1882-1932
A recent post in this blog concerned “Fourth Leaders” which were “ephemeral ruminations” published for a time in The Times. When I went searching for information about them I came across the following book:
Fifty Years: Memories and Contrasts. A Composite Picture of the Period 1882-1932, by Twenty-Seven Contributors to The Times, with a foreword by George Macaulay Trevelyan, O.M.
Although the book contained no information at all about Fourth Leaders, I thought I would say something about it here because it is interesting and otherwise I will forget about it. It is also the case that this “Picture of the Period” has not attracted much attention. Those interested in the Victorian/Edwardian eras and those of you who are fans of Downton Abbey might find it worth a look. If you need more incentive, consider this remark by Trevelyan from the introduction:
“In this volume we are reminded of a few of the things that our grandfathers had and that we have not and that no one will ever have again.” p.15.
A Series of Articles in The Times - 1932
On Jan.7, 1932, The Times announced that articles covering the years 1882-1932 were forthcoming and the first one appears on Feb. 1: “Politics and the Statesman,” by The Earl of Middleton, K.P. Throughout the winter and spring twenty-six more pieces are to be found along with related photographs illustrating such subjects as: “Rural England in the Eighties”, “Changes in the World of Sport” and “Great Figures of Political Life”. As well, one finds pictures of literary figures such as Tennyson, Browning, Hardy and R.L. Stevenson and of lesser known entertainers and performers such as Dame Nellie Melba (she of the toast) and G.H. Chirgwin, “The White-Eyed Kaffir.”
1882-1932?
There is no clear rationale presented as to why those years were chosen or why the articles could not have been commissioned a year earlier or later. There are a few statements of purpose which are rather general in nature:
“...it is a series of articles designed as a critical retrospect over a period in which historical time seems to have travelled its swiftest pace.”
…”while there has never been a period of greater opportunity for contrast.”
“... a period of change to which history offers few parallels.”
Those who wrote the pieces were expected to have experienced and participated in the events of the period and their observations were to be based on “direct personal reminiscence.”
Excerpts
What is A Weekend?
Why Lady Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham of Downton Abbey asked that question and was puzzled by the concept is partially explained by this passage:
The other great change in social habits is the present widespread exodus from London for a third of every week. Before motor-cars existed, to go more than ten miles out of London meant a troublesome business of catching trains. Accordingly the two nights’ country visit, called then a “Sunday Party,” was a rarity, and the majority of us were quite content to stay where we were.”
That excerpt is from the article “Society and the Season” by Mary, Countess of Lovelace which begins this way:
“For a picture of social life fifty years ago I can only draw upon a limited experience, first as a girl before 1880 and as a young married woman after that date. I can, in short, only give the youthful feminine point of view, It was a prosperous period, and for six months of “the Season,” which began in February and ended the last day of July, there was an incessant competition between entertainers small and great. Except for a few days at Easter, three or four balls were given every night except Saturdays, and on that day there was nearly always one of those large assemblies at one or other of the great family houses which embraced the whole of Society, old and young, rich and poor.”
Filthy Lucre
From the Chapter “Clubs and Club Life”, by Sir George Arthur BT.
“... at Arthur’s and Boodle’s there was a well-known rule that silver given in change had to be plunged in boiling water and swung round in a leather bag to ensure cleanliness.” p.35.
On the other hand, perhaps it was better not to use silver at all:
“The octogenarian, Lord Knightley, having won a rubber of whist, his opponent handed him eight half-crowns in payment of his debt. Lord Knightley rose, rang the bell, and pointing to the little heap of silver, said to the waiter: “Please bring me gold for that.” The silver -- such was the implication of gentle reproach -- could scarcely be considered as correct tender from one gentleman to another.” p.37
The Countryside
Although Lord Ernle notes some of the positive developments in his essay on “The Countryside” it is generally a lament for what has been lost - …”life is made easier, it is also made harder to live.” p.194.
“The mellowness is vanishing from the external aspect of most rural districts. Raw and aggressive, new constructions fresh from the builder’s hand shout defiance at their weatherworn surroundings.” p.190.
“Yet no one who has not lived in a remote country district before the advent of mechanical aids to locomotion can realize its isolation. Even country houses, in spite of their command of horses and carriages, were narrowly limited in their social intercourse by time and distance. Their life was necessarily home-made. Neighbours from fifteen miles away came to stay the night, or to spend a long day -- long enough to rest the horses. Dinners or dances required so much correspondence and preparation that they became, as we might now think, ceremonious. Few opportunities for informal gatherings existed. In 1880 both afternoon tea and lawn tennis were very recent introductions. Bridge was still unknown. But today all the gadgets which quicken life and make manners more abrupt are in operation. Over the telephone parties of every sort can be improvised; unexpected guests can ‘blow in’, when resources can be quickly supplemented by ‘dialling’ appropriate tradesmen; B.B.C. supplies music or conversation for impromptu dances or meals, and in time will play the hands of bridge players.” 193
“Fifty years ago villages ten miles apart knew nothing of each other. The members of each community viewed “foreigners” with suspicion, and, as parish registers show, were often closely related to one another.” p.194.
“Another consequence of the same movement is the levelling down of village society. Carriers and shopmen cannot compete with motor-omnibuses or vans; the one puts down his horse and cart, the other puts up his shutters. An avalanche of Norwegian deals or ready-made doors and windows drives wheelwrights and carpenters from business and buries in the old saw-pit their folk knowledge of British timber. Blacksmiths and harness-makers lose their livelihood when petrol displaces horses. …. Villages gain many conveniences at the cost of much of their variety, individuality, and independence.” p.194.
Sport: A Definition
“But how is sport to be defined? Does it include games such as cricket, football, rowing, athletics, polo, and lawn tennis? Or should it be confined to hunting, shooting, fishing, stalking, coursing and other pastimes perhaps more strictly sporting? Sport would seem to imply the pursuit of some quarry, even if it were only rats, and if there is a spice of danger attending it, so much the better.” p.196 from the chapter “Sport of Many Kinds” by Lord Desborough, K.G.
It is followed by a chapter which, judging from the title, seems to be about more frivolous ‘sports’: “Games With a Ball”, by Bernard Darwin.
The Book Published by The Times
It did not take long for The Times to get the articles into book form. There are announcements almost daily during June of 1932 about the upcoming publication of the book and finally a long synopsis of this “composite portrait” of the age appears on June 16: “Book of the Day: 50 Years: A Picture of Loss and Gain.” Letters and reviews about the “anthology of reminiscences” quickly follow (for those really interested, synopses of reviews from other papers are provided by The Times - see the issues for July 5, July 8 and August 3, 1932.)
I thought that newspaper book publishing was a more recent development, but that is clearly not the case. In fact, one letter-writer corrects Trevelyan who wrote in the introduction that “the articles form perhaps the longest series that ever appeared in The Times.” p.16. He notes that The Times had published fifty-four articles about a trip to the United States back in 1887-1888. He says “The collection was afterwards reprinted in two little grey yellow-edged volumes, long out of print.”
I had a look and the book does exist and unlike the one discussed above, it is available in electronic format. Here is what you need to find it: A Visit to the States: A Reprint of Letters From the Special Correspondent of The Times, George Edward Wright, 1887. It looks to be quite interesting. (Since the book is out of copyright, one of the new ‘instant publishers’ will print one for you if you like. The e-version is available for free.)
A Canadian Version 1882-1932
Somehow along the way I stumbled upon a Canadian book covering the same period and published in the same year, 1932:
Fifty Years Retrospect ; Canada, 1882-1932.
It is rather more limited in scope given that it is an anniversary publication of the Royal Society of Canada and Canada was, after all, but a colony. I only mention it here to indicate the diligence of my research and because the book might provide potential topics for anyone on the tenure track in need of one. For example:
-There are around twenty-five essays in the book so your discipline is likely to be represented. Examples: “Trends in Fifty Years of Canadian Stratigraphy” or “Fifty Years of Canadian History.”
-Or you could attempt to determine if in fact the Royal Society of Canada succeeded in helping “to check the tendency of a pioneer community to put an overwhelming emphasis upon material things.”
-Or one could compare or contrast the subject of “higher education” as presented in the two books discussed above. There are three chapters about the universities in The TImes compilation: “Oxford Men and Manners”, “New and Old at Cambridge”, and “The New Universities”. In the book about Canada you could start by considering the following:
Canadian Higher Education
The universities had no contact with one another. Most of them had been conceived, born, and nourished for sectarian purposes, and all were very poor. Because they were poor they were ill-nurtured, and were as a rule at odds with one another. Professors were badly paid, libraries were meagre, laboratories were few and scantily equipped, museums hardly existed. The provincial treasurers, harassed by other demands for which they were afraid to tax their constituents, took advantage of the divided interests of the colleges to refuse aid impartially to all.
-Or, in relation to the last quotation, you could simply ask if much has changed.
