An Edwardian State of Mind

Strange and Secret Peoples

2010-04-21T20:15:00.000-07:00

Now my research has taken me down many strange paths of late - Orphic mythology, Kali cults, theosophy just to name a few - but now I'm feeling drawn to investigating the broader spiritual consciousness of Victorian and Edwardian England (you never know, a book may come out of it!). I just ordered a book entitled "Strange and Secret Peoples, Fairies and Victorian Consciousness" by Carole G. Silver. Seeing as it's from Oxford University Press it appears to be fairly erudite, if a little obscure. I'm intrigued and eager to read it. This kind of book research will at least take my mind off the fact that my flight to London on Monday was cancelled and thus, for the moment at least, a much anticipated on-site research visit has had to be postponed:(.

The Great Silence

2010-01-11T09:32:00.000-08:00

Over the holidays I read an amazing book about the post war years (as in post WW1) called The Great Silence by Juliet Nicholson. She details the years 1918 to 1920 and the introduction of the 2 minute silence as a way of remembering the war dead. What struck me the most, however, was how well she captured the overwhelming sense of grief after the war - grief that most British people were simply unable to articulate. This book draws upon first hand accounts that span class as well as experience and is unforgettable. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in understanding the profound impact the Great War had on the British psyche as well as how close Britain came to the edge in those early years after the war had ended (it was a miracle there wasn't a revolution). Be warned, however, you will need a box of tissues on hand - especially for the final chapter which details the return and interment of the unknown soldier.

Lest We Forget

2009-11-11T11:34:00.000-08:00

I just returned from a week in London and managed to spend two fantastic mornings at the Imperial War Museum doing research on the women police in World War I. I also caught a fabulous play, War Horse, that dealt with the realities of warfare through the eyes of a horse - the puppetry was amazing and there was not a dry eye in the theatre at the end. The week turned out to revolve around the war in so many ways- not least because it was the week leading up to Remembrance Day (today). I think the British know how to pay tribute to the past in a way few other cultures can and the past truly resonates for me when I am in London.

My research turned up some real gems. Not only did I get to read the diary of a woman police officer but I also got to hear an interview with her from the mid 1980's which brought her vividly to life. The documents I got to see included an amazing array of photographs including a studio portrait of her dog 'Rip' and his official pass to accompany her into one of the munitions factories. It was hilarious to see so much dedicated to her dog! The police woman worked in munition factories across Britain and her diary provided insight not just into the life of a female police officer during the war but also the horrific conditions under which the female munition workers had to perform their duties. It was truly fascinating - and I can't wait to use the material!

Off to London

2009-11-02T09:06:00.000-08:00

I am off to London today for a research trip that includes reviewing files at the Imperial War Museum of a woman police sergeant during the First World War. I'm also hoping to wander the streets, absorbing the atmosphere for a scene in my current WIP, The Soul Reader...more on that to come!

Not in Front of the Servants

2009-09-21T09:48:00.000-07:00

I've just been re-reading Frank Dawes' terrific book, Not in Front of the Servants, for my latest WIP. I'm interested in what it must have been like to serve as a scullery maid just before the First World War and believe me the life sounds awful. A scullery maid occupied the lowest rung of the servant ladder and in many situations her lot was pretty poor.

In 1906 the wages of a scullery maid in London were about 6 pounds a year and despite the hard work it was no doubt better than many of the other options available to poor working class women at the time. Conditions for servants had also improved by the 1910s, when the entrenched hierarchy and domestic servant situation was starting to come unravelled (there were many laments that it was impossible to find a good servant at the time!) but nonetheless you wouldn't envy their lot. Up at 5:30am, rising in a cold 'cell' in the attic, probably in a bedroom shared with two maybe three other maids, then down to the basement kitchen where the day would be spent scrubbing floors, washing pots and pans, and hauling coal scuttles, until the late hours of the evening. By the 1910s servants were getting usually one free afternoon a week so a scullery maid in London would have probably had some chance to view the hustle and bustle of the streets - but what of those in the country? Their lot must have been pretty dismal at times.

The scullery maid I am writing about lives in Yorkshire on a remote estate and it isn't much of a stretch to imagine that conditions then must have been pretty primitive and isolating. Such is the stuff of novels:)

THE WOMEN’S POLICE SERVICE DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR

2009-08-17T09:54:00.000-07:00

The First World War heralded the first visible role for women in ‘policing’ work in Britain. Coordinated by two separate organizations – the National Union of Working Women (renamed the National Council of Women in 1919) and the Women's Police Volunteers (renamed the Women’s Police Service in 1915) – these pioneer policewomen were introduced because of safety and morality concerns during wartime.

In 1914, soon after the outbreak of the First World War, Margaret Damer Dawson, approached her friend Sir Edward Henry, Chief Commissioner of Police, about forming the Women's Police Volunteers (WPV). She envisaged a separate group of trained professional women to deal with the pressing need of controlling the behavior of young women in wartime Britain. The initial impetus for the creation of the WPV was Damer Dawson’s concern that British men at railway stations were attempting to recruit Belgian women as prostitutes. She also believed that the influx of young women into cities across Britain, enjoying freedoms and employment opportunities unheard of in peacetime, were at risk of succumbing to the vices of drunkenness, loose morals and criminal behavior.

By the time the WPV formed, The National Union of Working Women (NUWW) had already organized around 5,000 voluntary ‘women patrols’ across Britain to walk the city streets, public parks and to visit cinemas and other places of entertainment to prevent and protect women from immoral behavior. Damer Dawson’s vision, however, was for a true women’s police organization that would presage the formation of a women’s police force after the war ended. She believed strongly that only women could effectively tackle problems of female criminal behavior and immorality.

The first person to join the WPV was Mary Allen, an ex-militant suffragette who had been imprisoned three times during the Women’s Social and Political Union’s campaign to secure votes for women. In her memoir, The Pioneer Policewoman, Mary Allen writes that: "A sense of humour had kept me from any bitterness. I was quite as enthusiastically ready to work with and for the police as I had been prepared, if necessary, to enter into combat with them."

In 1915, following a schism within the organization over the Damer Dawson’s moralistic and interventionist approach to policing women, the WPV was renamed the Women's Police Service (WPS). Wearing dark-blue uniforms with lettered armlets, hard felt hats and shoulder straps, the first WPS patrols concentrated on looking after the welfare of refugees in London. Soon, however, WPS members were assigned to many other cities, most notably Grantham and Hull. Edith Smith, one of the original members of the WPS, became the first attested policewoman in the United Kingdom when she was sworn in as a member of the Grantham Police Force in 1915. In most cases, however, WPS volunteers were not sworn in as full members of the local police force and could not make arrests.

In 1916 the Admiralty recruited a member of the WPS as an undercover worker in an attempt to expose spying and drug taking at the Scapa Flow Naval Base. The Ministry of Munitions also used the WPS to search women workers at its factories. By 1918, WPS policewomen were on duty in Edinburgh, Birmingham, Glasgow, Bristol, Belfast, Oxford, Cambridge, Grantham, Portsmouth, Folkestone, Hull, Plymouth, Brighton, Reading, Nottingham, London and Southampton. Between 1914 and 1920 the WPS trained 1,080 women, 90% of which were involved in supervising women workers at munitions factories.

The WPS was a particularly militaristic organization, in both discipline and practice. The WPS leadership adopted close-cropped military style haircuts, a decidedly masculine uniform and a martial hierarchy that required superior offices to be saluted and addressed as ‘Sir’ by subordinates. Many in the leadership had masculine nicknames (Mary Allen, for example, went by the name of ‘Robert’ apparently). The WPS also insisted that its officers should all be ‘educated gentlewomen’. WPS volunteers also received instruction in first aid, drill, the art of self-defense (ju-jitsu), police court procedure, and signaling. Unlike the male police force, almost all the WPS members worked without pay and were often older, socially privileged and better educated than their male colleagues.

At the end of the First World War Commandant Margaret Damer Dawson and Subcommandant Mary Allen asked the new Chief Commissioner of Police, Sir Nevil Macready, to make them a permanent part of the police force. He refused, saying that the women were "too educated" and would "irritate" male members of the force. Instead he decided to recruit and train his own women from the ranks of the NUWW/NCW patrols. Margaret Damer Dawson died in 1920 and, although she was awarded the OBE for services to her country during wartime, she never realized her dream of establishing a separate women’s police force.

The WPS continued as a voluntary service and in 1920 became the Women's Auxiliary Service. By the 1930s Mary Allen, who took over the leadership of the WPS after Damer Dawson’s death, had become a controversial political figure and in 1939 she declared herself a supporter of Oswald Moseley’s British Union of Fascists.

References:
Phillipa Levine.“Walking the Streets in a Way No Decent Woman Should”: Women Police in World War I. The Journal of Modern History. 1994; 66(1):34-78
R.M. Douglas. Feminist Freikorps: The British Voluntary Women police, 1914-1940. Praeger Publishers, Westport. 1999
Commandant Mary S. Allen O.B.E.. The Pioneer Policewoman. Chatto & Windus. London. 1925
Louise A. Jackson. Women Police. Gender, Welfare, and Surveillance in the Twentieth Century. Manchester University press. 2006
Fido M. and Skinner K. The Official Encyclopedia of Scotland Yard. Virgin Books. London. 1999.
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/wps.htm

Spies

2009-07-21T11:14:00.000-07:00

I've been procrastinating with my blogging but finishing a book can have that effect - so Unlikely Traitors is done and now I'm turning my attention to other ideas - most of which come directly from my research. I've been up to my eyeballs in espionage. Starting with Tammy Proctor's terrific "Female Intelligence, Women and Espionage in the First World War" followed by Julie Wheelwright's "The Fatal Lover. Mata Hari and the Myth of Women in Espionage" and ending up with Matthew Seligmann's "Spies in Uniform, British Military & Naval Intelligence on the Eve of the first World War". The last book was really the only one I used in my research for Unlikely Traitors but the other two have definitely got me turning around a few new book ideas...As I was surprised to learn the extent to which women were involved in the intelligence services during the First World War. I also discovered two wonderful books published in the 1930s that I cannot wait to read...They are both by Captain Henry Landau - reportedly a member of British intelligence during the war - and could be wildly inaccurate or just plain hilarious (or both - who knows!). The first is called "All's Fair" and the second "Secrets of the White Lady." I'll post more when I've had a chance to digest these...who knows more book ideas may follow!

Ian Pears Tackles Edwardian Intrigue

2009-06-07T10:27:00.000-07:00

I was just reading the NYT book review and caught sight of a review of Ian Pears latest book, Stone's Fall, which seems to focus on intrigue in pre-World War I England. It sounds fascinating - especially given its non-linear approach - switching from 1953 to 1909 and back to 1867...I'll have to get a copy and post my review. Who knows maybe there's a revival of interest in Edwardian politics...we can only hope! Later this week I'm off to the Historical Novel Society's North American Conference so I'll have to find out on the scoop of what's hot and what's not in historical fiction.

Ulster Crisis

2009-04-21T12:33:00.000-07:00

Imagine my surprise when I received a used copy of A.T.Q. Stewart's The Ulster Crisis; Resistance to Home Rule 1912-1914 only to find a handwritten inscription from Ian Paisley. I had to wonder was this the behemoth of Ulster - the Ian Paisley? As a teenager I was obsessed with Northern Ireland and read as much as I could about it, so the possibility that it was gave me goosebumps. Even if it isn't his signature, I still have to admire the thrill I get when I get into historical research. You just never know what you might find in a second hand book.

James Larkin

2009-03-19T11:04:00.001-07:00

I'm just starting James Larkin, Lion of the Fold edited by Donal Nevin which is billed as a compilation of writings about the larger than life Irish labour leader. I'm principally interested in the Dublin lock out strike of 1913. This infamous strike pitted Larkin against one of the most powerful employers in Dublin - William Martin Murphy owner of the Dublin United Tramway Company, newspaper proprietor, and director of two railway companies. I am intrigued by how Ursula, my main character, would react to the strike given she is now an independent business woman of her own but still has strong socialist tendencies. I'm looking forward to reading more about James Larkin and the events of 1913 - the turmoil in both Britain an Ireland was such a heady combination of industrial as well as political unrest - driven in part by the formidable characters of the era.

Ulster cicra 1912

2009-03-03T18:54:00.000-08:00

After 1910, political conditions changed in England such that prime minister Asquith's majority had all but disappeared and he was now dependent upon the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) for support. Although willing to provide such support, it came on one key condition - the establishment of home rule for Ireland.

By 1912, Ulster was a powder-keg. Divided between the protestant pro-Ulster forces and the Irish republicans, both sides were seeking to arm themselves to defend their opposing political positions. Within the pro-Ulster movement there already was a secret committee established to buy arms from abroad to resist any moves toward home rule. On the republican side, the 1910s would provide fertile ground for resistance, rebellion and frustration over stalled home rule efforts. By the start of the third Ursula Marlow book, tensions over home rule are running high and the stakes for betrayal even higher.

One book I'm reading at the moment as part of my research is Richard Killeen's A Short History of the Irish Revolution 1912 to 1927 - certainly recommended as providing a nice overview and a great starting point for further research. Be sure to check back here next week as I continue my series of blogs on Irish history in the late Edwardian era.

Lord Wrotham Short Story

2009-03-03T14:19:00.000-08:00

On my website yesterday I posted the first part of a short story about one of the characters in my Ursula Marlow novels, Lord Oliver Wrotham. It's the first time I've ever written anything from his POV - both Consequences of Sin and The Serpent and The Scorpion are written from Ursula's perspective - so this time I get the chance to delve into the mind of this enigmatic man - which was as challenging as it was fun. I also had to up my research into Irish history - which I'm already doing as I continue the manuscript for the third Ursula Marlow book, Unlikely Traitors. It occurred to me that readers would probably like to start learning more about this period in Irish history too - so I'm proposing to write a series of blogs as I continue my research, the first focusing on the year 1912 in Irish history. So stay tuned for this. In the meantime, here's the link to the online story:

http://www.clarelangleyhawthorne.com/pdf/Reunion_PartOne.pdf

Weird and Wonderul

2009-02-19T10:02:00.000-08:00

Well as I investigated spiritualism further I stumbled across two great books - the first called Independent Spirits, Spiritualism and English Plebians, 1850-1910 by Logie Barrow; the second called The Place of Enchantment, British Occultism and the Culture of the Modern by Alex Owen. I'm also lucky I have a neighbor who is a professor of comparative religion who is also an expert on Hinduism and she and I have been gabbing away about spiritualism and occultism in Britain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Fascinating stuff and though only a tiny proportion will ever make it into my books, it's still a topic begging for further research. I still love the opening line of the Place of Enchantment: "In September 1898 two respectable Victorians met in a private house in London for the express purpose of traveling to the planets."
That could be the start of a novel - and I'm certainly already engrossed in the whole spiritualism and occultism movements of this time - fascinating stuff!

Spiritualism and The First World War

2009-02-01T19:59:00.000-08:00

As part of research for my current project I am looking at spiritualism and the first world war. It's a fascinating subject and I can't wait to delve deeper into the issue once my manuscript is finished. Not only was it an issue that fascinated Arthur Conan Doyle it was also one that struck a cord with many families devastated by the loss of their loved ones during the war. Two books which I highly recommend on the impact of the war - Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning by Jay Winter and The Great War and Modern Memory by Paul Fussell touch briefly on the issue of spiritualism but it is the amazing digitized books now available that I can read Sir Oliver Lodge's Raymond as well as other books of that era that show the power of loss and the need for spiritual consolation. My current WIP is set in 1915 so I can only touch upon the early stirrings of spiritualism in the context of the first world war. As I move further on into the war with subsequent books it will be fascinating to see how I can incorporate my research further.

Books to raise an Eyebrow (or Two)

2009-01-18T19:30:00.000-08:00

I'm always intrigued by the kinds of books considered controversial in different eras - including those that were condemned (or even banned) as obscene. In my current manuscript my main character is reading a book that would 'raise eyebrows' and I immediately thought of DH Lawrence (but of course). His book 'The Rainbow' was certainly such a book but unfortunately it was released just a few months later than I wanted in 1915 to be used (at least in the first half of the manuscript). This is one of my favorite DH Lawrence books - and I am what would be called a reluctant fan. At school I studied 'Sons and Lovers' and hated it but once I'd read 'The Rainbow' I was a convert - and I promptly read 'Women in Love' and 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' in quick succession. Now the latter was most certainly a book that would 'raise eyebrows'. For a future WIP I'm looking at (believe it or not!) erotic literature from the Victorian Age. I purchased the most infamous of them all - 'Fanny Hill' and was quite frankly shocked by how graphic it was.

Whoever says the Victorian (or the Edwardians) were prudish need only check out these controversial books to realize that the seedier side of life was most certainly there and some writers relished exposing the erotic underneath the corsets. Who knew?! So what are your favorite 'controversial' novels of the Edwardian (or Victorian) Age?

Kitty Byron - She be 'Just a Woman'

2008-12-03T14:00:00.000-08:00

I have just read a fascinating article about a murder case in Edwardian England in which a woman named Kitty Byron stabbed her loved (Alfred Baker) on the steps of their local post office. She stabbed him after an altercation over whether he could pay twopence to help her send a telegram but what really caught my eye was how the case revolved not around who murdered Baker (as this was not denied) but why and how the case stirred up public sympathy for the plight of a poor jilted woman. Apparently Baker (who was married) had been cohabiting with Kitty and was threatening to leave her when the murder took place. Kitty managed to garner public sympathy because unlike her middle-class lover (who was the son of a stockbroker) she was the daughter of a brewer and poor. Their relationship was marked by violence and alcohol and Kitty was portrayed as more sinner against than sinner despite the fact that prior to her relationship with Baker Kitty had romantic relationships with both men and women.

Kitty's barrister was none other than Henry Dickens (son of Charles) and members of Stock Exchange actually funded her defence - evidence again of the compassion and pity Kitty's case had stirred. The article argued that in this case gender played a major role in determining the outcome - for thousands of people signed a petition asking for clemency and the judge followed the jury's recommendations for mercy (though Kitty was found guilty of murder). Kitty served seven years in jail - had she been a man no doubt she would have hanged for her crime - but this case served to pave the way for considerations such as provocation and the mental state of the perpetrator. It also makes for a fascinating study in Edwardian sensibilities and way of life.

The citation for the article by the way is: Frost G. 'She is but a woman': Kitty Byron and the English Edwardian Criminal Justice System. Gender & History. 2004; 16(3):538-560. Unfortunately I don't think it's freely available on the web - I found it in my research using the JSTOR database.

Singled Out

2008-11-15T10:32:00.000-08:00

I'm finally getting around to reading 'Singled Out' by Virginia Nicholson - a book about 'how two million British women survived without men after the first world war'. Already I am struck by the courage as well as the palpable sense of loss these women felt and displayed. From the tear-jerking personal ads to the stories that demonstrate just how these women survived the demise of a whole generation of men. It also shows how society viewed these 'surplus women' - with disdain mainly. That angered me but it also enhanced my appreciation of the many stories in this terrific book.

Rebel Pen Club

2008-10-14T14:12:00.000-07:00

I received an email a couple of weeks ago from a researcher telling me about a local girl, Ethel Carnie Holdsworth who, during the Edwardian period was a writer, socialist and founder of the Rebel Pen Club dedicated to teaching working women how to write in the interests of socialism. I was very excited as she spent time in and around the towns of Lancashire where my family are from and where my character Ursula Marlow hails from. I'm following up on some of the reserach and my aunt even attended a lecture in great Harwood on Ethel - so serendipity all round. The name the Rebel Pen Club has already started me ruminating on some possible short stories and Ethel's life is fascinating.
Here's one of the links sent to me to find out more!
http://www.cottontown.org/page.cfm?pageid=4629&language=eng

This quote from Dr Roger Smalley who has written a Phd thesis on Ethel Carnie Holdsworth life certainly has me intrigued:

"It must have taken guts for someone of her background to speak to an educated audience at Blackburn's literary circle, to go to London to work as a journalist, to flout the conventions surrounding weddings, to face a pro-war crowd and argue the pacifist cause, to persuade Cecil Hepworth to make a film of one of her novels, to sink her life savings into a failing newspaper in an attempt to create a revolution, to outface fascist bullies, and to leave her husband rather than remain in a loveless marriage. This is not conventional behaviour for an early twentieth century working-class woman."

I for one want to know more!

Just released The Serpent and The Scorpion!!

2008-09-28T20:22:00.000-07:00

I’m so excited the second Ursula Marlow mystery, The Serpent and The Scorpion, comes out tomorrow I couldn't help some blatant self promotion!

When describing The Serpent and The Scorpion, Kirkus Reviews wrote “Pre-World War I England is a seething cauldron of conflicting ideologies as Bolsheviks, suffragettes, socialists and merchants of death battle for control.” I couldn’t have summed it up better – and reading this it’s obvious why I was drawn to this period in history!

Here's a sneak peek at The Serpent and The Scorpion!

It's nearly two years since her father’s death and Ursula Marlow is embroiled in personal and professional struggles. Her relationship with Lord Wrotham has cooled since she rejected his marriage proposal and she continues to fly in the face of society’s conventions as to the appropriate role of a woman in Edwardian England. Now she is besieged on all fronts as she struggles to succeed as an independent businesswoman, despite financial difficulties, labor unrest and arson attacks on her mills and factories.

While on a business trip to Egypt, Ursula witnesses a friend’s murder in Cairo’s Khan el-Khalili bazaar, and embarks on her own investigation, convinced the Egyptian police and Scotland Yard are mistaken in assuming the death was politically motivated. Days later a young woman dies in a fire in one of Ursula’s factories in England and Ursula returns to discover the woman was already dead before the fire started. Driven by her need for justice and the dictates of her conscience, Ursula must rely on her own powers of detection and a growing interest in cryptography to discover a possible connection between the deaths, the return of her Bolshevik ex-lover and disturbing events in the Middle East.

Was war inevitable?

2008-09-15T20:10:00.000-07:00

I've been pondering this thought as I prepare for my book tour for the second Ursula Marlow book, The Serpent and The Scorpion, as everything I've read certainly suggests that there was a sense of inevitability about a war with Germany. Of course, people thought this was going to be a noble fight in which the English would 'thrash the hun' without too much trouble and had no inkling of the truly horrendous war that would eventuate. Nevertheless, I want to delve deeper. What would a woman like Ursula Marlow think? Given that she paid attention to politics and world affairs would she dread the prospect of war or would she, having had no direct experience with war, have felt it was a necessary thing. Something that just needed to happen to restore the global order of things? The British Empire still looked invincible and even Christabel Pankhurst agreed to put aside the fight for female suffrage and dedicate herself to supporting the war effort. But this was once war had broken out, so what would a woman like Ursula have felt before then? I'm guessing she would have felt that the 'Votes for Women' campaign was paramount and that the military arms race - the building of dreadnaughts etc. - was just a reflection of what happened when men were the only ones with political power.

Annie Besant

2008-09-07T12:56:00.001-07:00

As part of my current research I've been looking at books on the Theosophical Society and Annie Besant. An ex-suffragette, Annie became leader of the Adyar branch of the society and became interested in the nascent Indian nationalist movement. What a fascinating lady and time period for this group whose beliefs derive mainly from the writings of Madam Blavatsky - who may or may not have been a complete charlatan. Part of my research has involved looking at many of the offshoots of the Theosophical Society - the schisms were certainly intense and out of the 'ancient wisdom' Blavatsky promoted a number of other hermetic societies such as the Order of the Golden Dawn emerged. It's fascinating to see the spiritualism undercurrents in the Edwardian era and also to ponder the profound impact of the first world war - it even drove Arthur Conan Doyle to spiritualism. When researching Annie Besant though I found many of my preconceptions had to be abandoned so I could try and understand how she thought and also how her followers felt about Theosophy and how they reconciled their beliefs with the war.

Leonard Woolf in Ceylon

2008-07-30T13:00:00.001-07:00

I confess to knowing very little about Leonard Woolf but reading 'Woolf in Ceylon' An Imperial Journay into the Shadow of Leonard Woolf 1904-1911 by Christopher Ondaatje has left me intrigued. As I result I went to the library and picked up Leonard Woolf's autobiography 'Growing' which chronicles his time as a civil servant in Ceylon. Ondaatje's book is by far the more interesting as it parallels his own journey with that of Woolf's and provides photographs and background material - all fascinating for someone like me who wants to delve into the mind of those 'bastions' of the empire - the civil servants abroad.

Indian Soldiers on the Western Front

2008-06-24T15:50:00.000-07:00

My research for my current book has unearthed so many amazing facts that I simply wasn't aware of but one that has become increasingly more important for the book is the role of the Indian sepoy soldiers. I have a book of letters that Indian soldiers sent home - as cut by the censors - and their experiences and thoughts are fascinating - so too is the reaction of the English. Although welcomed at the front, the English still wanted to ensure contact with sepoy soldiers and English women was kept to a minimum so they ensured wounded Indian soliders were cared for in their own separate hospitals with usually native orderlies and doctors etc. They were afraid white nurses may be lured into temptation...The book compiled by David Ormissi is called Indian Voices of the Great War and together with Gordon Corrigan's Sepoys in the Trenches I have found a wealth of material that provides a new perspective on the first world war and what was truly a battle for empire.

The Home Front in The Great War

2008-06-04T12:26:00.000-07:00

As part of my research for a non-Ursula book set in WWI I picked up a terrific book, The Home Front in the Great War, by David Bilton. A little light on the old references and no footnotes but still, a treasure trove of information. I was particularly struck by the section on the boys scouts and their role on the home front. At the start of an air raid the 'all clear boys' would assemble at the police station with their bugles and cycles and then at the end of the raid, cycle off in the dark to blow the all clear - now that's a great image - endearing as well as chilling, given the boys in question were between 14 and 18 years old. For my new book I'm immersing myself in the home front and discovering just how much change occurred to the 'old order' during the war.

Jerusalem 1913

2008-04-23T13:54:00.000-07:00

After succumbing to the flu and sundry colds I'm now emerging from the fog, and on my visit to the VA Book festival a few weeks ago, I stumbled across a new book entitled Jerusalem 1913, The Origins of the Arab Israeli Conflict by Amy Docker Marcus. The title alone drew my attention (and that of some fellow travellers as I sat reading it). As the second book in the Ursula Marlow series, The Serpent and The Scorpion, concerns events in Palestine in 1912, I was immediately intrigued to read on. The book turned out to be a short yet comprehensive assessment of how events in the early teens of last century helped shape the current conflict. The reaction to early Zionist nationalism and the impact of the First World War were all discussed in very readable terms. I only wish, perhaps, that a more detailed examination could have been made. It whetted the appetite though, and has prompted me to investigate more fully the events that I touch upon in my second book. You never know it could even provide fodder for more books to come...

Home Rule

2008-03-11T11:18:00.000-07:00

I just got two new books that focus on the Irish question that plagued (and continued to plage) the Edwardian era. The first of these is a biography of the rabble rouser James Larkin and the second is A Short History of the Irish Revolution (1912 to 1927). As I continue working on the third book in the Ursula Marlow series I am becoming more and more fascinated with the thorny issue of Home Rule for Ireland and how significantly it impacted late Edwardian politics. By 1912 the Liberal government needed the Irish Nationalists on their side, profoundly altering the possibility of Home Rule for Ireland. But then protestants in Ulster, determined to thwart any moves to give Ireland independence from Britain, started to mobilize. I am just starting to learn about the 'arming of Ulser' and the militant view many Ulstermen took of defending their right to remain part of Britain. Interesting, disturbing and ultimtaely so sad when you think how many years the Irish question and Irish 'troubles' would linger and how many lives would be lost in the fight for Irish freedom.

The Lost World

2008-02-19T13:44:00.000-08:00

I have been watching the films of Mitchell & Kenyon on DVD and am amazed at the quality of these rare archival images of Edwardian Britain. The British Film Institute have produced two fantastic DVDs - one entitled The Lost World of Mitchell & Kenyon, Edwardian Britain on Film; the other entitled: Edwardian Sports. I Have not (as yet) watched the Sports one , but 'The Lost World' really provided a 'time traveling' experience. The films are so clear visually and the images of daily life in the North of England so fascinatingly 'ordinary' - whether it be children playing outside school or factory workers clocking off - the film provides a glimpse into aspects of the the Edwardian world which would otherwise have gone unnoticed and long forgotten.

Resource Books for Edwardian Period

2008-02-04T10:09:00.000-08:00

I'm starting to compile my own bibliography (before I forget!) of resource books for the Edwardian period. Here are just a few of the ones on my shelf at the moment:

George Dangerfield, The Strange Death of Liberal England, 1910-1914, Capricorn Books, 1961 (I have my father's copy from his university days and I fear this is well out of print now)

Roy Hattersley, The Edwardians, St. Martins Press, 2005

Robert Cecil, Life in Edwardian England, Batsford/Putnam, 1969

Peter Stansky, On or about December 1910, Early Bloomsbury and its Intimate World, Harvard University Press, 1997

Juliet Nicholson, The Perfect Summer, England 1911, Just Before the Storm, Grove Press, 2006

Max Arthur, Lost Voices of the Edwardians, Harper Collins, 2006

Barbara Tuchman, The Proud Tower, A Porait of the World Before the War: 1890-1914, Macmillan, 1966

Andre Maurois, The Edwardian Era, Appleton-Century, 1933

Gretchen Wilson, With all her Might, The life of Gertrude Harding, Militant Suffragette, Holmes & Meier, 1998

Colin Clifford, The Asquiths, John Murray, 2002

Jad Adams, Pankhurst, Haus Publishing, 2003

EM Forster

2008-01-08T11:35:00.000-08:00

EM Forster remains one of my favorite writers despite recommending Howards End for my book group and having many friends proclaim it to be 'hard going' and even a 'little dull'. They all preferred the movie. Howards End came out in 1910 and I still think EM Forster captures the Edwardian sensibility with both humor and a sense of regret for a way of life that seemed to be passing. Of all EM Forster's novels, I appreciate Howards End and A Room with a View the best. Passage to India never quite had the same appeal for me and I've always found Where Angels Fear to Tread to be a rather strange novel - caught between the light and the dark. There is certainly humor but also the darker elements that often reside beneath the surface of Forster's work seem to declare themselves in ways that aren't quite as satisfying as his other work. I haven't, I must confess, read Maurice (nor have I even seen the movie) so perhaps it's time to revisit Forster and see whether my opinions have altered with the passage of time.

1910s Scrapbook

2007-12-10T20:51:00.001-08:00

While in London recently I found this fun new series of books which provide a colorful scrapbook of popular culture and lifestyles since Victorian times. I bought the 1910s scrapbook appropriately enough at the Imperial War Museum and have since spent many hours reveling in the details of daily life in late Edwardian England. One glossy page is dedicated to the "militant woman" and it is always fun seeing bizarre advertisements of the time such as one proclaiming that "The really militant woman wages war with CWS brushes on all dust and dirt". It certainly shows you how the ad industry viewed the seriousness of the suffrage movement.

Being somewhat of a British food fan (and let's face it there aren't that many of us!) I also enjoyed perusing the shelves of food displayed for the 1910s. Many familiar brands of today were stacked in the Edwardian pantry - Birds Custard powder, Oxo cubes, Jacob water crackers, HP sauce and my particular favorite, Cadbury chocolate. Part of the fun of writing a historical novel is immersing yourself in the day to day life of the period and I love how the scrapbook paints such a vivid picture of popular pastimes, culture and life. I've placed it on my desk so that whenever the fancy should take me I can open a page and catch a glimpse of life back then with all its imperial pomposity and chauvinism.

Most of the scrapbook is dedicated to the Great War and, as my research takes me through 1913 and 1914, I know that all too soon I will have to move away from the glorious trivialities of Edwardian daily life and face the grim reality of tackling this horrific period in history.

Disconnected Part 2

2007-11-26T11:17:00.000-08:00

Well, having had an earlier than expected return from The Netherlands I've found myself again disconnected from the world and now, back online, determined to get things up and running in blogdom (finally!). I spent a week researching in London in which I spent almost all my time perched at a desk in the British Library. I visited the Imperial War Museum and was particularly interested in the section about the origins of MI5 and MI6 as my research at the moment is focusing on the early incarnations of both these institutions in the 1910's. By this time England was already convinced a war with Germany was inevitable and lurid speculations such as "Can Germany Invade England?" abounded. I recently finished two books which provide background on the origins of Britain's secret services. The first of these is Bernard Porter's The Origins of the Vigilant State and the second is Andrew Cook's M, Britain's First Spymaster. I found Porter's book, at least initially, more useful, although it is obvious that he has a particular hypothesis that he is determined to support and, without further research, I'm not sure how balanced this book is based on all the evidence. Still, it's one of the few books I've found on this fascinating topic. Cook's book focuses on William Melville and so provides less by way of background and general information on the development on the secret services. The depth of material Cook had access to, however, provides a detailed and intriguing portrait of one of Britain's first 'spymasters' and certainly whet my appetite for further research!

Disconnected

2007-10-05T01:27:00.000-07:00

Well I finally return after nearly two months without internet access as my family and I moved to the Netherlands for a six month sojourn. It's frightening how quickly you can feel disconnected from the world - and a sobering reminder of just how fast our modern lives can be. I did get a chance to go to the British Library a few weeks ago when we visited London and managed to catch up on some research. I particularly enjoyed reading Pamela Horn's book, High Society - The English Social Elite, 1880-1914, and eyeing a copy of the London Social Calendar for 1914. Every month contained a giddy collection of events, my favorite month being June for its sheer breadth. June starts with the "Four-in-Club" Meet at Hyde Park and the King's Birthday Celebrations and continues with events such as Royal Ascot, Brookland auto racing club meeting, All England Lawn Tennis Championship at Wimbledon, International Horse Show at Olympia, Speech Day at Harrow, Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition, Royal Motor Yacht Club races, and the Inter-regimental polo tournament. London society was certainly busy in June - especially when you consider all the private parties and other entertainments that would have been going on during the season. This social calendar is particularly poignant when you realize that war will break out in August of 1914 and many of the young men who enlisted wouldn't live to see another social season. This calendar probably marks the end of the Edwardian era, for once the first world war is over, London society would be changed forever.

Votes for Women - The WSPU in 1912

2007-07-19T12:05:00.000-07:00

In my second Ursula Marlow book, The Serpent and The Scorpion, I allude to the schism that occurred within the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1912 over the issue of militancy. While conducting research in London last year I visited the Women's library in London's East End and pored over microfiche of the WSPU's newspaper Votes for Womenfor 1912 to get a feel for how the WSPU itself reported the events of that year.

The WSPU was founded by Emmeline Pankhurst in 1903 and by 1912 two of the union's most famous patrons, Emmeline and Frederick Pethick Lawrence, were at odds with Mrs Pankhurst over the escalation of militancy. They were concerned that the WSPU's increasing use of arson and other attacks on private property were turning the tide of public sympathy against the WSPU's main cause - female suffrage. By the summer of 1912, Christabel, Mrs Pankhurst's daughter and an extremely charismatic leader within the WSPU, was in exile in Paris, having fled a police raid of the WSPU headquarters in Clement's Inn. Emmeline Pankhurst was in prison for her participation in the window-smashing in London's West End that occurred just a few days earlier. Following the police raid Mrs. Pankhurst and the Pethick Lawrences were charged with conspiracy to commit malicious damage. They went on trial in May 1912, were convicted and sent to prison - Mrs Pankhurst and Mrs Pethick Lawrence to Holloway prison (where they received a rapturous welcome from fellow suffragette inmates); Mr Pethick Lawrence to Brixton prison. All three went on hunger strike and endured repeated forcible feedings.

After their release, the Pethick Lawrences argued against further attacks on private property and, while on holiday in Europe and Canada, Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst initiated their campaign to oust the Pethick Lawrences from the WSPU. The success of this campaign reveals the tremendous power both Mrs Pankhurst and her daughter Christabel exerted over the WSPU (in contrast with Mrs Pankhurst's other daughters, Adela and Sylvia, who expressed their own concerns over the escalation of militancy.)

This tumultuous time offers insight into not only the political machinations within the WSPU but also the zeal with which both Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst pursued their quest for militant action. The WSPU newspaper Votes for Women , owned by the Pethick Lawrences, was produced throughout 1912 and documents not only the extent to which WSPU members were imprisoned and forcibly fed, but also the level of propaganda used to quell any dissent within the WSPU ranks. There are, not surprisingly, no articles debating the issue of militant action and certainly no opinions expressed that differred from the sanctioned 'Pankhurst view'.

The expulsion of the Pethick Lawrences represents a turning point for both the WSPU and the newspaper Votes for Women. In the edition dated 4 October, 1912 the newspaper merely states that the Pethick Lawrences could no longer support the new militant policy and were therefore splitting from the WSPU. The truth was that their expulsion came as a complete shock to them. The first they heard of it was when they returned from their holiday (told by a friend as they stepped off the boat from Canada.) By this time, Christabel Pankhurst had already established an alternative newspaper to Votes for Women called The Suffragette which went into print as soon as the Pethick Lawrences were expelled.

Despite all they had done for the WSPU after their expulsion the Pethick Lawrences never saw or heard from Christabel or Mrs Pankhurst again. As Frederick Pethick Lawrence wrote, Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst shared one outstanding characteristic "their absolute refusal to be deflected by criticism or appeal one hair's breath from the course which they had determined to pursue." I can only imagine the shock waves that must have reverberated within the WSPU following the expulsion of the Pethick Lawrences. What must it have been like to be a member starting to question the validity and usefulness of militant action? The pursuit of an increasingly militant campaign did cause some influential and wealthy women to withdraw their support for the WSPU and I think it is a fascinating time to research as the suffrage movement became even more polarized over the issue of militancy.

Emmeline Pankhurst spoke at the Albert Hall just days after the expulsion renewing her call for action. "Be a militant in your own way," she said. "Those of you who can break windows - break them...And my last word is to the Government: I incite this meeting to rebellion! I say to the Government: You have not dared to take the leaders of Ulster for their incitement to rebellion, Take me if you dare; but as long as men, rebels and voters are at liberty, you will not keep me in prison!"

And so in 1912 the WSPU's militant pursuit of female suffrage was firmly set in motion. The following year there were bomb and arson attacks across Britain but the question still remains did Emmeline and Christabel's actions help or hinder the their cause?

The Perfect Summer

2007-07-03T14:54:00.000-07:00

I just finished Juliet Nicholson's 'The Perfect Summer: England 1911 - Just Before the Storm' and it has prompted me to reflect, once again, on the mood of Edwardian England just before the First World War. I am particularly interested in the years 1910 to 1914 as these provide an insight not only into the decline of an empire but also the delicate balance of power and the forces of social change that existed in a country on the brink of a catastrophic war. Nicholson's book provides just that kind of insight all condensed into the glorious sun-filled summer of 1911. In her introduction she quotes from Osbert Sitwell (friend of the Prime Minister's wife, Margot Asquith) who observed an air of gaiety and lightness "while beyond the open illuminated windows in the rooms, the young men about to be slaughtered, feasted, unconscious of all but the moment."

In an England beset by industrial strikes and the clamor for social reform and votes for women, the aristocracy attended the Coronation of George V, enjoyed an unprecedented season of fancy-dress balls and parties and indulged in love affairs while trying to stave off the heat and the 'ennui' that pervaded the upper classes. The Countess of Fingall said 'we danced on the edge of an abyss' that summer. As I sit in the smothering heat of this unprecedentedly hot (at least for me) Bay Area summer, it is hard not to draw parallels between the 'perfect summer' of 1911 and today - the sense of an empire in decline, of people seeking refuge in popular entertainment and lavish consumption, and the pervasive feeling that the world has already and irrevocably changed.

As a historical fiction writer I wanted to set up a blog to detail my research and to provide a forum to discuss the Edwardian period as well as the creative writing process. It is always hard, given our 21st century mindset, to try to get into the psyche of those who lived in another era. One of my hopes is that this forum can explore how fiction writers can best place history in a meaningful context while still fulfilling a writer's primary goal - to tell a damn good story!

In each post I also want to provide a glimpse into the strange, humorous and downright eccentric world of Edwardian England. Nicholson speaks of the cinq-a-sept appointments (the late afternoon and early evening hours) that were the hours of choice for the upper classes wishing to indulge in extramarital affairs. She quotes the actress Mrs Patrick Campbell who said: "Does it really matter what these affectionate people do in the bedroom, as long as they don't do it in the street and frighten the horses?"
Ah, how that summer of 1911 reveals the brittle veneer of Edwardian morality...