Tag Archives: George Calderon

Another Calderon signs up

At Edmonton, Alberta, on this day in 1915, George’s eldest brother, the architect Alfred Merigon Calderon (q.v.), applied to join the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force — as their youngest brother, Frederick Elwyn, had on 23 September 1914. It is not … Continue reading

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…then three come along at once

When I started my deeper research for this biography in 2010, one of the things I did was trawl the Web for manuscripts of George’s that were up for sale. I found only one item, which we bought for the … Continue reading

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‘Tributes’

A Russianist who has read Percy Lubbock’s George Calderon: A Sketch from Memory (1921) asks me why I have not posted more tributes to George than my own. The reason is simply that tributes were not published until his death became … Continue reading

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Commemoration (to be continued 2)

Plan A for a commemoration of George’s death (see yesterday’s post) was really dictated by long accepted British forms of commemorative ritual. These have loosened up in recent years, of course, to a point where you have extended, all-singing-and-dancing customer-devised … Continue reading

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Commemoration (to be continued 1)

The organisation of a public commemoration of George Calderon’s sacrifice on 4 June 1915, and the experience of the form it eventually took, have raised a huge number of questions in my and other Calderonians’ minds. Very long emails were … Continue reading

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‘Things fall apart’

Since George Calderon’s death at noon in the Third Battle of Krithia on 4 June 1915 the timeline of this blog has frayed almost to nothingness. I understand the disorientation and even irritation of some followers who have emailed me. … Continue reading

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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

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Life at Hoe Benham

We may assume, then, that two days ago Kittie arrived at The Cottage at the Crossways, Hoe Benham, to stay for an indefinite period with the closest woman friend in her life, Nina Astley (Corbet). She would have travelled to … Continue reading

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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

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Fast developments

Yesterday and the day before I did some entirely new research on correlating what documents we have about these few days of Kittie’s life. The result is, of course, still only an hypothesis, but I think it is a plausible … Continue reading

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16 June 1915

Unless you are from a military background, you might not realise that soldiers on active service strive to report back to Battalion HQ at home, or how much other regiments exchange information from the battlefield with each other at home, … Continue reading

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14 June 1915

Bell received Kittie’s letter this Monday morning and replied immediately in her rapid administrator writing: Dear Mrs Calderon, We telegraphed yesterday about Mr Calderon, at the request of the War Office. I do so very deeply sympathise with your anxiety … Continue reading

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Action

Both Constance Sutton (Astley) and Nina Corbet (Astley) knew only too well the nervous and physical effects that anxiety tended to have on Kittie. But Kittie had her own well-developed pattern of techniques for coping with it. She clung to … Continue reading

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Letter from a concerned friend

Today, Saturday 12 June, at Brinsop Court (q.v.), Constance Astley wrote Kittie a four-side letter. We do not know when Kittie received it, as Constance herself says she knows Kittie is ‘in the country now’, but not where, and therefore … Continue reading

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11 June 1915

Sometime today, which was a Friday, Kittie received the following telegram: O.H.M.S. I certify that this telegram is sent on the service of the WAR OFFICE [Signature] 2nd Lieut. Calderon Oxford Light Infantry attached K.O.S. Borderers was wounded June 4th. … Continue reading

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10 June 1915

Today Kittie returned to Well Walk, Hampstead, from staying with the Pyms and Lubbocks in Kent. The Belgian refugee Jean Ryckaert, who had been living at the Calderons’ since October 1914, had recently left, whether for a job in central … Continue reading

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