BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, [10 JULY 1917]
BRACERS 19182. ALS. McMaster
Edited by S. Turcon. Reviewed by K. Blackwell

<London>
Tuesday1^, 2^, 3

My Beloved

It seems an eternity since yesterday morning — and till tomorrow evening. I have been very busy — as soon as I left you I finished dictating an article for The Seven Arts4 — an American magazine — then wrote my Tribunal article5 and polished up the stuff for F.B. Meyer;6 and in the evening I went to Mrs Hamilton’s7 party, which was not exciting — Today, propaganda and finance Comees. — C.E.M.8 back, full of beans — then I wrote an account of the German crisis for the Herald,9 discussed policy with Gould and Herford,10 had tea at the House with Ponsonby,11 to talk about Sassoon,12 then looked over the typed stuff for Meyer and the Tribunal proofs — Now I am off to dine at the Rinders.13 — I have decided to join the I.L.P.14 at last!  My head swims with business —

My dearest Darling, I will be at my flat15 tomorrow 6.30 — I hope that isn’t too early for you? I long to be with you — so quickly after I leave you the longing becomes intense — My loved one, I did love our last time together — The world is moving — peace has come much nearer the last few days. Goodnight my Heart’s Comrade16 — all my being is yours.

B.

• 1

  [document] Document 200160.

• 2

  [envelope] The Lady Constance Malleson | 6 Mecklenburgh Square | W.C. 1. Pmk: LONDON. W.C. | 8.15 PM | JUL 10 17B

• 3

  [date] Colette wrote the date “10 July 1917” on the envelope.

• 4

  an article for The Seven Arts  “Is Nationalism Moribund” (B&R C17.55); 72 in Papers 14.

• 5

  my Tribunal article At this time BR was writing  weekly editorials for The Tribunal published by the No-Conscription Fellowship. This editorial was probably “The Renewed Ill-Treatment of ‘C.O.’s’”, no. 66 (2 July 1917): 2 (B&R C17.39); 49 in Papers 14.

• 6

  stuff for F.B. Meyer This may be The Majesty of Conscience [Manchester National Labour Press, 1917], although the role (if any) that BR played in the published version has never been established. A week earlier he had been working on “a long memoir for F.B. Meyer” (BRACERS 19179).

• 7

  Mrs Hamilton Mary Agnes (“Molly”) Hamilton (1882–1966), politician and broadcaster, one of the original members of the Union of Democratic Control.

• 8

  C.E.M. Catherine Marshall (1880–1961). For further information on her, see BRACERS 19043. She had left the office to rest on 1 June 1917. Her return date to work was rather vague, but she thought she would be away for a month (Letter to BR, 1 June 1917; BRACERS 78216).

• 9

  an account of the German crisis for the Herald “The Fall of Bethmann-Hollweg”, The Herald, no. 905 (21 July 1917): 9 (B&R C17.42); 53 in Papers 14.

• 10

  Gould and Herford Not identified.

• 11

  Ponsonby Arthur Ponsonby (1871–1946), politician, one of the founders of the Union of Democratic Control.

• 12

  Sassoon Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967), soldier awarded the MC and anti-war poet. Ottoline had befriended him in 1916, and the following year, when Sassoon refused to return to his regiment after being wounded, she and BR helped publicize this protest, which probably saved him from a court martial. BR even assisted Sassoon in revising his famous anti-war statement, which was read to the House of Commons by a Liberal M.P. on 30 July 1917. Sassoon’s actions were an embarrassment to the authorities, for he was well known as both a poet and a war hero. Unable to hush the case up, the government acted with unexpected subtlety and declared Sassoon to be suffering from shell-shock and sent him to Craiglockhart War Hospital for Officers, near Edinburgh. After a period of recuperation in Scotland overseen by military psychiatrist Capt. W.H.R. Rivers, Sassoon decided to return to the Front (see Jean Moorcroft Wilson, Siegfried Sassoon: Soldier, Poet, Lover, Friend [New York: Overlook Duckworth, 2014]). He was again wounded in July 1918 and convalesced in Britain during some of BR’s imprisonment. Although each admired the other’s stand on the war, BR and Sassoon were never close in later years. Yet Sassoon did pledge £50 to the fellowship plan fund (see BRACERS 114758), and decades later he donated a manuscript in support of BR’s International War Crimes Tribunal (see BRACERS 79066).

• 13

  Rinders The parents ofW. Gladys Rinder. For further information on her see BRACERS 19044, n.5.

• 14

  I.L.P. The Independent Labour Party was created in 1893 under the guidance of Keir Hardie. A socialist democratic party, it favoured pacifism during the First World War.

• 15

  my flat 34 Russell Chambers, Bury Street (later renamed Bury Place), London WC1. He had regained access to it in mid-June.

• 16

  Heart’s Comrade For use of this term see BRACERS 19145, n.12.