PHILEBUS

 

JAMES LESLIE BARFORD:
THE MAN WHO WAS ‘PHILEBUS’
BY
BARRY VAN-ASTEN

  

‘What shall it profit if my name be flung
Down the long centuries the great among?
I shall not heed, there shall be overpast
All vain ambition, and my lot be cast
In some new higher world.’

[‘Ambition’. Whimsies. London. Roberts & Newton. 1934]

 

 

SURGEONS AND SHOEMAKERS

 

I have idled away many a sweet hour in researching James (sometimes mistakenly written as John) Leslie Barford’s biographical details in an attempt to put a little flesh and blood back into the lifeless corpse of the mysterious poet-surgeon who wrote under the pseudonym of  ‘Philebus’; it is thanks to the author Timothy d’Arch Smith that we really know anything at all about him (1) and to a few loyal and industrious persons working within the shadows, who like Barford, wish or are compelled to remain anonymous.

James Leslie Barford’s father, James Gale Barford M.R.C.S. (Eng.), L.R.C.P. (Lond.), was born in 1833 at Hurst, near Wokingham in Berkshire, the son of a butcher named Richard Crompe Barford (1809-1871) and Letitia Gale (1810-1877) who were married in Dorset on 5^th February 1830. When Richard (who spent time in prison for forgery) deserted Letitia she and her two sons, Richard Gale Barford, born 1832 and Giles Crompe Barford, born 1835, opened a shoemakers shop in Market Place, Wokingham. Young James Gale, who was one of four children, became apprenticed to the surgeon and former Clinical Assistant at Westminster Hospital and Medical Officer of Wokingham Union, Edward Weight M.R.C.S.E. (1830), L.S.A. (1829), before becoming his medical assistant and succeeding to his practice in Wokingham. In 1852 he entered St. Bartholomew’s Hospital where he became Senior Scholar and House Surgeon and in 1857 he took his first diploma as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England; he was also demonstrator of Chemistry. That same year, on Saturday 3^rd January in Weybridge, he had married Marian Elizabeth Morton Haines (1832-1873), eldest daughter of Samuel Haines, of Dorney House, Weybridge in Surrey. James and Marian moved into 14, Shute End, Wokingham, naming it ‘Barford House’ and from there James and his partner, Edward Weight, ran their Medical Practice. Two years later, in 1859, James (and his partner, Edward Weight) were appointed as Medical Officers to Wellington College, in which role he remained until 1884 (2); James, also studied at the School of Pharmacy and passed the Minor examination in 1866 and being keen on chemistry, particularly physiological chemistry, he was also Professor of Chemistry and delivered an annual course of lectures on the subject to the Wellington College students where he remained for twenty-four years fighting for better hygienic conditions; he was later made a Fellow of the Chemical Society. James and his wife, Marian, had eight children: (a) Bernard Weight Barford (1861-1936), educated at Wellington College from 1875 as a 13 year old Day Boy; he went up to Exeter College, Oxford on 14^th June 1880 aged 18, (BA 1888, MA 1895). From Oxford he went to Cuddesdon Theological College in 1889 and was ordained Deacon the same year, and Priest the following year at Lichfield while working in those roles at All Saint’s, Shrewsbury from 1889-91; he was curate of Cuddesdon 1891-95, curate of Caversham 1895-97, curate of Chipping Norton 1897-1911 and curate of St. George the Martyr, Wolverton from 1911 until his death in Northamptonshire, aged 73, on 8^th January 1936. (b) Francis Haines Barford (1863-1929), born 7^th June 1863 in Crowthorne, Berkshire, he was educated at Wellington College from 1877-1880 as a 14 year old Day Boy; he went up to Emmanuel College, Cambridge as a pensioner on 3^rd October 1881, (BA 1885, MA 1891) and became a Master at a private school in 1926; in Sussex in 1895, he married the Philadelphia-born schoolmistress, Mary Ada Florence Isabella Russell-Howland, daughter of Henry Franklin Shearman (3) in Frittleworth, Sussex on 16^th September 1895 and they had two children: Constance Maud Virginia Barford (1896-1970) and Francis Edward Mackay Barford (1898-1936). Francis Haines Barford died on 3^rd June 1929. (c) Edward Walter Barford (1864-1922), born 25^th June 1864 in Wokingham, Surrey, he was educated at Wellington College from 1877-1882 as a 13 year old Day Boy and went up to Cambridge as a non-collegiate from Cavendish Hall in the Michaelmas Term of 1883 and entered Emmanuel College on 8^th October 1884 (BA 1886, MA 1891); he married the sister of his brother, Francis’s wife, Janey Hathaway Alice Maud Russell-Howland (1875-1951) in Atlanta, Georgia on 20^th January 1897 and they lived in South Africa where their three children were born: Marian Florence Haines Barford (1903-1973), Leila Ada Elizabeth Morton Barford (1905-1991) and Dorothy Ellen Gale Barford (1912-1999). In South Africa Edward became Headmaster of Maraisburg School, Cape Colony, and was also Assistant Master at Dales College in 1912; he died at Potchefstroom, South Africa on 30^th August 1922. (d) Arthur Morton Barford (1865-1943), born Wokingham, Surrey, Arthur became a Doctor of Medicine like his father, M.R.C.S. (Eng.), L.R.C.P. (Lond.), F.R.C.S., and police surgeon (Chichester Division). He died in Chichester on 21^st June 1943. (e) Marian Elizabeth Barford (1867-1934), born in Easthampton, Berkshire, Marian never married and she died on 22^nd January 1934. (f) Percy Crompe Barford (1869-1960), born Crowthorne, Berkshire and educated at Wellington College, from 1881-1884 as a 12 year old Day Boy, Percy entered the Medical Profession, M.R.C.S. (Eng.) 1895, L.R.C.P. (Lond.) 1896, M.B.U. (Lond.) 1897 at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London and House Surgeon at Bridgewater Infirmary; surgeon at the Throat, Nose and Ear Department, Portsmouth and South Hants Eye and Ear Infections Department. He married Eugenie Clotilda Clare at St. Giles, London in 1903 and had two children: Beatrice Clare Barford, born 1904, and Edward Morton Barford (1915-2007). Percy lived and worked at Selsey-on-Sea, Sussex and died on 23^rd February 1960. (g) Charles Herbert Barford (1870-1888) born Easthampstead and educated at Wellington College from 1882-84 as a 12 year old Day Boy and went up to Cambridge where he ‘commenced his studies as a non-collegiate student, October last’ in the Michaelmas Term of 1888 but unfortunately soon after, he died aged 18 through ‘over exertion whilst boating’ in Cambridge on Wednesday 5^th December 1888 (4), and (h) Florence Ellen Barford (1872-1941) was born on 2^nd February 1872 in Easthampton, Berkshire, and she became a teacher at Leeds Girls’ High School in Yorkshire; she remained unmarried and died in Chichester on Saturday 7^th June 1941.

James became Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians of London in 1868 and some of his published papers are: ‘Deodorising Properties of Carbon’, ‘Articles and Complexities of Specific Fevers’, and on education: ‘Over-Pressure in Schools’ published in The Lancet (1881). James Barford’s father, Richard died in 1871 and two years later, on Saturday 14^th June at St. Jude’s, St. Pancras, his mother, Letitia, married Barford’s friend and associate, Dr. Edward Weight, making Edward, James’s step-father; Edward was a widow, his wife Frances Anna Weight had died in Wokingham in 1872 aged 78 (5). Edward Weight lived a further six years and died in October 1879 and his wife, Letitia, died in Wokingham two years prior, aged 76, on Monday 5^th March 1877, ‘after a long and painful illness’ (6).

After the death of his first wife Marian in Wokingham on Sunday 27^th April 1873, James, who during the 1860’s had been visiting doctor at Broadmoor Prison in Berkshire, married once more in 1875 – Mary Harriet West, and together they had seven children: (a) Vernon West Barford (1876-1963), born 10^th September 1876, Vernon moved to Canada in 1895 and became a well-known photographer, pianist, organist, composer, conductor and music teacher. He married Agnes Margaret Lynch (1880-1955) in Ontario, Canada on 11^th August 1904 and had several children: Marjorie West Barford (1905-1992), Cuthbert Allen Lynch Barford (1907-1998) and John Crawford Barford (1908-1993). Vernon died in Alberta, Canada on 22^nd April 1963. (b) Claudine Margaret Barford (1878-1955), born Easthampstead, Berkshire, she worked as a domestic servant as a nurse [in Godalming, Surrey in 1911] and she remained unmarried and died on 24^th June 1955. (c) Notley French Barford, D.S.C. (1879-1928), he joined the Armed services during the First World War, 12^th October 1914, 2^nd Lieutenant (1915) and later Captain (22^nd May 1918), 9^th (cyclist) Battalion, Hampshire Regiment and later the Indian Army; he was released from service in 1922. Notley married Gertrude Morton on 14^th November 1908 at villa del Cerro, Montivideo, Uraguay; he married again in Paddington in 1928, Marjorie Laura O. Brown and he died in Surrey on 29^th May 1951. (d) Luther Holden Barford (1880-1965), worked as a Diplomat for the Foreign Office and was temporary Vice-Consul at Genoa on 22^nd March 1917 until terminated in July; he married Mary Sheila Naylor Todd in 1919 at St. George’s, Hanover Square, London and he died 27^th March 1965. (e) Lettice Agnes Wickham Barford (1881-1951), born Easthampton, Berkshire, she remained unmarried and died in Devon on 29^th May 1951. (f) James Leslie Barford (1883-1950), surgeon and poet, and (g) Constance Mary Katherine Barford (1887-1972), born 22^nd July 1887 in Wokingham, Berkshire, she married Steriker Finnis (1885-1960) a paymaster Commander in the Royal Navy in 1918; they had a daughter named Valerie Margaret Steriker Finnis born 31^st October 1924 who became a celebrated gardener and photographer [45 year old Valerie married 83 year old Sir David John Montague Douglas Scott (1887-1986) on Friday 31^st July 1970 in Weekly, Northamptonshire and became Lady Montague Douglas Scott; Valerie died on 17^th October 2006]; Constance Steriker died in Sunday 1^st October 1972.

There is a charming little dog tale connected with the Barfords’ which was printed in the Spectator on 18^th January 1890 (p. 88) as a letter to the editor by Alys M. Wood under the heading: ‘A Dog obeying a Summons’ in which Dr. Barford’s dog was ‘put into a muzzle; he objected to it, took it off, and hid it somewhere, no one knows where. Policeman saw him, summoned Dr. B; case was to come off one Saturday. The children told dog how wicked he’d been: Dr. B. would have to appear at the Court, and he too, as it was his doing; he’d lost the muzzle. Case was postponed (I think policeman witness had influenza). Dr. B. was told of postponement by letter; forgot to tell children or dog. At Saturday’s Bench, Magistrates much astonished by the dog appearing in Court and sitting solemnly opposite them.’ Soon after, in the same newspaper, on 1^st February 1890 (p. 167), Dr. Barford’s wife, Marian H. Barford under the heading ‘A Pug’s Intelligence’, confirmed this story and corrected some details, such as the ‘policeman was away for his holiday instead of having influenza, and the case came off on Tuesday instead of Saturday.’ She then goes on to say that ‘my dog is a pug’ named Sam Weller, which was given to her by ‘the late Dr. Wakley, editor of the Lancet, who was a great connoisseur of dogs.’ Marian then shows how intelligent little Sammy is and how ‘devotedly attached’ he is to her ‘baby, and always accompanies’ Marian when she visits the nursery in the morning.

Around 1891, James Gale Barford suffered a severe attack of influenza followed by nervous depression; in June 1892 he suffered an apoplectic seizure (stroke) and had to give up work for several months (7). James Gale Barford, as well as being a collector of oil paintings, especially of Landseer’s engravings, (8) was also a keen follower of hounds and on Wednesday 8^th November 1893, he rode to a meet of the hounds and on that evening he suffered another apoplectic attack and fell into unconsciousness (he had curiously predicted this outcome to his son). The following day, Thursday 9^th November 1893, James Gale Barford died, leaving a widow and fourteen children. He was buried in the family vault at St. Paul’s parish churchyard. His wife, Mary Harriet Barford died on Saturday 11^th September 1937 in Surrey, aged 83.

 

 

PHILEBUS

 

‘To Heav’n I prayed but, praying, kissed his hair,

Nor hoped an answer to my faithless prayer.

 

To Heav’n I vowed but, vowing, doubted how

Mine honour, sin-besmirched, could keep the vow.’

 

[Remorse. Ladslove Lyrics, p. 26]

 

James Leslie Barford was born at The Firs, Wellington College, Berkshire on Friday 26th January 1883 (The Reading Observer, Births, Saturday 3rd February 1883, p. 8). Young James was ten years old when his father died in November 1893, and three years later, in 1896 at the age of thirteen, James Leslie entered Epsom College (Propert House). His widowed mother, Mary Barford, was living at 4, Esmond Road, Bedford Park, West London. At Epsom College, James became a Sub-Prefect and a member of the 2^nd XV from 1900-1901 (9). After leaving Epsom College in 1901, like his father and several of his step-brothers had done, he studied medicine and trained at King’s College Hospital (L.R.C.P. Lond. 1905) becoming House Surgeon to Dr. Benjamin Barrow, F.R.C.S., (1814-1901), who was later Consulting Surgeon to the Royal Isle of Wight Infirmary, and Barford was also elected House Physician in 1906 in the place of Dr. Henry J. Cardew, M.A., M.B. (Camb.) M.R.C.S., (1874-1956) of Clare College, Cambridge, later Senior Medical Officer and House Surgeon of the Royal South Hants and Southampton Hospital (10). He had several medical-related works published: ‘A Case of Extensive Rupture of the Trachea with Complete Detachment of the Left Bronchus without External Injury’ in the Lancet (volume 168, issue 4344, 1^st December 1906, p. 1509), ‘Device for Washing Contaminated Eyes’ in the British Medical Journal, (1941, 2, p. 480) and ‘Rocking Device for Stretcher’ also in the BMJ, (1943, 2, p. 581). (11)

In November 1906, James Leslie Barford joined the Royal Navy and received a course of instruction on H.M.S. Victory, at Haslar Hospital (12); the following year, he was appointed as surgeon onboard H.M.S. Diadem on Tuesday 14^th May 1907, then on Thursday 4^th July to H.M.S. King Alfred (China, 1908); in October 1907 he was ship’s surgeon on H.M.S. Snipe and on Saturday 11^th June 1910, appointed to H.M.S. Impregnable. About August 1912 he returned to the Victory before being temporarily lent to H.M.S. Monarch on Sunday 17^th November 1912.

In August 1913 Barford was serving as surgeon aboard HM Astraea which had docked, along with the Royal Naval Hospital ship, Hyacinth, at Simon’s Town, South Africa. Members of the medical staff from both ships took part in a charity entertainment concert at the beginning of September at the Drill Hall in Simon’s Town, although what part Barford played in the ‘Doctors as Entertainers’ is not known (13).

During the First World War, staff-surgeon, (he was promoted from surgeon to staff-surgeon in May 1914) J. L. Barford saw active service in the Royal Navy and after arriving in Plymouth on Wednesday 19^th January 1916 was appointed as surgeon aboard H.M.S. Victory on Sunday 12^th March 1916 and upon his removal from the Royal Navy list in April 1922 he had attained the rank of Surgeon-Commander.

After the war he joined the Merchant Navy and served on various lines, including P and O, and also engaged in psychiatry work in various parts of the country, including Medical Officer to the Royal Earlswood Institution (asylum) in Redhill.

In 1918, Barford’s first volume of poetry, Ladslove Lyrics, was privately published under his pseudonym ‘Philebus’, by the Theo Book Shop, Edinburgh in 250 copies. The volume was a joyous celebration of boyhood – ‘Too late! Their limbs allure me madly, madly, / As slothfully they stretch them in the sun, / Toss up their towzled heads and then go gladly / Towards the welcome of the wavelets run.’ (p. 12); Barford confronts his own painful desires and battles feelings of guilt in his poem, ‘Remorse’ (p. 26) – ‘Trusted and Loved, with sensuous self I strove / That at the dawn I might deserve his love.’ And he concludes with an almost Wildean acceptance – ‘God! How I wished the cup might pass from me! / But, wishing, drained the dregs … It had to be!’

His second volume, Young Things, was published ‘for the author’ three years later in 1921 by the Theo Book Shop of Edinburgh and privately printed by Turnbull & Spears of Edinburgh; he dedicated the collection to his friend and fellow poet, John Gambril Nicholson (1866-1931) (14) and the book also contained an appendix: ‘”St. Philebus”: A Prose Critique of Ladslove Lyrics’ in which Barford (writing anonymously) delights in the autobiographical details of his young loves. The volume contains some fine poems by Barford as he once again questions his sensuous desires – ‘Is it unnat’ral that I should joy / To join you in the heart of natural things? / To run and swim and ride with you my boy? / To feel the thrill that sweating effort brings? / To watch with envious love your limbs’ display?’ (p. 8)

His third collection, Fantasies, ‘by Philebus’ was privately printed in London by the poet and publisher Francis Edwin Murray (1854-1932) (15) in 1923 and saw Barford wistfully gazing at Gainsborough’s painting, Blue Boy, and feverishly imagining the life of the young boy, asking himself if those eyes were ‘ever with laughter o’erbrimming?’ or if the lad ‘e’re strip to the winds and go swimming?’ or ever ran ‘on the seashore exultingly bare?’ (pp. 5-7)

Barford’s final book of verse under the pseudonym ‘Philebus’ was Whimsies, published in London in 1934 (300 copies) by Roberts & Newton, a publishing firm set up by J. G. Nicholson.

During the Second World War, Barford undertook Civil Defence work for the Surrey County Council and was attached to County Hall, Kingston and later Guildford. As Assistant County Medical Officer, Barford gave a series of talks, such as ‘Efficiency with Speed’ which he gave to the County Tech College, in Guildford with the Mayor in attendance on Friday 19^th February 1943 and a second lecture on ‘First Aid’ (his first lecture had been on ‘Shock’) at the Village Hall in Normandy on Wednesday 24^th February 1943, and around 200 had gathered to hear each talk. Another lecture was titled ‘First Aid and Shock’ which he gave to members of the Civil Defence and the Home Guard, at 8 p.m. on Tuesday 20^th April 1943 at the Memorial Hall, Worplesden, and another on the ‘importance of labelling air raid casualties’ on the evening of Wednesday 10^th November 1943 to Civil Defence Wardens and the Home Guard at Normandy Village Hall. (16) Also in November 1943, J. L. Barford was Medical Officer for the Surrey County Rescue School in Leatherhead (Captain Lovesy, Officer in charge) which held the Surrey County Civil Defence Competition. Godstone District won (they had won the semi-final against Reigate, Hambledon and Godalming and went to the finals held on Sunday 14^th November with Leatherhead and Woking) and were presented with a silver challenge cup for the second time running; Leatherhead came second and Woking third. On Friday 19^th November 1943, Princess Marie Louise, aunt to the King, visited the Rescue School. (17)

In 1946 he spent several months acting as surgeon on the first whaling expedition to the Antarctic on-board the British factory-whaling ship SS Balaena. The expedition was organised by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research to ascertain whether whale meat could become a viable food source for Britain suffering meat shortages due to war rationing. The Balaena was built in Belfast and was the first whaling ship to carry and aircraft, the ‘Walrus’ which was used for whale spotting. Among the crew was a flight commodore, two flight captains, a navigating flying officer and flight engineer as well as a catapult engineer with flight wireless operators; a ship’s surgeon (Barford), and a chemist, Dr. P. C. B. Jornsgaard. The Balaena sailed from Norway where she picked up Norwegian sailors and docked at Southampton before setting sail on Thursday 10^th October 1946 to stop off at Cape Town, South Africa. Leaving Table Bay on Monday 11^th November, they sailed on to the Antarctic. The expedition proved successful and whale meat was indeed fit for human consumption. On the return voyage, the ship left Cape Town on Wednesday 23^rd April 1947 and docked at Southampton on Sunday 11^th May 1947, having spent six months in Antarctica.

Prior to his death in November 1950, Barford was acting as Medical Officer on the H.M. cable ship Monarch, up until a few weeks before his death when he had returned home on leave.

James Leslie Barford M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., D.P.M., of 2, Earleswood Road, Redhill, in Surrey, died on Wednesday 29^th November 1950 at the County Hospital in Redhill, aged 67. He had left £4613 gross £4510 net value and he desired that his body be used for scientific research (18); however, his funeral took place at 11 a.m. on Saturday 2^nd December 1950 at St. George’s Chapel, the Northover Funeral Home, in Reigate, Redhill with the Rev L. P. Bowles officiating, and Mr. Harding playing the organ. The service included Psalm XXIII and the hymns ‘Eternal Father, strong to save’ and ‘Fight the good fight’. The principle mourners were: Commander Steriker and Mrs. Constance Finnis (his brother in law and his sister), Mr. and Mrs. Notley Barford (his brother and sister in law), Mr. Holden Barford (his brother, representing Miss Lettice Barford and Miss Pearl Barford), Mrs. Allenby and Miss Valerie Finnis (his niece), Dr. and Mrs. Curtis, Mr. Peter Barford, Mr. Jack Barford and Mrs. Inez Brewton (his nephews and nieces). The service was followed by a private cremation at Streatham Park (19).

 

‘And, as o’ nights your stripling limbs you spread,

Did he perchance come softly to your bed,

And did you feel beneath the shadowy vine

Cool lips on thine?’

 

[Whom Jesus Loved. Ladslove Lyrics, pp. 34-35]

 

 

Notes:

 

1. There is a rather fine portrait photograph of Barford looking quite boyishly  handsome with a wistful look in his eyes, handkerchief on display and his hands in his pockets (plate 17) between pages 136-137 of d’Arch Smith’s volume ‘Love in Earnest’ (1970). Perhaps one can see traces of the secret uranian in his slightly unorthodox, relaxed posture and his off-set tie and his lips, withholding unspoken passions, seemingly on the verge of spilling everything and those mournful eyes, drawn to the beauty of boyhood.
2. see The Making of Wellington College, being an account of the first sixteen years of its existence. Joseph Louis Bevir. London. E. Arnold. 1920, and A History of Wellington College, 1859-1959. David Newsome. London. John Murray. 1984. Some information has been taken from his obituary in The Chemist and Druggist, 18^th November 1893, p. 731.
3. Henry Franklin Shearman (1842-1922), in 1872, ‘removed to England, which has since been the home of the family; he became a naturalized English subject and changed his surname to Russell-Howland.’ He married Mary Emma Ada Mackay (1848-1913) on 16^th November 1865 and they had several children, including: Mary Ada Florence Isabella, born 5^th June 1872 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Janey Hathaway Alice Maud, born 17^th December 1875 in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey. See: The Howland Heirs; being the story of a family and a fortune and the inheritance of a trust established for Mrs. Hetty H. R. Green. William Morrell Emery. New Bedford, Mass., E. Anthony and Sons, inc. 1919. p. 410. for further information on Mary and her marriage to Francis Haines Barford, M.A. (Cantab.) see p. 416, and for Janey and her marriage to Edward Walter Barford, M.A. (Cantab.) see p. 417; both brothers and their sister-wives were residing at Walton-on-Thames at the time of publication (1919) [Mary and Francis are also living there in the 1911 census]
4. Cambridge Chronicle and Journal. Friday 14^th December 1888, p. 8.
5. Berkshire Chronicle. Saturday 21^st June 1873, p. 8.
6. Berkshire Chronicle. Saturday 10^th March 1877, p. 8.
7. ‘Mr. Barford had for some time back been ailing from the effects of a slight apoplectic seizure, which he suffered while driving in his carriage during the hot summer months. He had, however, under the care of the late Sir Andrew Clark, almost completely recovered, and had gained the power of expressing himself fluently and intelligently…’ [The Lancet. Medical News. 11^th November 1893, p. 1228] other biographical information is also taken from his Obituary in The Lancet, 25^th November 1893, p. 1356.
8. James also collected engravings by Sir Robert Strange and he lent some of them to the fine art exhibition which was held at Wokingham Town Hall, opened by Mr. Walter, M.P. on Wednesday 18^th July 1877. The Art Journal, volume 39, 1877, p. 313. It is also worth noting that there is a portrait of the Prince of Denmark on display at Wokingham Town Hall which was ‘purchased by one Mrs. Barford at a sale at the Rose Inn on Market Place. At the time the portrait’ (which Mrs. Barford took for being a woman) ‘was said to have reminded Mrs. Barford of her daughter. When Mrs. Barford died her son Dr. Barford sent the portrait away to be cleaned. It was then that the royal subject matter was discovered and Dr. Barford donated it to the Town Hall.’ Wokingham Times, Thursday 11^th September 1997, p. 12.
9. Epsom College Register October 1855 – July 1905, p. 224.
10. Hampshire Advertiser. Saturday 10^th November 1906, p. 12.
11. J. L. Barford also wrote the Foreword to Edward Akester’s ‘Practical Wound Treatment: A First Aid book illustrating the use of the “pad and bandage” as issued to all services.’ Aldershot, Gale and Polden, Ltd. 1944. Akester, like Barford, taught first aid at the Surrey County Council Rescue School in Leatherhead.
12. Naval & Military Record and Royal Dockyard Gazette. Thursday 29^th November 1906, p. 6.
13. Naval & Military Record and Royal Dockyard Gazette. Wednesday 10^th September 1913, p. 11.
14. John Gambril Nicholson (1866-1931) was a school teacher at various boys’ boarding schools and published several collections of ‘uranian’ poetry: Love in Earnest (1892), A Chaplet of Southernwood (1896) and A Garland of Ladslove (1911).
15. Francis Edwin Murray (1854-1932), was a ‘uranian’ poet and publisher; his collection of poems, Rondeaux of Boyhood (1923) was published under Murray’s pseudonym ‘A. Newman’ and a further collection, From a Lover’s Garden: More Rondeaux and Other Verses of Boyhood, was published in 1924.
16. Surrey Advertiser, Saturday 27^th February 1943, p. 4; Surrey Advertiser, Saturday 27^th February 1943, p. 3; Surrey Advertiser, Saturday 17^th April 1943, p. 3 and the Surrey Advertiser, Saturday 6^th November 1943, p. 6, respectively.
17. Surrey Advertiser, Saturday 20^th November 1943, p. 4.
18. Surrey Mirror. Friday 16^th March 1951, p. 5.
19. Obituary: Surrey Mirror. Friday 8^th December 1950, p. 5, and Death notice: Surrey Mirror. Friday 1^st December 1950, p. 1.

JOHN CLARE

 

JOHN CLARE,
POET OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

 

The poet, John Clare was born in the thatched cottage in the village of Helpston near Peterborough, on 13^th July 1793, (he was baptised in Helpston at four weeks old on 11^th August 1793), the son of Parker Clare, born 1763 and Ann Stimson, born 1757, who were married on 29^th October 1792 in Marholm, Northamptonshire. John’s twin sister unfortunately died at just a few weeks old.

The cottage was originally five dwelling places which were later joined together. John was schooled in the nearby village of Glinton where he met and fell in love with a local beauty named Mary Joyce, the love and the sorrow of his life. John began writing verse as a young boy, stuffing the sheets of paper into a chink in the cottage wall which his mother would use for fire-lighting; he seems not to have minded their being consumed by flames as they were early attempts at poetry. After school, John worked as an agricultural labourer and continued writing his verse which would, in 1820, be published as ‘Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenes’. The same year, he married Martha (‘Patty’) Turner at Great Casterton Church, on 16^th March 1820 and they had several children: Anna Maria (June 1820), Eliza Louisa (June 1822), Frederick (January 1824), John (June 1826), William Parker (May 1828), Sophia (September 1830) and Charles in 1833.

His first volume of poems proved successful and he was lionised and celebrated in literary society. Further volumes of poetry were published: ‘The Village Minstrel’ (1821), ‘The Shepherd’s Calendar’ (1827) and ‘The Rural Muse’ (1835). In 1832 he left his native cottage in Helpston for a cottage in Northborough, a village three miles away, a move which disturbed him greatly. Several years later, on 8^th July 1837, he was certified insane and two days after his 44^th birthday, he was admitted to High Beach asylum, Epping, on 15^th July ‘by authority of his wife’; after several unsuccessful escape attempts in early 1841, he managed to escape in July of that year and walked the long distance back to Northamptonshire, compelled to eat grass along the way and under the delusion that he was married to Mary Joyce and that he would find her on his return. Sadly, Mary Joyce had died unmarried on 14^th July 1838, the day after John Clare’s 45^th birthday, while he had been one year at High Beach. Following five months at his Northborough cottage, he was again certified as insane and admitted to Northampton General Asylum on 29^th December 1841 where he was given much freedom. He continued to write verse which have been classified as his ‘asylum poems’ and he liked nothing better than to while away the hours under the portico of All Saint’s Church in Northampton. John’s mother, Ann Clare, died on 18^th December 1835 aged 78 and she was buried at Helpston on 21^st December; John’s father, Parker Clare, died in Northborough on 5^th March 1846 aged 82 and he was buried the following day and laid to rest next to his wife, Anne, at St. Botolph’s Church, Helpston.

John Clare died on the afternoon of Friday 20^th May 1864 at Northampton Asylum and his body was brought back by train to Helpston. On Tuesday 24^th May the poet’s remains were laid overnight at the Exeter Arms public house opposite the church of St. Botolphs. The following day, Wednesday 25^th May, at 3 p.m., the funeral took place; there was a short procession from the Manor of Mr. and Mrs. Bellairs next to the Exeter Arms which included the poet’s widowed wife, Patty, and their children, William and Eliza; also among them were the Reverend Charles Mossop and his sister Jane. Because the vicar of Helpston was away in Scotland, the funeral was performed by the vicar of nearby Glinton, Reverend Edward Pengelley. Clare’s oak coffin bearing the brass breastplate with his name and dates of birth and death was laid next to his parents in the churchyard, ‘under the shade of a sycamore tree’. *

Three years later, a memorial stone designed by Michael Drury of Lincoln, made of Ketton stone, was paid for by public subscription and placed over the grave which bore the famous inscription – ‘A POET IS BORN NOT MADE’.

John’s wife, Patty Clare, died in Spalding on 5^th February 1871, aged 70 and she was buried in Northborough on 8^th February.

[Celebrating John Clare by Greg Crossan, the John Clare Society Journal, number 12, July 1993, (Bicentenary Number), edited by John Goodrich (and Kelsey Thornton), pp. 18-25. *: Life and Remains of John Clare. J. L. Cherry. London, Frederick Warne & Co. 1873. p. 128]

 

 
A HELPSTON PILGRIMAGE
TO RONALD BLYTHE (1922-2023)
‘WHO BORE THE SAME UNREST’

BY BARRY VAN-ASTEN
 
 
To call you a ‘peasant poet’ seems an insult –
The epithet has held you back, kept you from
Rising; being praised like Keats and Wordsworth;
But for circumstances of your birth… instead,
Rooted firm by place and the identifiable,
Parochial minor versifier, simply ignored
Because your class and stature didn’t fit!
 
‘Pasture poet’, ‘rustic bard’, ‘balladeer’…
These words evoke songs of the landscape,
Of labour fortified by ale; of working the soil,
A physical contact that draws poetry from earth;
Of sweat and toil and thoughts of carnal joy,
Not some romantic vision, or brown-limbed
Herdboy sat picturesquely in some leafy idyll.
 
I crossed the threshold of your home and looked
Through all the windows at the street outside;
I touched all the beams, the hearth was aglow
As I summoned you to me and there you sat
With the ache of tomorrow, by window-nook;
I watched you scribbling to scent of lavender,
Your secret poems that you stuffed into a chink
In the wall which were found by your mother
And used for fire-lighting.
 
Time lost by stream and tree hollow, dreaming
Of Mary Joyce beneath green boughs that sway
Till the soft brush of moth wing upon your cheek
Breaks you free from pale heaving bosom…
Draws an incantation to those lips most sweet –
‘By field mouse and fledgling, by feather and fate:
I bind thee to me, always, Mary Joyce!’
 
Like you, dear soul, I mutter and fumble
In my solitude as I ramble, frenetic at lip,
Like stream, we meander as Nene will do,
Through our imagination and our sorcery;
To whisper confessions to wind and oblivion:
In fields fascinated by tooth, claw and beak –
We listen to the language of the corn, for O,
‘Tis nature educates the soul… we believe.
 
I watched a yellowhammer on the hawthorn
That had enclosed the meadow, and in the field
I stuffed an ear of wheat into my pocket.
Passing a hollow in a tree I thought of your poem
And those daisies, old as Adam, swaying…
In the cool wood, a pathway curved and butterflies
Circled every step haunted by the hum of bees
To the chiffchaff’s delightful company in the glade!
 
There, wrapt in song of the rural muse, you sit
In your loved corner seat as mother spun yarn;
Tender of sheep, nature boy, through field and
Through spinney, returning home with dirty knees
And a world of dreams… and a bunch of flowers:
Lady’s Smock, Speedwell and Lesser Celandine,
Picked from field edges and placed in a water jug.
Fashion me sonnets from the sedge, I implored;
Warble me sweet songs of the wilderness…
 
The cuckoo chant of ecstasy rings through copse
And with pockets stuffed with seeds, snail shells,
Feathers, a bright polished pebble, down lane and
Over furrow – I too knew that wonder as a boy,
Immersed in the sacred and the divine of nature;
To draw the ghost and the spirit from sun on water,
Of millpond and rank weed beds… to read the stones
And listen, in those secret places, not seen by many
For there is a strange eroticism in the landscape!
 
Obsessing over nesting birds or found hedgerow beast:
Fox, badger and hedgehog… a broken jaw bone… before
The ‘blue devils’ beset you with delusions of being:
Byron and Burns and a bigamist… but always there
Was the shadow of the asylum door… still, you dream
Of eyes and thighs of Mary Joyce chained by runic charm;
 
Sweet Glinton girl wrapt as brier around your heart…
A virile lunacy of fancies and forebodings…
A beautiful madness, perhaps the brain’s indifference
To the wearisome world of men and women around you:
Let the heart dwell on the serenity that you had found;
The scenes of pastoral ecstasy that you conjured here
Like magic from a world, unseen by many!
 
And alas! Those mutterings were muted, but posterity
Still sings your songs of wilderness and desire – a light,
Inextinguishable as we connect with surrounding… for
Here be paradise, your ‘nest’ where bramble and teazle,
By willow are home to the hare and the lark.
 
I found a penny in the village at the Butter Cross and
Stuffed it like a secret poem between the stones of
Your grave… returning home: a dozen sombre crows
All in a row, with their heads down as at a funeral,
They seemed to repeat – ‘a poet is born not made’.
 
[Helpston. Saturday 5^th July 2025]

E. BONNEY STEYNE

THE MYSTERIOUS POET AND CRITIC
E. BONNEY STEYNE
BY
BARRY VAN-ASTEN

 

 

E. Bonney Steyne or the initials E.B.S., is a name which mysteriously re-occurs throughout certain periodicals of the eighteen-nineties: ‘The Artist’ and ‘The Studio’ particularly; it is obviously a pseudonym for I have been unable to find any such person on record as E. Bonney Steyne. The initials, E.B.S., I believe, are either genuinely the initials of the author, or simply made up. Mysteries are troubling, and it is not my intention to solve the conundrum, merely to point out the mystery and make a few suggestions as to whom the author known as E. Bonney Steyne, or ‘E.B.S.’ may be. I will come to my own conclusion as to the author’s identity, which of course, you are perfectly entitled to disagree with and disprove, in due course.

In the many published articles E.B.S. writes well with authority upon various subjects of art, from painting, illustration, design and architecture, and even the Theatre. (1)

We do know that E.B.S. is a friend of the art connoisseur Joseph Gleeson White, who is the editor of The Studio and that both men are well-acquainted with the painter, Henry Scott Tuke (1858-1929). E.B.S. visited Tuke at his studio, Pennance Cottage, near Swanpool beach, Falmouth in the summer of 1895 and said that his place of work was ‘devoid of ornament, outside or in’ and had an ‘appropriate nautical flavour suggested by a most ingenious arrangement of ropes, which turn out to be, not rigging as you first thought, but a complicated system of cords for adjusting the many blinds of the roof and windows to the required light’. (Studio, V, 27. June 1895. p. 93) The critic questioned Tuke on several points of interest relating to his career and then they both walk to the beach beyond the headland of Pennance Point, the setting for many of his paintings depicting the beauty of youth on the coastal landscape. Following further discussion, they walked back to the quay and to Tuke’s floating studio before heading off to Falmouth Art Gallery, which Mr. Tuke, along with the painter, William Ayerst Ingram (1855-1913), was instrumental in starting, to see his exhibition there. (2)

E.B.S. has some fascinating things to say on female artists and champions their work upon its own merit, for example, on the illustrator, Mary L. Newill, he picks up on her style which resembles the early woodcut and says that she ‘reduces forms to simplicity, and is more occupied with the pattern than imitation of Nature’ (Studio, V, 26. May 1895. p. 59); of her embroidery, he stresses that they are a ‘mosaic of colour entirely’ and that her work is a ‘reduction of fact to symbols’. (p. 60) On Elizabeth Stanhope Forbes he goes further and defends her talent as an artist in her own right and not because she has married a fellow, successful artist of the Newlyn school, which he believes is a ‘misnomer’ (Studio, IV, 24. March 1895. pp. 186-192). Mrs. Forbes shows E.B.S. her ‘movable studio’ at her Newlyn home and calls her work – ‘strong, wholesome art, able to hold its own.’ E.B.S. has some interesting thoughts on the fallibility of the trained and untrained art critic and their inflated opinions as to what is good art, for ‘only the future (judging from the past) will select its own favourites’; he goes on to say that ‘neglected and unpopular painters in their own day sometimes continue unknown, even in a day like the present, bent on dragging hidden genius to light, and on rewarding every outburst of eccentricity or of genuine merit with fulsome adulation, we know there are those working among us, some popular, others absolutely disregarded by the most advanced as well as the most conventional critics, whose works future generations will appreciate as honest and typical examples of the best influences of their period; (p. 188) this is certainly a prophetic statement which we ourselves can recognise today. (3) His remarks show a well-informed sense of style and taste as can be seen from the following passage on the ‘Decoration of the Printed Book’ (Magazine of Art, XX, March 1897, p. 278) in which he says that ‘the construction of a really perfect book is far more likely to be achieved by avoiding blemishes than by including merely decorative adjuncts. The creed of splendid simplicity is never a popular one, and in the days of cheap blocks and ambitious young designers, the danger of over-doing ornament is more than ever one which lurks close at hand.’ He then says, quite sensibly and rightly, that ‘common sense with good taste sums up nearly all that makes for art, in a book, or any other object of craftsmanship.’ (p. 278), (4)

From the style of writing in his poetry, we can gather that E. Bonney Steyne or E.B.S. is, like so many of the contributors to The Artist, The Studio, and The Spirit Lamp, ‘uranian’ in his outlook, that is, he likes to extol the beauty of youth, particularly male beauty:

THE LAST SECRET

 
From young Greek lips a whisper fell
Across the glowing softened dusk
The secret of all things to tell
From young Greek lips a whisper fell
On ears that heard it all too well;
Mid scent of ambergris and musk
From English lips again it fell
And echoed sweetly through the dusk.
 
So Saadi in the garden heard
So Marlowe caught it in the town
The old sweet air that softly stirred
So Saadi in the garden heard.
In London bustle ‘tis inferred
By Southern seas it ripples on,
The sweetness of the one sweet word
Lights both the country and the town.
 
Yet only is it perfect still
Because it never has been spoken.
The moment comes, the impatient will
Would fain discover all, until
The moment passes, with a thrill
And, leaves the secret all unbroken
In perfect peace secure and still
Imagined, heard, yet never spoken.

 [by E. Bonney Steyne. The Artist, volume 13, number 153, 1^st August 1892, p. 227]

 

The word that ‘never has been spoken’ is very similar to the phrase, ‘the love that dare not speak its name’ which was the final line to Lord Alfred Douglas’s 1892 poem, ‘Two Loves’; but Douglas’s poem was written in September 1892, a month after the appearance of ‘The Last Secret’ – could the poem by E. Bonney Steyne have influenced Douglas?  Two Loves did not appear until the first and only edition of The Chameleon of December 1894 which was edited by the Oxford undergraduate of Exeter College, John Francis Bloxam (1873-1928) and the magazine would play its part in the downfall of Oscar Wilde the following April when the prosecution began. (5)

Gleeson White and E. Bonney Steyne both have a deep interest in interior design and furniture as can be seen by their articles in ‘Work: An Illustrated Magazine of Practice and Theory for all Workmen, Professional and Amateur’. (6) Gleeson, like Bonney Steyne, sometimes strays into writing verse, his poems show a marked knowledge of poetical technique and are often quite humorous and witty; take the following poem, signed ‘G.W.’, from The Artist [volume 14, number 160, 1^st March 1893, p. 67], ‘Ballade of the Young Man of the Period’ in which he describes the young gentleman as taking ‘life in its sordidest hues’ and ‘paints his room in the greenest of blues, / at the play looks the saddest of sads, / dances little, but loves to refuse. / Raves a bit o’er a Japanese fan; / yet would culture’s sweet brightness diffuse, / the young nineteenth century man!’ The final verse continues with the same humorous wordplay:

 
In costumes, he bars, checks or plaids;
In books, “liketh much to confuse”
Herbert Spencer with Kipling, and adds:
Some very electic reviews;
Creeds or churches he mostly eschews;
And athletics, once dear to our lads,
But to study him does not amuse,
The puzzle is, where he began?
But like riddles deprived of their clues
Is the young nineteenth century man.

 

An earlier example of Gleeson White’s poetry can be found in Parodies of the Works of English and American Authors by Walter Hamilton, volume I, 1884 – ‘The Monthly Parodies. An Apology’ written after William Morris’s “Earthly Paradise” by J.W. Gleeson White, Christchurch, March 1884, p. 65 which ends: ‘So with these many Parodies it is, / if you will read aright and carefully, / nor scathing satire, nor malicious hiss / for lack of beauty in the themes to see, / nor jeerings coarse, at what men prize, as we / but jest to make some little changeling play / its pranks in classic robes, all crowned with bay.’ Also in The Bookmart can be found similar verse: ‘Ballade of the Great Unread’ (volume VI, number 67, December 1888, p. 361), ‘Ballade of Russian Novels’ (volume VI, number 68, January 1889, p. 417) and ‘At a Two Penny Book Stall’(volume VI, number 69, February 1889, p. 473). Another example of a poem by ‘G.W.’ is the following four line verse ‘Up Parnassus’ from The Artist [volume 13, number 157, 1^st December 1892, p. 358]: ‘From the first plateau do not downward peer / to note with pride its height; but persevere / for from the peak itself this noble place / part of the dull dead level will appear.’ The tone of the author appears quite mocking and the same note of mockery can be found in an article by E.B.S. in the same edition of The Artist (pp. 73-74) – ‘In Consequence of Mr. Traill’ which he begins by saying ‘All the world knows what happens to one who divulges the secrets of Freemasonry. Possibly as terrible a fate awaits the betrayer of the passport to the Brotherhood of Poets, a new organization, not alas! a product of the Wild West.’ He then goes on to rant over other magazines such as the Magazine of Poetry in which one has ‘to send your “photo” to be processed (with a fee), to allow your poems to be quoted “by kind permission of the author”,’ He sneers at such things, which seem quite familiar to us now, and then goes on to suggest that a ‘certain circular is on its way, that shall make Yankee folly appear almost sensible by comparison.’ We are then shown a mock legal document with spaces to be filled in by the applicant to be an Honorary Member of the Brotherhood of Poets and to ‘obey the rules’ and enclose a Postal Order for the ‘entrance fee and first year’s subscription or life commutative fee.’ E.B.S. defends the poor unknown minor poets, apparently ‘four and twenty’ of them, ‘never yet heard singing even in a printer’s pie.’ He ends the piece, saying severely that ‘when the effrontery of this ridiculous affair thrusts itself under one’s nose, ere it passes to the waste-paper basket.’ But perhaps something soothing in poetic form shall rinse the bile dripping from otherwise sweet lips –

 

 RETROSPECTION

 
To me Love held a crystal globe wherein
I saw my secret wishes mirrored plain,
The rapture of the vision made me fain
To grasp its beauty and myself to win
Tho’ bought with bitter agony or sin,
The rapture of that moment; for its gain
To count no misery, nor any pain
So to enjoy I might at once begin.
 
But he who held it smiling said ‘Not so,’
‘Tis but a vision of thy own lost power
What time in very sooth Love’s rose-hung bower
Opened for thee, when blind thou dids’t not know
And far in other ways woulds’t idly go.
Now none can bring again that bygone hour.

[by E.B.S., The Artist, volume 13, number 155, 1^st October 1892, p. 291]

 

DAPHNIS

 
To all the world what you may seem
I know not neither do I care
To me you are a waking dream
Fulfilling all things sweet and fair.
 
The world may prize you or disdain,
You are my world; the only thing
That sways my life, one perfect gain
The only pleasure without sting.
 
Your love shines on me like a sun
And in its rays reveals my youth,
For one I live, and love that one
With loyalty and perfect truth.

[by E.B.S., The Artist, volume 13, number 156, 1^st November 1892, p. 325]

 

In another poem, ‘Two’, the poet E.B.S. seems to be consumed by the extraordinary beauty of two figures on the sea shore; either E.B.S. is drawing upon an actual encounter where he witnessed the scene during the summer of that year (1893) or he is inspired by a painting depicting two figures. I believe he is recounting a memory from the ‘tangled world’.

 

TWO

 
Two that embrace the beauty of the earth
From light to shade
Morning and evening since its primal birth
None lovelier made.
 
One with an amorous coronal of golden hair
Eyes that are as the sky mid storm cloud rift,
Clean limbed, proportioned exquisitely rare
Like Ganymede the eagle borne, the gift
Of Earth to Heaven, one’s feelings backward drift
To all the splendour of the gods of Greece
Here in the tangled world awhile adrift
Incarnate imagery of Love and Peace.
 
One with a movement undulating sweet
As lazy breakers by a summer shore
Flesh for the warmer Southern kisses meet
Eyes that are fireflies mid dark hellebore;
With purpling curls that fall in clusters o’er
A face that is the splendour of the South
When all its beauty waxes more and more
Into the ripeness of the curving mouth.

[by E.B.S., The Artist, volume 14, number 167, 1^st October 1893, p. 297]

 

It has been suggested [Impressionists in England: The Critical Reception, edited by Kate Flint, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1984, [2016 ed.]: ‘Monet’s Sketches’, The Studio, Sept 1893, pp. 243-244, by E.B.S.] that the author of the article on Monet by E.B.S. (in The Studio), which by the way he prophetically suggests that ‘England is not ready to fully accept… as a pioneer of landscape painting’, is ‘almost certainly by Eveline Byam Shaw’. This is incorrect as the style of the article is the same as other critical analysis by E.B.S. and anyone familiar with the author’s writing need only read his articles on Henry Scott Tuke, Eleanor Brickdale or George Frampton to see that the author, although familiar with the Newlyn School of Art, is most definitely male and not Eveline Byam Shaw (1870-1960) (7) Nor is the author Eve Blantyre Simpson (1855-1920), as suggested by  Kyriaki Hadjiafxendi and Patricia Zakresk in reference to ‘The Paintings and Etchings of Elizabeth Stanhope Forbes’ by E.B.S., The Studio, volume 4, number 24, March 1895, pp. 186-192. (8)

We must also rule out the artist, Edward Brice Stanley [E.B.S.] Montefiore (1855-1918) for quite obvious reasons when one looks at his work, he simply does not fit. I must admit, I was side-tracked for a moment into believing E.B.S. could perhaps be the eminent homeopathic doctor, painter and sculptor, Edward Barton Shuldham [E.B.S.] (1837-1924) merely on the use of his initials on the publication of his twin nephew artists’ book – ‘Pictures from Birdland’ (London, J. M. Dent & Co. 1899) by Charles and Edward Detmold with ‘ryhmes by E.B.S.’, I think also the fact that both artists, Charles Maurice Detmold and Edward Julius Detmold, who were born on 21^st November 1883, both committed suicide, Charles at his home, Inglewood Road, Hampstead, on 9^th April 1908 by chloroform, and Edward on 1^st July 1957 by shooting himself in the chest, aroused suspicions (9).

Gleeson White’s friend and editing partner in the Bell’s series of Cathedrals, Edward Fairbrother Strange (1862-1929), who was curator at South Kensington Museum and an authority on Japanese prints, also had poems and articles printed in various periodicals, such as The Artist, and the Magazine of Art [‘The Habit does not Make the Monk’, volume 14, 1891, p. 344] and these from The Studio: ‘The Rood-Screen of South Pool Church’ [The Studio, volume 4, number 24, March 1895, pp. 192-197], ‘Some Old Wrought Iron Work’ [The Studio, volume 12, number 58, January 1898, pp. 247-251] and ‘Patterns From Suffolk Rood-Screens’ [The Studio, volume 15, number 70, January 1899, pp. 241-247]. Here is an example of a poem by Edward Fairbrother Strange, who sometimes wrote under the initials: ‘E.F.S.’:

LOVE AND LIFE
After the picture by G. F. Watts, R.A., in South Kensington Museum.

 
Oh, Love! the way is hard!
Give me thy hand. I dare not stand alone
On these rough crags, with wounded bleeding feet,
I scarce dare look, yet hear thy pinions beat,
And long to take thy heart-strength for my own.
Oh, help me, Love! the way is very hard.
And Love bent down
Into Life’s soul with pitying tender smile,
And took her hand and led her forth, the while
He whispered sweetest hopes in accents fair
Of melody so pure, not all the blare
Of the wild storm could drown.
Sweet Life:
Who would’st not live without me for a day;
Yet triest wilfully to rise alone
On these rough crags of sharp remorseless stone:
Lo, I am here and will for ever stay.
Sad Life:
Look ever in my eyes and learn to live;
Hold ever fast my hand and learn to love;
And I will lead thee to a pleasant land
Of fair smooth ways and paths, far, far above
These rocky cliffs, that glaring trackless sand,
There wilt thou know what Love to Life can give,
There Love is Life and Life is only Love,
Sweet Love!

[by Edward F. Strange, The Artist, volume 9, number 99, 1^st March 1888, p. 67] 

 

I find there are several parallel consistencies between E.B.S. and that other great art critic and connoisseur of aesthetic taste, Joseph William Gleeson White (1851-1898). It is said that Gleeson White and E. Bonney Steyne, or ‘E.B.S.’ are friends with and both have an appreciation and a great belief in the work of Henry Scott Tuke; White (who sometimes writes under the initials ‘J.G.W.’ or ‘G.W.’) and E.B.S. enjoy designing and crafting usable works of art, such as furniture and decorative furnishings; both write interesting and informative critical analysis of artistic works in various forms, from printing, painting and enamelling to literary works; both have their work published in the same periodicals – The Artist, The Studio, Work: An Illustrated Magazine, etc. Joseph Gleeson White spent a year in the United States in New York where he edited the magazine, ‘Art Amateur’ from November 1890 – In a notice in the periodical ‘Work: An Illustrated Magazine of Practice and Theory for all Workmen, Professional and Amateur’ (volume 2, number 85, Saturday 1^st November 1890, p. 538) we are told that ‘Mr. E. Bonney Steyne has left this country for a short sojourn in the States’. And finally, following the death of Gleeson White on 19^th October 1898, I can find no more published work by E. Bonney Steyne or E.B.S., the final piece by E.B.S. being, I believe, ‘Mr. Talwin Morris’s Designs for Cloth Bindings’ by E.B.S. in The Studio, volume 15, number 67, October 1898, pp. 38-44 (8 illustrations). What do I deduce from all this? In my opinion, Gleeson White and E. Bonney Steyne or E.B.S. is one and the same person; the character of the writing is identical – such as the seemingly old-fashioned and curious word ‘fain’ seen in the poems ‘The Last Secret’ and ‘Retrospection’ by E. Bonney Steyne and E.B.S. respectively is a word Gleeson White uses in his article on ‘American Piracy, Annexation of a British Myth’ (The Artist, volume VIII, number 85, 1^st January 1887, pp. 3-4) in reference to the meeting of Guinevere and Arthur, saying ‘The Queen would fain embrace him’ (p. 4) and examples in his works, such as ‘The Master Painters of Britain’ (four volumes, 1897-98) in the Introductory (volume I, 1897, p. IX). Gleeson White was also known to his friends as ‘Gleeful’, meaning merry, joyful and exuberant, which is a very good description of him (10) and the word ‘Bonney’ can mean fair, beautiful and is derived from the Latin, ‘bonus’, meaning good; Gleeson White was known for his delightful humour and wit, as can also be seen in his verse under his own name – is he making a charming riddle with the pseudonym? Does he feel free to express his more ‘uranian’ thoughts in verse under the persona and strange moniker of ‘E. Bonney Steyne’ and the initials E.B.S? I merely draw the reader’s attention to these facts.

Gleeson White was born Joseph William White in Christchurch, Hampshire on 8^th March 1851 (he later added the ‘Gleeson’ to his name), the only child of Joseph White (1893-1867), bookseller, stationer and printer, and Lydia Sarah Gleeson (1805-1875). His father, Joseph, who was born in Winkton, Hampshire and Lydia, born in Deptford, Kent, were married in Portsea Island, Hampshire in 1848; Joseph, who commenced his business in the art of bookbinding in 1819, seems to have been quite an energetic man, entirely self-taught – he ‘made his own boards by pasting sheets of old newspapers together, and afterwards turned out some respectable work. He bound the greater portion of the library of the late Lord Stuart de Rothesay, at Highcliffe Castle.’ He taught himself the art of printing and his business at Caxton House, 10, High Street, Christchurch, was the first and only booksellers in Christchurch. Upon his death on 17^th September 1867, aged 75, his widow, Lydia and son Joseph, continued the business. (11) Joseph’s wife, Lydia, (who was born 31^st October 1805) died several years later in Christchurch, on 26^th February 1875, aged 67. Joseph Gleeson White continued the business at Caxton House, as we can see from the 1881 census for Christchurch, Hampshire: Joseph is 30 years old and gives his occupation as – ‘Bookseller, stationer, organist’ [he was in fact organist at Mudeford Church of England Chapel, Christchurch, until he resigned in 1889 when he was presented by the choir and congregation with a silver tea service (Bournemouth Guardian. Saturday 10^th August 1889, p. 4,5)]; his wife, Annie M. White, born Annie Matilda Rose in Bath, Somerset, in 1852, is 28 years old [they were married in Bath, Somerset in 1876] and with them is their two children: 3 year old Cicely Rose Gleeson White who was born in Christchurch in 1877 who later became the well-known operatic soprano, Madame Gleeson White and married George John Miller (1877-1960) in Notting Hill, Middlesex on 22^nd July 1907, and 2 year old Eric Myles Foster Gleeson White (1879-1968) who married Beatrice Charlotte Smith (born 1868) in Notting Hill on 14^th October 1907. (12)

Joseph Gleeson White had many literary connections, he was friends with Oscar Wilde with whom he kept up a correspondence, beginning around 1888 and he supported Wilde during his trial which almost certainly ended Gleeson White’s editorship of The Studio in 1895, although he did continue to contribute articles to the magazine. Gleeson was also a friend of the poet and author, Richard Le Gallienne (1866-1947) who himself became enamoured of Wilde and having met Wilde on 6^th June1888, the following ‘Summer day’, 7^th June, began that sweet intimacy between the two poets. The biographer, Neil McKenna, in his ‘The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde’ (London. Century. 2003) says that ‘the same month he [Le Gallienne] met and had sex with Oscar, Le Gallienne was also to be found staying with the journalist and poet Gleeson White and his wife in Christchurch, Hampshire, a town which was later to house a small but important colony of uranian poets and writers.’ (p. 90)

Gleeson continued to be on familiar terms with many of the uranian writers of the ‘yellow nineties’ including the teacher-poet, John Gambril Nicholson (1866-1931) and Charles Philip Castle Kains Jackson (1857-1933), the editor of The Artist and Journal of Home Culture from 1888-1894; like Gleeson, Kains Jackson was pushed aside as editor, in his case, it was due to an article he wrote for the April 1894 edition of The Artist, titled ‘The New Chivalry’ which promoted the pleasures and principles of ‘Greek love’ in an already over-populated world. The article was signed ‘P.C.’ which is Kains Jackson’s middle names – Philip Castle, and the issue also included a poem by Lord Alfred Douglas: ‘Prince Charming’ on the same page (p. 102), and following the essay, a poem by Gambril Nicholson, entitled ‘On the River Bank’ (p. 105). (13) Following this final flourish of uranian defiance, the rather soulless May edition of The Artist was published and much of its beauty died with Kains Jackson’s dismissal. Gleeson White also became acquainted with the strange enigma that was ‘Baron Corvo’ – Frederick Rolfe (1860-1913); through Nicholson’s friendship with Rolfe, the ‘Baron’ met Gleeson in Christchurch around August 1889, staying at Caxton House. Joseph’s wife took an instant dislike to Rolfe, thinking him pretentious. ‘During most of the early months of Rolfe’s stay in Christchurch, Gleeson White was in New York, where he had gone as associate editor of Art Amateur Magazine, but Mrs. Gleeson White was at home with their two children and she made the Baron welcome.’ (14) The painter, Henry Scott Tuke also visited the Gleeson White’s regularly and Tuke was also in correspondence with Rolfe, who also painted. When Gleeson White wished to leave Christchurch for London, Rolfe suggested he buy Caxton House but his unreliability and lack of funds saw this come to nothing. At this time, September 1891, Kains Jackson stayed with the Gleeson White’s at Caxton House for about a month and he acted as Gleeson’s solicitor; tensions were fraught as Rolfe claimed Mrs. Gleeson White made sexual advances towards him. Despite this, Rolfe’s photographic work did feature in an edition of The Studio – The Nude in Photography: with some studies taken in the open air, by Gleeson White which showed works by Wilhelm von Gloeden (1856-1931) and Frederick Rolfe, including a reclining nude Cecil Castle (1870-1922), cousin and lover of Kains Jackson. (15)

It is worth pointing out that E. Bonney Steyne could possibly be a play on words – Gleeson White was an enthusiastic designer and creator of beautiful decorative furnishings and one such product used with various wood such as oak was ‘ebony stain’; I might also add that many pianofortes of the time were made of ebony wood and one often came across adverts in the newspapers of the period for ‘ebony stein’ or ‘ebony Steinway’.

Joseph Gleeson White died on 19^th October 1898 after contracting typhoid fever in Italy where he travelled to during the summer of that year.

The following poem is by Gleeson White and signed ‘G.W.’ in The Artist, volume 14, number 159, 1^st February 1893, p. 36:

 

RONDEAU, To R.C.

 
Yet hearts may meet tho’ years divide
Those who once happy side by side
Were well content; since every day
Found mutually in work or play
The same ideals by each descried.
Now leagues of tossing billows sway
And words infrequent poorly say,
Yet hearts may meet.
Some joys are lost, some hopes have died
But Love still leaps the ocean wide.
Across its space take then I pray
The thought “tho’ parted each must stay
And hands and eyes have vainly tried
Yet, hearts may meet.

 

If indeed E. Bonney Steyne, or ‘E.B.S.’ was Joseph Gleeson White, as I believe he was, either rightly or wrongly, it will probably matter very little to the majority of literary scholars and enthusiasts but to a tiny minority, those who appreciate the poetry of this minor genre, it may make a very small difference indeed.

 

Works by E.B.S. in The Studio:

 

Some Sketches by Claude Monet and Eugene Boudin, by E.B.S. The Studio, volume 1, number 6, September 1893, pp. 243-244 [6 illustrations].

The New Decorative Artist: Herbert Granville Fell, by E.B.S. The Studio, volume 2, number 2, February 1894, p. 164 [3 illustrations].

Studies by a New “Character” Draughtsman, J. T. Wright Manuel, by E.B.S. The Studio, volume 2, number 12, March 1894, pp. 218-219 [4 illustrations]

A Note on Mr. John Da Costa and his Work, by E.B.S. The Studio, volume 4, number 29, December 1894, pp. 84-87 [7 illustrations].

Afternoons in Studios: A Chat with Mr. Whistler (unnamed but probably E.B.S.), The Studio, volume 4, number 22, January 1895, pp. 116-121.

The Paintings and Etchings of Elizabeth Stanhope Forbes, by E.B.S. The Studio, volume 4, number 24, March 1895, pp. 186-192 [9 illustrations].

Some Aspects of the Work of Miss Mary L. Newill, by E.B.S. The Studio, volume 5, number 26, May 1895 (supplement, 15^th May 1895), pp. 56-63 [11 illustrations].

Afternoons in Studios: Henry Scott Tuke at Falmouth, by E.B.S. The Studio, volume 5, number 27, June 1895, pp. 90-95 [7 illustrations].

New Book Illustrator: Charles Robinson, by E.B.S. The Studio, volume 5, number 18, July 1895, pp. 146-150 [4 illustrations].

A Painter in the Arctic Regions. An Interview with Mr. Frank Wilbert Stokes, by E.B.S. The Studio, volume 5, number 30, September 1895, pp. 209-214 [5 illustrations].

A Chat with Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Dawson on Enamelling, by E.B.S. The Studio, volume 6, number 31, October 1895, pp. 173-178 [10 illustrations].

Mr. Mortimer Menpes and his Mexican Memories, by E.B.S. The Studio, volume 6, number 33, December 1895, pp. 161-164 [4 illustrations].

Afternoons in Studios: A Chat with Mr. George Frampton, A.R.A., by E.B.S. The Studio, volume 6, number 34, January 1896, pp. 205-213 [9 illustrations].

Oscar Roty and the Art of the Medalist, by E.B.S. The Studio, volume 7, number 37, April 1896, pp. 158-162 [8 illustrations].

Some Recent Designs by Mr. C.F.A. Voysey, by E.B.S. The Studio, volume 7, number 38, May 1896, pp. 209-218 [14 illustrations].*

Studio-Talk, by E.B.S. The Studio, volume 12, number 56, November 1897, pp. 118-123.

Some Drawings by Mr. Nico Jungman, by E.B.S. The Studio, volume 13, number 59, February 1898, pp. 25-30 [8 illustrations]

Eleanor F. Brickdale, Designer and Illustrator, by E.B.S. The Studio, volume 13, number 60, March 1898, pp. 103-108 [5 illustrations].

P. J. Billinghurst, Designer and Illustrator, by E.B.S. The Studio, volume 14, number 65, August 1898, pp. 181-186 [7 illustrations]

Mr. Talwin Morris’s Designs for Cloth Bindings, by E.B.S. The Studio, volume 15, number 67, October 1898, pp. 38-44 [8 illustrations]

 

*E.B.S. also had an article on Voysey: ‘Country Cottages’, published in Country Life Illustrated, volume 3, number 59, 19^th February 1898, pp. 195-197.

 

 

Works by E. Bonney Steyne in Work: An Illustrated Magazine of Practice and Theory for all Workmen, Professional and Amateur:

 

Volume I:

Number 6, Saturday 27^th April 1889: ‘Binding made Easy, by E, Bonney Steyne’, pp. 81-83.

Number 9, Saturday 18^th May 1889: ‘Binding made Easy, by E. Bonney Steyne’, continued from 27^th April edition, pp. 138-139.

Number 20, Saturday 3^rd August 1889: ‘Japanese Motive for Panel in Fretwork, by E. Bonney Steyne’, p. 308.

Number 21, Saturday 10^th August 1889: ‘A Tray for Loose Letters, with Ink Bottle, by E. Bonney Steyne’, pp. 327-329.

Number 30, Saturday 12^th October 1889: ‘A Mauresque Coffee Table, by E. Bonney Steyne’, pp. 471-473.

Number 34, Saturday 9^th November 1889: ‘Design for a Large Bracket in Fretwork, by E. Bonney Steyne’, pp. 535-536.

 

Volume II:

Number 73, Saturday 9^th August 1890: ‘Clocks and Clock Cases, by E. Bonney Steyne’, pp. 329-330, also in the same edition: ‘Two Finger-Plates for Fret-Cutting, by E. Bonney Steyne’, pp. 337-338.

Number 74, Saturday 16^th August 1890: ‘A Hall Settle: After an old Bedstead of the Sheraton Period, by E. Bonney Steyne’, pp. 345-346.

Number 76, Saturday 30^th August 1890: ‘An Overmantel in the Arabian Style, by E. Bonney Steyne’, pp. 377-378.

Number 79, Saturday 20^th September 1890: ‘Design for a Bracket in Fret-Work, by E. Bonney Steyne’, pp. 432-434.

Number 82, Saturday 11^th October 1890: ‘A Corner Cupboard with Carved Panels, or for Gesso Ornamentation, by E. Bonney Steyne’, pp. 483-484.

Number 100, Saturday 14^th February 1891: ‘A Small Hanging Cupboard with Fretwork Doors and Enrichments, by E. Bonney Steyne’, pp. 769-770.

 

I can find no articles by E. Bonney Steyne in volumes III and IV. I may note that Gleeson White’s ‘A Hanging Music Canterbury in Fretwork’ appeared in the number 105 issue of volume III (Saturday 21^st March 1891, pp. 3-4) and the final articles by E. Bonney Steyne, to my knowledge and research, was in volume V of Work, re-subtitled ‘the Illustrated Journal for Mechanics’, number 203, Saturday 4^th February 1893: ‘A Remodelled Drawing-Room’ (part I), by E. Bonney Steyne, p. 40; part II of the same article appeared in number 207, Saturday 4^th March 1893, p. 104. There is also an interesting article by E. Bonney Steyne on ‘Painter-Etchers Old and New’ in Art Review, volume I, 1890, Notes and Reviews, pp. 126-127.

 

 

NOTES:

 

1. E.B.S. reviewed Oscar Wilde’s play, ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ which opened at the St. James’s Theatre, London on 20^th February [1892] in which he says ‘Mr. Oscar Wilde is like a dear little boy, clean and well-dressed, brought into dessert under promise to be good; who immediately improves the occasion by uttering terrible speeches, and behaving quite as badly as his mother’s rivals could wish.’ He damns the play as too dramatic and ‘flippant’ – ‘vice is hinted at, but when you get behind the mystery, no nonconformist  conscience could be more guiltless than these mock libertines and sham sinners’; he ends the review by saying: ‘We prefer to think that the spoilt child has real wit and genuine talent and can be as lovable and fresh when he cares to be so, as he can be just a merely provoking young monkey, when our expectant audience are prepared for a nicely behaved infant. E.B.S.’ [The Artist, volume 13, number 148, 1^st March 1892, p. 76]
2. Afternoons in Studios: Henry Scott Tuke at Falmouth. The Studio, volume 5, number 27, June 1895, pp. 90-95. [7 illustrations]
3. see: ‘Some Aspects of the Work of Miss Mary L. Newill’. [Supplement to The Studio, 15^th May 1895] The Studio, volume 5, number 26, May 1895, pp. 56-63 [11 illustrations]; and ‘The Paintings and Etchings of Elizabeth Stanhope Forbes’. The Studio, volume 4, number 24, March 1895, pp. 186-192 [9 illustrations].
4. The Decoration of the Printed Book, by E.B.S. Magazine of Art, volume 20, March 1897, pp. 275-278.
5. The Chameleon, volume 1, number 1, December 1894. The magazine began with Wilde’s ‘Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young’, pp. 1-3, and included Gambril Nicholson’s ‘The Shadow of the End’, pp. 4-7; Alfred Douglas’s sonnet poem ‘In Praise of Shame’, p. 25 and his ‘Two Loves’, pp. 26-28; the anonymous (although written by Bloxam in June 1884) short story, ‘The Priest and the Acolyte’, pp. 29-47; an anonymous and delightful little poem, ‘Love in Oxford’ (which seems very reminiscent of poems by ‘Alan Stanley’, the poet, Stanley Addleshaw, in his ‘Love Lyrics’ which was published the same year), p. 48, and the magazine ends with the charming short poem, ‘At Dawn’, by Bertram Lawrence, p. 59.
6. ‘A Remodelled Drawing-Room’, part I, in volume 5, number 203, 4^th February 1893, p. 40, and part II, volume 5, number 207, 4^th March 1893, p. 104. see also, ‘Cabinet Making and Upholstery’, ‘Cabinet in Fret-Cutting’ J. W. Gleeson-White, ‘Work’, March 23 1889 and ‘Drawing-Room Overmantel with Lincrusta Decoration’ E. Bonney Steyne, ‘Work’, April 20-65, 1889; ‘An Occasional Chair with Fret-Work Decorations’ by J. W. Gleeson White, ‘Amateur Work, Illustrated’, volume 7, 1887, p. 486, and ‘A Bachelor’s Sideboard in the Neo-Japanese Style’ by J. W. Gleeson White, ‘Amatuer Work, Illustrated’, volume 1,  London. Ward, Lock, & Co. 1881, pp. 376-377.
7. Eveline Margaret Grose Byam Shaw, also known as Evelyn C. E. Shaw, was married to the artist John James Byam Shaw
8. Crafting the Woman Professional in the Long Nineteenth Century: Artistry and Industry in Britain, edited by Kyriaki Hadjiafxendi and Patricia Zakrest. London, Routlegde. 2013 [2016 ed.], p. 183.
9. Edward Barton Shuldham M.D., M.R.C.S., born in India in 1837 and educated at Trinity College, Dublin; he was a friend of the author Lewis Carroll and a member of the British Homeopathic Society and published several books on the subject: Headaches, their Causes and Treatments (1875), Stammering and its Treatment (1879), The Family Homeopathist (1883) etc. he also wrote and lectured on art and was a painter, sculptor and poet. He collected porcelain and Japanese woodblock prints and famously sold his ‘Blue and White Chinese Porcelain Collection’ (more than 160 pieces, including seven Hawthorn jars) at Christies in February 1880 which was mentioned in The Artist [volume I, number 3, 15^th March 1880, p. 73]; he was a critic for The Dark Blue Magazine and wrote short stories such as ‘The House by the Moor’ in Chambers journal of Popular Literature, Science and Arts [seventh series, volume III, number 123, 5^th April 1913, part I, pp. 273-277, part II continued in number 124, 12^th April, pp. 297-299] and articles: ‘Sacred Art in the Royal Academy’ [Churchman’s Family Magazine, volume 6, July 1865], ‘Heine as an Impressionist’ [Temple Bar Magazine, volume 29, 1870, pp. 210-227], ‘Old Nankin Blue’ [The Art Journal, part I, October 1877, part II, November 1877]. He married Elizabeth Young (born 1846) in 1864 and he and his wife, raised the Detmold children, Mary, Nora, Charles and Edward, at their Hampstead home. Charles and Edward showed great promise as illustrators and their first book, ‘Pictures from Birdland’ was published in 1899 when they were just 15 years old; their Uncle, Dr. Shuldham, provided the verse to each illustration as ‘E.B.S.’ [in the 1901 census for Hampstead, 17 year old Maurice C. and Edward J. Detmold, both give their occupations as ‘artist’]
10. ‘Gleeson White and Kains Jackson at Auction’, Front Free Endpapers, 18^th July 2017, https://endpaper60.rssing.com
11. The Bookseller. Monday 30^th September 1867, p. 12.
12. 1881 census for England and Wales. RG11, piece/folio:1192/85, p. 26, line: 5.
13. The Artist and Journal of Home Culture, volume XV, number 172, 2^nd April 1894, The New Chivalry, pp. 102-104.
14. Frederick Rolfe, Baron Corvo: A Biography. Miriam J. Benkovitz. London, Hamilton. 1977. p. 50.
15. The Nude in Photography: with some studies taken in the open air, by Gleeson White, The Studio, volume 1, number 3, June 1893, pp. 104-108 [8 photographic works ]. The article was also reproduced for The Photogram magazine in three parts: part I, volume 1, number 3, March 1894, pp. 55-56, part II: volume 1, number 4, April 1894, pp. 85-86, part III: volume 1, number 5, May 1894, pp. 103-105.