Rogue Herries (Herries Chronicles)

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Not all those who Walpole hoped might be "the perfect friend" were gay. On at least two occasions later in his life he developed strong attachments to married men who, though evidently not sharing Walpole's sexual orientation, were happy to enjoy his friendship. [26]

By the 1930s, though his public success remained considerable, many literary critics saw Walpole as outdated. His reputation in literary circles took a blow from a malicious caricature in Somerset Maugham's 1930 novel Cakes and Ale: the character Alroy Kear, a superficial novelist of more pushy ambition than literary talent, was widely taken to be based on Walpole. [n 15] In the same year Walpole wrote possibly his best-known work, Rogue Herries, a historical novel set in the Lake District. It was well-received: The Daily Mail considered it "not only a profound study of human character, but a subtle and intimate biography of a place." [84] He followed it with three sequels; all four novels were published in a single volume as The Herries Chronicle. [85] The "Sanitar" is the part of the Red Cross that does the rough work at the front, carrying men out of the trenches, helping at the base hospitals in every sort of way, doing every kind of rough job. They are an absolutely official body and I shall be one of the few (half-dozen) Englishmen in the world wearing Russian uniform. [46]This discounts his earlier writings in a family magazine he edited between 1898 and 1903, called The Social Weekly. Steele comments, "This periodical, complemented by several historical novels Walpole also wrote during this time, constitutes a solid body of juvenilia." [1] He was aware that his popularity might not be enduring, accurately predicting in his diary in 1935: The most powerful chapter describes a pathetic old woman being lynched as a witch, but again I couldn’t see any thematic let alone narrative connection with the rest of the book. (Possibly she is an example of hostility to outsiders, like Herries himself.) Benson gently declined Walpole's advances. [19] They remained friends, but Walpole, rebuffed in his "excessive desire to be loved", turned the full force of his enthusiasms elsewhere, and the relationship with Benson became less important to him. Less than two years later Benson's diary entry on Walpole's subsequent social career reveals his thoughts on his protégé's progress:

Walpole wrote in 1939, "That I love Cumberland with all my heart and soul is another reason for my pleasure in writing these Herries books. That I wasn't born a Cumbrian isn't my fault: that Cumbrians, in spite of my 'foreignness', have been so kind to me, is my good fortune." [75] In time though, things changed. Deborah fell in love with a clergyman, who told her that he was prepared to wait until she was ready to leave her family. David fell in love with a young woman who he had to wrestle away from her cruel guardian – quite literally. And – most extraordinarily – Francis Herries developed a passion for Mirabell, the daughter of a gypsy woman he had helped and who had asked her to watch over her daughter after her death. He loved her as he had never loved before, she didn’t feel the same way, but she was buffeted by life and he became her refuge.The main characters, Rogue Herries and his son David are well drawn with Francis (Rogue) being especially complex and troubled. The real star of the show is however the dramatic and beautifully wrought landscape of the area around Borrowdale with its ever changing weather and moods almost as dark as those of Francis. The novel is set in the early to mid eighteenth century and Walpole captures the mood of change very well. His depiction of the period feels very alive with all of its rural poverty, middle class pretension and the overall fragility of life. I particularly liked Walpole's capture of the people's adherence at this time to what are almost medieval beliefs and the mystical feel to some events. a b c d e f g "Hugh Walpole", Contemporary Authors Online, Gale Group, accessed 23 November 2013 (subscription required) As a gay man at a time when homosexual practices were illegal for men in Britain, Walpole conducted a succession of intense but discreet relationships with other men, and was for much of his life in search of what he saw as "the perfect friend". He eventually found one, a married policeman, with whom he settled in the English Lake District. Having as a young man eagerly sought the support of established authors, he was in his later years a generous sponsor of many younger writers. He was a patron of the visual arts and bequeathed a substantial legacy of paintings to the Tate Gallery and other British institutions.

Walpole, Hugh. "Why didn't I put Poison in his Coffee?" John O'London's Weekly, 11 October 1940, quoted in Hart-Davis, p. 264 Other admirers included Conrad, who wrote "We see Mr Walpole grappling with the truth of things spiritual and material with his characteristic earnestness". He plans to settle in his childhood home, near Borrowdale. His brother, who lives nearby is horrified, because the house is remote, the land is poor, and the property has been decaying for a great many years; but Francis Herries is set on his plan and will brook no argument. Obituaries", The Times, 4 June 1941, p. 7 (Clark and Priestley); "Obituaries", The Times, 6 June 1941, p. 7 (Eliot); and Hart-Davis, p. 420According to Duff Cooper, an old friend of Walpole, Hart-Davis (who was Cooper's nephew) found in Walpole's diaries an admission that he dreaded having to fight, although he knew his short-sightedness precluded it; it was as a non-combatant that he was later decorated for courage in the battlefield. [43] Borrowdale is within the Copeland UK Parliamentary constituency and the North West England European Parliamentary constituency. Trudy Harrison is the Member of parliament. Walpole's output was large and varied. Between 1909 and 1941 he wrote thirty-six novels, five volumes of short stories, two original plays and three volumes of memoirs. His range included disturbing studies of the macabre, children's stories and historical fiction, most notably his Herries Chronicle series, set in the Lake District. He worked in Hollywood writing scenarios for two Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films in the 1930s, and had a cameo in the 1935 film adaptation of David Copperfield. Until I had come across this novel in a bookshelf in a rented cottage in Ambleside, I had never heard of Hugh Walpole. However my interest was piqued by the Lake District location and the references to Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga. Lyttelton, George; Rupert Hart-Davis (1984). Lyttelton/Hart-Davis Letters, Volume 6. London: John Murray. ISBN 0719541085.