fierce and shy with strangers 45, 110, 114–15, 156, 204
haunted by recurrent images 17–19, 99, 113
indifference (apparent) 31, 114, 131
interest in prostitutes 13, 50, 56, 126
like a boy 32, 117
as ‘Miss Lotti’ 45, 66, 69, 91, 97, 125, 133, 138, 183, 190
love of or longing for:
children 21, 41–2, 116, 123, 184
Christmas 11
cigarettes 60, 84, 101, 111
tries to give up 128
fisherman’s life 101, 114, 133
friends 114–15, 128, 224, 225
France 182, 186, 193
London and Londoners 12, 48, 49
Nature 48–9, 191
sea 15, 63–4, 101
thought of death 99, 182, 226
trees 19, 195
lover of women 29–30, 60, 84–5, 119, 137–8
practical side 46, 68
religious experience 15–16, 31, 76–7, 126–7, 185–6
sense of guilt 16, 42, 56–7, 89, 100, 113, 197, 215, 223
small size 10, 20, 32, 110, 172
taste in clothes 26, 32, 57, 83, 154, 155, 177–8, 221
POEMS:
Afternoon Tea (quoted) 45
A Quoi Bon Dire 176, 240
Changeling, The 20, 116, 128, 153, 155, 234–36
Exspecto Resurrection 10
Fame 112–13, 114, 133
Farmer’s Bride, The 102–7, 110, 111, 116, 123, 144, 145, 153, 160, 164, 203, 204
(as title of collection) 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 170, 174–5, 176, 177, 187, 191, 206, 210, 229–30
Fête 126, 130, 133, 159
Fin de Fête 196–7, 220, 225, 258
Forest Road, The 126
From a Window 259
I so liked Spring 262
In Nunhead Cemetry 72–3, 87, 111, 204, 231–3
Ken 39–40, 96, 144, 161, 237–9
Left Behind 29
Madeleine in Church 113, 126–8, 135, 159, 161, 162, 180, 187, 204, 244–51
Monsieur Qui Passe 85
Ne Me Tangito 143
Not for that City 260
On the Asylum Road 39, 40
Pêcheresse 128, 133, 158
Pedlar, The 116, 128
Péri en Mer 99
Quiet House, The 87–9, 96, 225, 241–3
Requiescat 96, 102, 210
Rooms 85, 96
Sacré-Coeur, Le 85
Saturday Market 113, 143, 144, 179, 187, 197, 253–4 (title of The Farmer’s Bride in U.S.A.) 187
Sea Love 15, 181, 187, 207, 255
Shade-Catchers, The 49, 188, 252
To a Child in Death 10
Trees Are Down, The 195, 260–1
PROSE:
Aglaë 216
China Bowl, The 63, 64, 66, 70, 92, 111, (dramatized version) 115
Country Sunday, The 92
Governess in Fiction, The 71, 92
London Sunday, The 92
Mademoiselle 92
Mark Stafford’s Wife 92
Mary Stuart in Fiction 92
Minnow Fishers, The 47–8, 51
‘Miss Bolt’ 12, 78
Notes in a Brittany Convent 74, 78, 81, 97
Old Servant, An (quoted) 9–10
Passed 54–7, 58, 63, 128
Poems of Emily Brontë, The 94
Some Ways of Love 78
Wedding Day, A 50, 51
Mew, Christopher Barnes (CM’s brother) 9
Mew, Ethel Louisa (CM’s cousin) 156, 214, 222, 225
Mew, Florence Ellen Mary (later Sister Mary Magdalen, CM’s cousin) 15, 76, 222
Mew, Freda Kendall (CM’s sister), born 9
beautiful, ‘like a flame’ 21
doted on by parents 37–8
mental breakdown 38, 57, 65, 68, 71, 157, 192, 199
CM leaves money for her support 222
Mew, Frederick (CM’s father), background 1–2
articled to Manning and Mew 2
transfers to H.E. Kendall 2–3
junior partnership and marriage 5–6
supposed to turn himself into a gentleman 7
fails 8
battle over children’s names 9
makes his daughters a doll’s house 10
cast off suits 12
career 13
holiday 14
‘on his knees’ to Miss Harrison 27
commission for Hampstead Vestry Hall 32, 34
distrusted by Kendall women 35
later commissions 36
loses heart 36, 42–3
arranges Anna Maria’s annuity 43
death 68
‘the villain of the piece’ 157, 199–200
Mew, Frederick George (CM’s brother) 9
Mew, George (CM’s uncle) 1–2
Mew, Henry (CM’s grandfather) 1, 3
Mew, Henry Herne (CM’s elder brother) 9, 11, 22, 37
insane 37–8, 68
death 75, 164
Mew, James (CM’s uncle) 1–2
Mew, Maggie (CM’s aunt) 104
Mew, Richard (CM’s great-uncle) 1
Mew, Richard Cobham (CM’s brother) 9
Mew, Walter Barnes (CM’s cousin) 43, 68, 191
Mew, Old Mrs 15
Meynell, Alice 24, 162
To a Daisy 24–5
Meynell, Gerard 162
Mid-Sussex Railway 14
Mill on the Ross, The 23
Millard, Elsie see O’Keefe
Millard, Evelyn (friend of Anne and CM) 49, 59, 77, 115, 224
in The Second Mrs Tanqueray and The Prisoner of Zenda 49
in The Importance of Being Earnest 67
in Madam Butterfly 140
in Drake 140
Monro, Harold (poet, publisher and bookseller), early career 147–8
nightmares 148
wants ‘to do something about poetry’ 148
edits Georgian Poetry 149–50
meets Alida 150–3
can’t admit homosexuality 151
publishes The Farmer’s Bride 160–6
difficulties with CM 162–5
abused by other poets 162–3
called up 166–7
‘Dear child, what shall I do?’ 167
discharged as unfit 169
promotes CM’s work 170
marries Alida 184
fights alcoholism 194, 209
‘period of horror’ begins 221
Monro, Alida, described 150–1
loves Harold Monro 151–2
‘emancipated’ 151
works in Poetry Bookshop 151
Ralph Hodgson tries to kiss her 152
invites CM to Bookshop 153
gives reading of The Changeling 153, 155
friendship with CM and Anne 155–60
bewildered by lesbianism 159
keeps Bookshop going during war 166, 168
makes CM write to SCC 171
marriage 184
asked to destroy Wek 189–90
trip to France 194
invited to meet Walter de la Mare 204
wants to publish more of CM’s poems 209
fear of age 210
visits to CM 212
letter about CM 215
CM tells of Anne’s illness 217
worn out by moving Bookshop 220
last visit to CM 225
Charlotte Mew – A Memoir 156
Monroe, Harriet 130
Moore, Virginia 145
Morrell, Lady Ottoline 206, 210, 217
Morris, William 172, 185
Mudie’s Library 201
Munro, Dr Henry 141
Nation, The 96, 102, 104, 106, 153, 165
Newcombe, Mrs (school housekeeper) 28
Newfairlee Farm 1, 9, 15, 18
Newlyn, Cornwall 63–4, 111
Newlyn School of painters 63–4
Newport, Isle of Wight 1, 3, 14–15, 17, 143
New Weekly, The 133
North London C
ollegiate School 22
Noyes, Alfred, The Old Sceptic 99–100
Nunhead Cemetery, S.E. London 72–3, 225
O’Keefe, Elsie (Elsie Millard, friend of Anne and CM) 49, 60, 116, 183
marries 77
‘Elsie understands’ 79
with CM to Brittany 97–8
Oliver, Professor Daniel 26, 74, 217
Oliver, Edith (CM’s school friend) 26, 28, 60, 114
with CM in Brittany 74, 77, 97
CM’s ‘blues’ 77, 209
lends CM teamaker 79
letters to her from France 81–5, 133
checks on Anne’s health 100
joins Q.A.N.Y. 140
stays with Olivers 201
helps after Anne’s death 217
Miss Paget’s Girls’ Club 91
Pall Mall Magazine, The 46, 78
Paris 81–5, 101
Parsons, Mrs Clement 70, 95, 111
her daughter obsessed with CM 158
Patmore, Coventry 24, 25
Paul, Sir John 4
Pear Tree Press 162
Peasant Shop, Devonshire Street 194
Peckham Hospital 37, 71
Peter Pan 184
Poems for To-Day 187
Poetry 125, 130
Poetry Bookshop: described 145–7, 147
readings at 153–4
during war 152, 168
in difficulties 194–5
moves to Great Russell Street 220
Pound, Ezra 112, 119, 125
advice to CM 125
accepts her fête for The Egoist 130
cost of publishing 160
Imagist poetry 144, 188
The Goodly Fere 150
Power of Silence, The 224
Pugin, Augustus Welby 3
Punch 187
Queen Alexandra’s Nursing Yeomanry 140
Queen Mary’s doll’s house 224
Quimper, Brittany 97
Radclyffe Hall, Margaret 138
Reeth, N. Yorkshire 125
Richards, Grant 160
Righton, Katherine (friend of Anne and CM) 193, 214, 222
Rimbaud, Arthur, Illuminations 61, 97
Robinson, Mary, Emily Brontë 93
Rolfe, Frederick (‘Baron Corvo’) 57, 59, 61
Rosherville, Kent 18
Rossetti, Christina 24, 25, 31
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, Jenny 54
Royal Academy 2, 97, 211
Royal Female School of Art 43–5, 49
Royal Institute of British Architects 4, 5, 8, 43
Royal Literary Fund 202
Ruskin, John 25, 172, 185
Salisbury, Wilts 191
Samurai Society 148
Sappho of Lesbos 111, 144
Sassoon, Siegfried 176, 181, 187, 206, 207
Satuday Review, The 46
St George’s, Bloomsbury 6
St Gildas de Rhuys (convent) 74–6
St James’s, Spanish Place 54
St John’s Wood N.W. London 134, 141
St Paul’s, Barton, I.O.W. 2, 15–16, 77
Schubert, Franz 114
Scott, Mrs Amy Dawson (‘Sappho’, founder of International PEN) 107–8, 109
‘takes up’ CM 108
described 108–10
‘Mrs Sappho’ 108
organizes poetry readings 110–11
‘hard to keep back tears’ 111
CM writes to 114, 126, 132
fascinated by CM 117
introduces CM to May Sinclair 123
CM relies on her kindness 128
CM describes Pound to her 130
CM’s passion for May 134, 137
friendship with CM broken 140
organizes Women’s Defence League 140
May’s comments on 144, 145
CM conceals true nature from 159
Scott, Christopher Dawson 116, 128
Scott, Marjorie Dawson 116–17
(as Mrs Marjorie Watts) 138
Scott, Dr: avoids wife’s literary friends 109
thinks CM mad 126
joins RA.M.C. 140
Scull, Edith (CM’s school friend) 28
Shakespeare, William 24, 49, 210
Sharp, Evelyn 59, 60, 165
Unfinished Adventure 58–9
Sheffield New School of Design 2
Shelley, Percy Bysshe 96, 137
Shelley, Mary 121
Shorter, Clement 94
Shove, Fredegond 170
Sidney, Sir Philip 25
Sinclair, May described 117–18, 119–21
on genius and sexual experience 121
helps to found Medico-Psychological Clinic 123
recommends CM’s poetry to Ezra Pound 130–1
CM househunts for her 132, 193
CM misunderstands her encouragement 137
scene in bedroom 137–8
‘wasting your perfectly good passion’ 138
analyses CM in The Pinprick 141–3
no definite break with CM 144
‘I know one poet …’ 144
helps CM 155, 160, 165
‘complete friendship 157–8
and Thomas Hardy 177
strength of mind 189
The Combined Maze 122 The Creators 120
Defence of Idealism A 121
Journal of Impressions of Belgium, A 141
La Morte (poem) 136
Mr and Mrs Neville Tyson 120
Pinprick, The 141–3
Three Brontës, The 121
Sisson, C.H. 148
Sitwell, Edith 187, 199
Southall, Middlesex 109, 110, 128
Spectator, The 46
Sphere, The 46, 187
Steer, Philip Wilson, Portrait of a Lady 81
Stephen, Vanessa 69
Stern, G.B. 137
Stevenson, R.L., A Child’s Garden of Verses 207
Strand, The 46–7
Swinburne, Algernon 111, 137
Symons, Arthur 54, 94
Stella Maris 54
Synge, J.M., Riders to the Sea 65, 115
Syrett, Netta 58–9, 138
The Sheltering Tree 58
Tansley, Professor A.G. 71–2
Tansley, Elsie (Elsie Chick, CM’s schoolfriend) 26, 60, 72, 78
Temple Bar 70, 74–5, 78, 91, 95, 111
Tennyson, Alfred, Lord 111, 202
Thatched House Tavern 4
Thomas, Edward 73
Thompson, Francis 111
Three Essays on Sexuality 120
Titbits 46
Tommy (May Sinclair’s cat) 120
dies 134, 189
Tomorrow Club, The 140
‘Tomson, Graham’ 57
Travers, Pamela 184
Trevelyan, R.C. 187
Troubridge, Una, Lady 138
Underhill, Evelyn 111, 114, 123, 134
Untermeyer, Louis 187, 206
Verlaine, Paul 114, 136
Vestry Hall, Hampstead 32, 33, 36
Victoria, Queen 2, 71, 210
Victorian Club 59
Votes for Women 159
Wagner, Richard 31, 114
Tannhäuser 31
Walton’s Albany House Academy 2
Warner, Val 164
Webb, Sophia 6
Wek (the Mews’ parrot) 36, 117
awkward character 97, 100
chews up CM’s MSS 157
poorly 189–90
CM and Anne distressed at his death 190–1
Wembley Empire Exhibition 209
Wessex (the Hardys’ dog) 178
West, Dame Rebecca 137, 145
Whelen, Frederic 115
Whitelands Mental Hospital, Isle of Wight 38, 65, 199
Wight, Isle of 1, 14–16, 38, 65, 102, 212
Wilberforce, Bishop 6
Wilde, Oscar 66, 80
Importance of Being Earnest, The 67
Women Authors, Society of 11
8
Womens’ Defence League 140
Women Writers’ Suffrage League 118
Women’s Social and Political Union 118
Wood, J.T. 5
Woolf, Virginia (née Stephen) 69
thinks CM ‘unlike anyone else’ 187
too shy to speak to CM 208
A Room of One’s Own 187
Wordsworth, William 24
Wylie, I.A.R., My Life with George (quoted) 119
Wyndham’s Theatre 115
Yeats, W.B. 111, 164, 202
Yellow Book, The 51, 52–4, 57, 58, 59, 61, 63, 66, 67, 107, 165
‘Yellow Book women’ 59, 60, 74
Zoo, the London 117, 189, 190
Acknowledgements
I should like first of all to thank Mrs Marjorie Watts, daughter of Mrs Dawson Scott, the founder of International PEN. Mrs Watts has been most generous in giving me her own reminiscences of Charlotte Mew, in letting me see Charlotte’s letters to her mother, and in lending me photographs.
No-one could undertake to write a life of Charlotte Mew without being indebted to the unpublished doctoral thesis by Mary C. Davidow (Brown University, 1960). Mary Davidow made her researches while relations and old friends of the Mew family were still alive, and she was able to interview some of them. She also printed for the first time letters from the F. B. Adams Collection, five unpublished poems and The Minnow Fishers.
In 1982 Virago Press, in association with Carcanet, published Charlotte Mew: Collected Poems and Prose, edited and introduced by Val Warner. I owe a very great deal to this book, and have given page references to it in my notes whenever I have quoted from Charlotte Mew’s work.
The following have kindly given me permission to see or use copyright material: Frederick B. Adams (F. B. Adams Collection); New York Public Library (Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection); The State University of New York at Buffalo (The Poetry/Rare Books Collection of the University Libraries); University of California, Los Angeles (William Andrews Clark Memorial Library); Lloyd’s Bank Ltd Trust Division (Florence Hardy estate); The University of Texas at Austin (Humanities Research Center); The Librarian and Governing Body of Somerville College, Oxford; Wilfrid Blunt (S. C. Cockerell’s literary executor); Mrs Marjorie Watts.
I am most grateful to the following people who have helped me in so many different ways: Percy Birtchnell, secretary of the Berkhamsted Local History Society, Dr T. M. Boll, Patric Dickinson, Dr Robert Gittings, Joy Grant, Jim Hepburn, Michael Holroyd, Mary Knox, Katherine Lyon Mix, Terry Pepper (National Portrait Gallery Archive), Bob Pocock, Ruth Tomalin, Pamela Travers (who gave me Charlotte Mew’s candlesticks), Val Warner, Professor Stanley Weintraub, J. Howard Woolmer, bookseller – and to the staff of the Camden Local History Department, the GLC Record Office, the Isle of Wight Record Office, the Isle of Wight County Reference Library, Kensington and Chelsea Public Library, Marylebone Public Library, the R.I.B.A. Library, Southwark Public Libraries and the Library of the Zoological Society of London.