“…the oddness of the world and the surprisingness of mankind…”
– Sylvia Townsend Warner
Although not born in Dorset, the author and poet Sylvia Townsend Warner, fell in love with the county when she visited Chaldon Herring and the surrounding area in the 1920s. A prolific writer of short stories she contributed to the New Yorker magazine for over 40 years. Sylvia was also an accomplished musician and musicologist and planned to study under the composer Arnold Schoenberg in Vienna, but the onset of the First World War prevented this.
On a visit to Chaldon Herring in 1922 she met the writer Theodore Powys. At the time this small village was a veritable hub of writers and artists including the Powys family. It was here that she also met the poet Valentine Ackland. They later became life-long partners moving into, “Miss Green’s cottage” in 1930.
Sylvia and Valentine eventually settled in a house by the river in Frome Vauchurch near Maiden Newton in 1937 and remained there until their deaths. Becoming more and more concerned about the growing threat of fascism in Europe they joined the Communist Party in 1935. They volunteered with the British Red Cross and went to Spain twice to help during the Spanish Civil War. Sylvia also volunteered with the Dorchester branch of the Women’s Voluntary Service.
It is said that Valentine Ackland’s father wanted her to be a boy when she was a child and “encouraged her in male pursuits”, such as shooting, fighting and driving. Photographs in the collection reflect a tall, striking woman always seen dressed in men’s clothes:
Because of their political beliefs, their bohemian lifestyle and various, “subversive” visitors they were eventually investigated by the government and MI5:
Recently there has been a resurgence in Sylvia Townsend Warner’s works and several of her books are being republished by Penguin Modern Classics including the prize winning, Lolly Willowes (1926). This renewed interest in her works and life has generated an increase in copy requests of images from the Sylvia Townsend Warner archive at DHC. Her books are also available to view in the Local Author’s section of our Local Studies Library.
There is now a Sylvia Townsend Warner society which produces regular online journals. Sylvia’s and Valentine’s ashes are buried together under a single stone in St Nicholas church, Chaldon Herring.
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D-TWA: Archive of Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland
This collection includes stories, poems, correspondence between, amongst others, the Powys family, Alyse Gregory, Joy Finzi, photographs, diaries, notebooks and memos, newspaper cuttings and reviews and a copy of a M15 file.
I have in my library a copy of the Collected Poems of Harold Monro published in 1933, which is Ex Libris Sylvia Townsend Warner.
It is inscribed inside the front cover “Sylvia from Valentine with Love. Inverness Terrace -1933”.
More interestingly on the back page cover there is a hand written unpublished poem in the same handwriting. I have had it confirmed by a Valentine Ackland expert that this is her handwriting. Is this something you might like to have in your archive?
Hi Peter, thank-you for getting in touch. A colleague will be in touch with you directly in due course to discuss your kind offer, and thank-you for thinking of us!
I have a copy of Confessions of St Augustine, Ex Libris Valentine Ackland. I have had this for about 45 years.