’ as he put it, i.e. the old fort at … Continue reading

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25 May 1915

In a blue harbour surrounded by green rock-broken hills in a place I may not name. 9 a.m.                                             … Continue reading

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23 May 1915

Today George wrote hastily on the back of his letter to Kittie dated yesterday (Saturday) and written on board the R.M.S. Orsova at Alexandria: Sunday morning. Prognostications are right. It’s in the morning. Doctors, nurses and chaplains are for the shore (a … Continue reading

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22 May 1915

Today Kittie moved from Foxwold, the Pyms’ home in the Weald of Kent, to Emmetts, about a mile away. We know this from the fact that the Visitors Book at Foxwold was maintained meticulously. Emmetts was the home of Violet … Continue reading

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18 May 1915

May 18th.                                                                   R.M.S. “ORSOVA” We’re nearing Malta. … Continue reading

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16 May 1915

May 16th.                                                                  R.M.S. “ORSOVA” […] when I woke … Continue reading

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De-appling

In my 22 January post I explained the meaning of the Edwardian verb ‘to apple’. I mentioned that five lines in George’s letter to Kittie of 10 May 1915 were ‘appled out’ and I was following up ‘forensic programmes’ for … Continue reading

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The bifurcator biffed

Faithful followers of this blog know that since last September I have been dogged by the rival claims of writing the blog and finishing the biography. The methods of each are so different that at times it’s felt schizophrenic — … Continue reading

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13 May 1915

If Kittie was still at Devonport, when she opened her curtains in the hotel this morning she would have seen that the Orsova had vanished. At midnight last night, in George’s words of three days later, the huge ship ‘suddenly went … Continue reading

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12 May 1915

It is not 100% clear when Kittie returned to the B&B at Brockhurst that she and George had stayed in on the weekend of 8-9th before leaving for Devonport on Monday 10th, but the implication of something George says in … Continue reading

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