{"id":2211,"date":"2021-02-08T09:30:35","date_gmt":"2021-02-08T09:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=2211"},"modified":"2021-02-02T15:34:21","modified_gmt":"2021-02-02T15:34:21","slug":"sylvia-townsend-warner-1893-1978-valentine-ackland-1906-1969","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2021\/02\/08\/sylvia-townsend-warner-1893-1978-valentine-ackland-1906-1969\/","title":{"rendered":"Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893-1978) & Valentine Ackland (1906-1969)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201c…the oddness of the world and the surprisingness of mankind…<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

– Sylvia Townsend Warner<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Photograph of Sylvia Townsend Warner at 113 Inverness Terrace, London.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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. \u00a0A 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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Sylvia Townsend Warner, Valentine Ackland and Spanish friend Ascunsion in Barcelona (1936)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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:<\/p>\n

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Valentine Ackland with gun and riding breeches possibly at Winterton<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Because of their political beliefs, their bohemian lifestyle and various, “subversive” visitors they were eventually investigated by the government and MI5:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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Photograph of Sylvia Townsend Warner taken by Nigel Luckhurst at Aldeburgh Festival in 1977<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There is now a Sylvia Townsend Warner society<\/a> which produces regular online journals.\u00a0Sylvia’s and Valentine’s ashes are buried together under a single stone in St Nicholas church, Chaldon Herring.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

D-TWA: Archive of Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201c…the oddness of the world and the surprisingness of mankind…\u201d – 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. \u00a0A prolific writer of short stories she contributed to the New… Read more Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893-1978) & Valentine Ackland (1906-1969)<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1892,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[82,27,131,109,272,273],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2211"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1892"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2211"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2217,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2211\/revisions\/2217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}