Who was Evelyn Waugh?
Evelyn Waugh was a twentieth century novelist.
Date and Place of Birth:
28th October 1903, at
11 Hillfield Road, Hampstead, London, England. Christened
Evelyn Arthur Waugh.
Family Background:
Waugh was the second child of Arthur Waugh, a
man of letters and publisher and Prudent Catherine Raban.
Education:
Lancing. Hertford College, Oxford.
Chronology/Biography of Evelyn Waugh:
1910: Goes to Heath
Mount preparatory school.
1917: Evelyn Waugh
goes to Lancing College in Sussex.
1922: (January)
Goes up to Hertford College, Oxford to read History.
1924: Leaves Oxford
without taking his degree.
1925: Becomes a
teacher at Arnold House School in Wales. This is an unhappy time
and he attempts suicide by swimming out to sea but turns back after
being stung by a jellyfish. Moves on to a school at Aston Clinton
in Buckinghamshire.
1927: Sacked from
Aston Clinton School. Meets Evelyn Gardner for the first time.
1928: Briefly apprenticed
to a cabinet-maker. Then worked as a journalist before he published
his first novel, "Decline and Fall".
1929: Goes on a
Mediterranean cruise.
1930: Divorces Evelyn
Gardner. Travels through Africa. Converted to Roman Catholicism
which was a major watershed in his life and his writing.
1933: Travels through
South America.
1935: Evelyn Waugh
goes to Abyssinia reporting for the Daily Mail newspaper.
1937: Moves to
Piers Court, Stinchcombe, Gloucestershire.
1938: Daughter Teresa
is born.
1939: Son Auberon
is born. Goes into the armed forces.
1940: Birth and
death of daughter Mary. Commissioned in the Royal Marines. Becomes
a special assistant to the commando leader Robert Laycock.
1941: Evelyn Waugh
shows bravery during the fighting in Crete evacuating troops whilst
under air attack.
1944: Daughter Harriet
born. Served in Yugoslavia with Randolph Churchill, the son of WInston
Churchill liaising with Marshall Tito's Partisans.
1945: Returned to
London and is demobbed.
1946: Son James
born.
1947: Visits USA.
1948: Lectured in
USA.
1950: Son Septimus
born.
1954: Evelyn Waugh
has a nervous breakdown during voyage to Ceylon.
1955: Visited Jamaica.
1956: Moved to Combe
Florey, Somerset.
1958: Travels through
Africa.
Written Works:
- 1932: “Black
Mischief”.
- 1934: “A Handful
of Dust.”
- 1935: Biography
of the Elizabethan Catholic martyr Edmund Campion.
- 1942: “Put Out
More Flags”. “Work Suspended”.
- 1939: "Robbery
Under Law" (Travel book)
- 1945: “Brideshead
Revisited”.
- 1948: “The Loved
One”.
- 1955: “Officers
and Gentlemen”.
- 1957: “The Ordeal
Of Gilbert Penfold”.
- 1961: “Unconditional
Surrender”.
- 1963: "Basil
Seal Rides Again".
- 1964: "A
Little Learning". (Autobiography)
- 1976: “The Diaries
of Evelyn Waugh”.
Marriage:
1. To Evelyn Gardner on 27th June 1928 at St.
Paul's Church, Portman Square, London. (Divorced 1936).
2. To Laura Herbert on 17th April 1937.
Places of Interest:
SOMERSET:
Combe Florey.
Date and Place of Death:
10th April 1966, Combe Florey, Taunton, Somerset,
England of a heart attack after attending a Sunday church service.
Age at Death:
62.
Site of Grave:
St. Peter and St. Paul's Churchyard, Combe Florey,
Somerset, England.
