George Calderon, 1912
Book sent to George Calderon in Russia by his mother, Christmas 1895.
George Calderon c.1901
Michel and Vera Fokine in “Scheherazade”, 1914 (The Music And Theatre Library of Sweden, creative commons)
Unpublished watercolour by George Calderon, Tahiti 1906
Colonel Sir Walter Coote Hedley c. 1920
Jean Ryckaert, May 1916.
Monarch Butterfly Madeira
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.
The entrance to Fort Brockhurst (picture from Britain’s Past)
Sir Richard Vincent Sutton c. 1913
George and Kittie Calderon 1905
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)
Frontis piece by Frank Calderon
Christmas 1901 Cartoon by George Calderon
Basic form of the Calderon coat of arms
Captain of the 11Recent Comments
- Catherine Brown on The diary of a writer-publisher: 38 Thank you so much for this wonderful recollection of Mr Prynne. In case of interest, my own, which concerns Prynne in the 1990s, is here:... (May 21, 2026 at 11:20 am)
- harvey pitcher on The diary of a writer-publisher: 37 well, i had a shock when you said you'd acquired a dog but then i saw it wasn't. i have nothing against dogs though i prefer cats but fiona is very opposed to dogs or rather... (April 15, 2026 at 4:35 pm)
- Laurence Brockliss on A new story by John Melmoth: ‘Snowballs’ What a pitch perfect short story: crisp, graphic, nostalgic, evocative and mischievous. The injustice of schoolboy punishments comes in many forms, is never forgotten and is... (March 10, 2026 at 10:09 am)
- Patrick Miles on The diary of a writer-publisher: 36 Wonderful, Andrew! Thank you very much. I will borrow that title, if you don't object... I hope you will allow Calderonia to feature your own next magnum opus after the Great... (February 28, 2026 at 8:18 am)
- Andrew Tatham on The diary of a writer-publisher: 36 A brilliantly evocative and thought-provoking medley of observations that would not be out of place in 'The collected life of a flat-cap penguin' (your words, only slightly... (February 27, 2026 at 9:48 am)
Tag Archives: comments
The biographer blurts
Ah dear, it’s time to come clean. The ‘disaster’ has happened: this blog is now a fortnight ahead of the writing of my biography itself. I finished Chapter 14 of the biography with George going over the top on 4 … Continue reading
6/7 June 1915
By the end of 4 June, seven out of the twelve available reserve battalions of VIII Corps had been sent in to reinforce the failure of the attacks on the left and right flanks — although it has been suggested … Continue reading
Posted in Personal commentary
Tagged 1/5th King's Own Scottish Borderers, 52nd (Lowland) Division, Captain Grogan, comments, Dardanelles, Final days, Fir Tree Wood, Fir Tree Wood Cemetery, Gallipoli, General Kitchener, George Calderon, identity tag, King's Own Scottish Borderers, Kittie Calderon, The Great War, Twelve Tree Copse, Twelve Tree Copse Cemetery, World War I
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4/5 June 1915
The first wave of the KOSB attack at noon on 4 June was, as the Official History put it, ‘practically blotted out’. The carnage was so terrible that on his own initiative their commander delayed the second wave. At 12.35, however, … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian literature, Heroism and Adventure, Personal commentary
Tagged 127th Manchester Brigade, comments, Dardanelles, Final days, Gallipoli, George Calderon, King's Own Scottish Borderers, Krithia, Lieutenant-General Aylmer Hunter-Weston, Manchester Territorial Brigade, Peter Hart, Royal Fusiliers, Royal Naval Division, The Great War, Third Battle of Krithia, Worcestershire Regiment, World War I
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‘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
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian marriage, Personal commentary
Tagged 29th Indian Brigade, Achi Baba, Battle of the Brickstacks, Colonel Hawkins, comments, Dardanelles, Elizabeth Ellis, Gallipoli, George Calderon, Gully Ravine, Jim Corbet, King's Own Scottish Borderers, Kittie Calderon, Krithia, Shady, Sir Roland James Corbet, The Great War, Third Battle of Krithia, Tommy, World War I
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31 May 1915
Today the fate of George Calderon and several thousand other British soldiers at Gallipoli was sealed. Sir Ian Hamilton, Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, decided to fight a general action on the Helles front without waiting for the extra … Continue reading
Posted in Personal commentary
Tagged comments, Dardanelles, Gallipoli, General Henri Gouraud, General Kitchener, George Calderon, Ian Hamilton, Lieutenant-General Aylmer Hunter-Weston, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, The Great War, Third Battle of Krithia, World War I
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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
‘New Western Polovtsians’
Posted in Personal commentary
Tagged Achi Baba, comments, Dardanelles, Gallipoli, George Calderon, H.M.S. 'Majestic', Helles, King's Own Scottish Borderers, Kittie Calderon, Michel Fokine, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, Polovtsians, The Great War, Tommy, U-21, World War I
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‘Hunter-Bunter’s’ plan
As an essentially literary chap, I do not propose to embroil myself in controversy about the Commander of the 29th Division at Helles, Sir Aylmer Gould Hunter-Weston (1864-1940), popularly known as ‘Hunter-Bunter’. He has been described as ‘one of the … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Personal commentary
Tagged ANZAC, armistices, Aubrey Herbert, comments, Dardanelles, Gallipoli, General Aylmer Hunter-Weston, General Douglas Haig, General Henri Gouraud, George Calderon, Ian Hamilton, Peter Hart, Second Battle of Krithia, The Great War, Third Battle of Krithia, World War I
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Gallipoli: The situation
To Hamilton’s request for ‘two fresh divisions organized as a corps’ (see my post of 6 May), Kitchener replied on 10 May that he could send him only one. This was the 52nd (Lowland) Division, which would take almost a … Continue reading
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
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
Transfiguration and parting
Today, 10 May 1915, which was a Monday, George and Kittie set out on the 140-mile journey by train from Gosport to the naval base of Devonport, where he was to embark for an unknown destination. Five other officers from … Continue reading
Hypothesis, or conspiracy theory?
Whilst writing Crime and Punishment Dostoevsky reminded himself in his notebook that he must ‘establish why Raskol’nikov killed the old woman’; although he had already suggested several reasons in the novel. The question ‘why George Calderon insisted on signing up at the … Continue reading
Ruth Scurr’s exhilarating experiment
In my post of 6 March I discussed an essay by Ruth Scurr about biography that had just appeared in the Guardian Review. Her essay stirred up a whole hive of issues that the modern biographer should be aware of and needs … Continue reading
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 →