Book sent to George Calderon in Russia by his mother, Christmas 1895.
George Calderon c.1901
Captain of the 11
Christmas 1901 Cartoon by George Calderon
George Calderon, 1912
Frontis piece by Frank Calderon
K.N. Das Gupta and Margaret Mitchell in an Indian Dramatic Society production of The Maharani of Arakan, 1913?
George and Kittie Calderon 1905
Sir Richard Vincent Sutton c. 1913
The entrance to Fort Brockhurst (picture from Britain’s Past)
Basic form of the Calderon coat of arms
Michel and Vera Fokine in “Scheherazade”, 1914 (The Music And Theatre Library of Sweden, creative commons)
Unpublished watercolour by George Calderon, Tahiti 1906
Figure from Gauguin’s 1899 painting ‘Tahitian Women with Mango Blossoms’ (left); George Calderon’s pencil sketch ‘Manu’ (right)
A happy memory of Trinity College: undergraduates breakfast together in Downy V. Green, p. 77.
Colonel Sir Walter Coote Hedley c. 1920
Patrick Miles in his summer house, 11 December 2016
Jean Ryckaert, May 1916.
Monarch Butterfly MadeiraRecent Comments
- John Pym on Two anniversaries We are all, followers and occasional contributors, beholden to you, Patrick, for reminding us for ten years that the past is worth remembering and for keeping alive the... (August 17, 2024 at 1:06 pm)
- Patrick Miles on A second Family Bible Very many thanks for fleshing that point out -- and so entertainingly! (I love your reference to creative writing courses, which are a phobia of mine.) Although several... (August 2, 2024 at 11:03 am)
- Laurence Brockliss on A second Family Bible When I say that the British Republic of Letters was dead by 1880, I don't mean to imply that thereafter there were no men and women outside universities, institutes and... (August 2, 2024 at 9:19 am)
- Patrick Miles on A second Family Bible Thank you for devoting valuable time to writing this fascinating Comment. If I may say so, it is awe-inspiring to see the author of a monumental work standing back from that... (July 31, 2024 at 5:32 pm)
- Laurence Brockliss on A second Family Bible Male Professionals in Nineteenth Century Britain was a new departure for me. For most of my adult life I have worked on seventeenth and eighteenth century France. It is also... (July 24, 2024 at 11:31 am)
Tag Archives: World War I
25 September 1914
[From Windmill Hill Camp, Salisbury Plain] Friday Mrs P., So you didn’t have too much of your sleepy mole? Well, I don’t know about any more upcomings. Next Sunday, that’s the day after tomorrow, I certainly can’t; it’s too soon; … Continue reading
22 September 1914
On this day Kittie had lunch with Nina and Reginald Astley at the Royal Automobile Club and visited Nina’s son Sir Roland Corbet (Jim) in hospital at Grosvenor Gardens. He had a lot of visitors, so, as Kittie wrote George … Continue reading
The thickness of events…
When writing a biography, you can go for months in its subject’s life without hearing a word from them, as it were: no letters from them to anyone have survived, they are not recorded as having said anything to anyone … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian literature, Edwardian marriage, Personal commentary
Tagged 'real time', Ballets Russes, Battle of the Aisne, Battle of the Marne, biographies, biography, comments, George Calderon, Kittie Calderon, Laurence Binyon, Lev Tolstoy, Michel Fokine, Nina Astley, Polovtsian Dances, Prince Igor, The Blues, The Great War, The Times, Windmill Hill Camp, World War I
Leave a comment
20 September 1914
Calderon had only been separated from Kittie three days, but was missing her. Yesterday was a Saturday. My servant wanted to go up to see his wife; I thought of my old ‘ooman with a tearful sigh, and told him … Continue reading
Kittie’s feelings
Kittie Calderon also wrote almost every day to George, but thirty years later she directed that her letters be burned after her death and only one has survived (from which I shall quote on 22 September). Nevertheless, after the War … Continue reading
A possible penny drops
Yesterday Calderon sent his wife three large closely written pages of letter, today he sends her four. He describes tents, ‘messing’, people, clothes, furniture, military equipment, horses, exercises, soldiers, officers, all in vivid detail and thick with names. His back … Continue reading
17 September 1914
In the morning, George and Kittie left Ringwood and travelled to Southampton. Here they said goodbye for the time being and Kittie returned to Hampstead. After lunch George caught the train to Ludgershall and walked to the vast Windmill Hill … Continue reading
16 September 1914
This morning, ‘between us’ as Kittie put it, Calderon was got up and dressed, his luggage was put on (sic) the car, and he and Kittie came out of the house just after eight o’clock. At that moment, a telegram was … Continue reading
15 September 1914
On this day, Calderon was thrown from his horse at the riding school. He was quite a short man (five foot nine and a half), slightly built. The horse tossed him against a wall and his back was very badly … Continue reading
‘Who is George Calderon?’
Obviously, this is a question I am often asked. Sometimes it is even delivered with a kind of reproach, as to say: ‘Why are you writing this biography of somebody no-one knows, rather than of someone we all know, (a … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Personal commentary
Tagged Anton Chekhov, biographies, biography, Charles Dickens, comments, Emily Dickinson, Franz Kafka, George Calderon, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Gregor Mendel, Katie Price, The Cherry Orchard, The Great War, Viktor Shklovsky, World War I
Leave a comment
A biographer bifurcates
The object of this blog has always been to present the why and how of George Calderon’s self-sacrifice in World War I; but to show these things by posting events and documents in a species of ‘real time’, exactly one hundred … Continue reading
Posted in Personal commentary
Tagged 'real time', biographies, biography, blogs, chronotopes, comments, George Calderon, haikus, horizontality, The Great War, verticality, World War I
Leave a comment
Things
There is no documentation of what Calderon did between now and 15 September. Presumably, however, he had to set about equipping himself for active service. Officers had to buy some of their equipment, clothes, and food themselves; they even had … Continue reading
9 September 1914
On this day the B.E.F. began to cross the Marne. Momentously, an emissary from Moltke had arrived the day before and now persuaded both von Kluck and von Bülow that they must retreat northeastwards or be encircled by the Allies … Continue reading
A friend is wounded
On 8 September 1914 the B.E.F. moved towards the Marne and began to be attacked by von Kluck’s rearguard. In one such engagement a dear friend of the Calderons was hit by shrapnel. This was the 22-year-old Sir Roland James … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Acton Reynald, Alexander von Kluck, Battle of the Marne, British Expeditionary Force, Coldstream Guards, George Calderon, Jim Corbet, Kittie Calderon, La Trétoire, Lady Caroline Corbet, Nina Astley, Nina Corbet, Reginald Astley, Sir Roland James Corbet, Sir Walter Corbet, The Great War, World War I
Leave a comment
7 September 1914
Von Kluck now moved the left wing of his First Army almost forty miles northwards across the front of the B.E.F. to join his counter-attack on the French Sixth Army. On this day the B.E.F. marched about fifteen miles towards … Continue reading
Status
There are no letters from George to Kittie on 23 or 24 September 1914. At first this seems odd, since he had been writing to her every day. They were a Wednesday and a Thursday, and you would expect him … Continue reading →