Desmond Macready Chute (1895–1962) was an English poet and artist, who became a
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
priest in 1927.
Early life
He was born in
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, the son of James Macready Chute (1856–1912) and his wife Abigail Philomena Henessy (1855–1931). His father ran the
Prince's Theatre, Bristol
The Prince's Theatre was a theatre on Park Row in Bristol in England which was built in 1867 and was destroyed by bombing in 1940 in the Bristol Blitz during World War II. Owned by members of the Chute family for most of its existence, at one tim ...
, the family business. His mother was the second daughter of Joseph Henessy of Richmond Terrace,
Clifton, Bristol
Clifton is both a suburb of Bristol, England, and the name of one of the city's thirty-five council wards. The Clifton ward also includes the areas of Cliftonwood and Hotwells. The eastern part of the suburb lies within the ward of Clifton Do ...
, a cattle-dealer: the Henessy family were Irish Catholics,
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
in politics. Abigail Chute was on good terms with Grace Mary Welch of
Cheltenham
Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...
, mother of
Werburg Welch who later became a close friend of Desmond.
Chute was educated from 1906 at
Downside School
Downside School is a co-educational Catholic independent boarding and day school in the English public school tradition for pupils aged 11 to 18. It is located between Bath, Frome, Wells and Bruton, and is attached to Downside Abbey.
Originall ...
, where he was taught by the classicist Nevile Hunter Watts. He went on in 1912 to the
Slade School of Art
The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...
in London.
In 1913 he exhibited some paintings, and in 1914 he had a show of portraits at the
New English Art Club
The New English Art Club (NEAC) was founded in London in 1885 as an alternative venue to the Royal Academy. It continues to hold an annual exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Mall Galleries in London, exhibiting works by both members and a ...
.
His mother had taken over the Bristol theatre on his father's death in 1912, and on the outbreak of war in 1914 Chute returned to Bristol to support her.
Brocard Sewell
Michael Seymour Gerveys Sewell (30 July 1912 – 2 April 2000), usually now known by his religious name Brocard Sewell, was a British Carmelite friar and literary figure.
Biography
He was born in Bangkok, and brought up in Cornwall, England. Ed ...
concludes that he was exempt from military service during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
Chute was a close friend of
Stanley Spencer
Sir Stanley Spencer, CBE RA (30 June 1891 – 14 December 1959) was an English painter. Shortly after leaving the Slade School of Art, Spencer became well known for his paintings depicting Biblical scenes occurring as if in Cookham, the small ...
, from 1915, and the period when Spencer was a medical orderly at the
Beaufort War Hospital in the Bristol area. During the war years and into the 1920s he was encouraging Spencer to become a Catholic convert. In a letter of 1928 to
Richard Carline, Spencer alluded to a passage in ''
Confessions'', a work given to him in 1916 by Chute, as a religious influence.
Ditchling and the Third Order of Saint Dominic
In 1918 Chute encountered
Eric Gill
Arthur Eric Rowton Gill, (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as ″the greatest artist-cra ...
at work in
Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral is the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. It is the largest Catholic church in the UK and the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster.
The site on which the cathedral stands in the City of ...
.
The contact resulted in Chute's participation in the craft community at
Ditchling
Ditchling is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is contained within the boundaries of the South Downs National Park; the order confirming the establishment of the park was signed in Ditchling.
...
,
Sussex
Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
. It had grown up over the previous decade around Gill and others. Chute became a close colleague, assistant and "beloved brother" of Gill.
Gill completed his work on the
Stations of the Cross
The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Way of Sorrows or the Via Crucis, refers to a series of images depicting Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and accompanying prayers. The station ...
in the cathedral, and it was consecrated on
Good Friday
Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday (also Hol ...
1918. He had been exempted from conscription while he was engaged on the task. He was called up in September of that year, to a
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
camp at
Blandford
Blandford Forum ( ), commonly Blandford, is a market town in Dorset, England, sited by the River Stour about northwest of Poole. It was the administrative headquarters of North Dorset District until April 2019, when this was abolished and i ...
. He left Chute in charge at Ditchling, and he oversaw Gill's household and workshop. He worked under Gill of a set of Stations of the Cross, for
John O'Connor at St Cuthbert's Church in
Bradford
Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...
.
He published poetry in ''The Game'', the community's magazine. His mother was a principal patron of the Guild in its early days.
In 1920 Gill and his wife Mary, Chute,
Hilary Pepler
Harry Douglas Clark Pepler (1878–1951), known as Hilary Pepler, was an English printer, writer and poet. He was an associate of both Eric Gill and G. K. Chesterton, working on publications in which they had an interest. He was also a founder w ...
and Herbert Shove became Tertiaries, joining the lay
Third Order of Saint Dominic
The Third Order of Saint Dominic ( la, Tertius Ordo Praedicatorum; abbreviated TOP), also referred to as the Lay Fraternities of Saint Dominic or Lay Dominicans since 1972, is a Roman Catholic third order affiliated with the Dominican Order.
Lay ...
. Chute was already a member of the
Third Order of Saint Francis
The Third Order of Saint Francis is a third order in the Franciscan tradition of Christianity, founded by the medieval Catholic Church in Italy, Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi.
The preaching of Francis and his disciples caused many ma ...
.
Chute, Gill and Pepler went on to found
The Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic
The Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic was a Roman Catholic community of artists and craftspeople founded in 1920 in Ditchling, East Sussex, England. It was part of the Arts and Crafts movement and its legacy led to the creation of Ditchling ...
. Influential in this further step was
Vincent McNabb
Vincent McNabb, Ordo Praedicatorum, O.P. (8 July 1868 – 17 June 1943) was an Irish Catholics, Irish Catholic scholar and Dominican Order, Dominican priest based in London, active in evangelisation and Christian apologetics, apologetics.
...
OP. Gill knew him already, having met McNabb at the Edinburgh house of
André Raffalovich.
McNabb provided an economic theory and pointed to the works of
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wi ...
. Pepler's St. Dominic's Press published works by McNabb and other Catholic writers, illustrated by Chute,
Philip Hagreen and other Ditchling artists. Some years later the
ruralist views of McNabb found expression in
Distributism
Distributism is an economic theory asserting that the world's productive assets should be widely owned rather than concentrated.
Developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, distributism was based upon Catholic social teaching prin ...
.
David Jones arrived in Ditchling in 1921, as an assistant to Gill. Chute befriended him, and taught him
wood carving
Wood carving is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation ...
. That year, Chute started to study for the Catholic priesthood, in
Fribourg
, neighboring_municipalities= Düdingen, Givisiez, Granges-Paccot, Marly, Pierrafortscha, Sankt Ursen, Tafers, Villars-sur-Glâne
, twintowns = Rueil-Malmaison (France)
, website = www.ville-fribourg.ch
, Location of , Location of ()
() o ...
at the Albertinum, the international Dominican priory there. He put the Bristolian
Douglas Cleverdon
Thomas Douglas James Cleverdon (17 January 1903 – 1 October 1987) was an English radio producer and bookseller. In both fields he was associated with numerous leading cultural figures.
Personal life
He was educated at Bristol Grammar School and ...
in touch with Gill in the mid-1920s.
Priest in Italy
Chute's studies to become a priest were interrupted by bouts of
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
. He was ordained priest on 25 September 1927, at Downside School. He then moved for his health to
Rapallo
Rapallo ( , , ) is a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, located in the Liguria region of northern Italy.
As of 2017 it had 29,778 inhabitants. It lies on the Ligurian Sea coast, on the Tigullio Gulf, between Portofino and Chiavar ...
, Italy.
There Chute knew
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...
,
Olga Rudge
Olga Rudge (April 13, 1895 – March 15, 1996) was an American-born concert violinist, now mainly remembered as the long-time mistress of the poet Ezra Pound, by whom she had a daughter, Mary.
A gifted concert violinist of international repu ...
, and the ''Tigullian Circle'' musical society they promoted.
He also knew
Max Beerbohm
Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm (24 August 1872 – 20 May 1956) was an English essayist, parodist and caricaturist under the signature Max. He first became known in the 1890s as a dandy and a humorist. He was the drama critic for the '' Saturday ...
.
He had English visitors, including at Christmas 1936 the Gills, and
Christopher Dawson
Christopher Henry Dawson (12 October 188925 May 1970) was a British independent scholar, who wrote many books on cultural history and Christendom. Dawson has been called "the greatest English-speaking Catholic historian of the twentieth century ...
and his wife. He did work for the
Apostleship of the Sea
The Apostleship of the Sea is an agency of the Catholic Church. It is also sometimes known as ''Stella Maris'' (Star of the Sea), and its patron is the Virgin Mary as Our Lady, Star of the Sea. Founded in Glasgow, Scotland in the early 20th centur ...
at
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
, which had papal recognition.
Chute tutored
Mary de Rachewiltz, Pound's daughter with Olga Rudge. This was during the period 1941 to 1943, and Mary gave an account of him in her memoirs:
Thin and very tall, a long, pale face, with lots of hair and a beard (dyed red), melodramatically stretched out on couches with layers of capes and blankets and three kinds of curtains at the windows that had to be drawn at the least change of light outside, a series of eyeglasses and eyeshades and reading lamps. His health was poor, his eyesight very delicate.
Another accoount, by the physician
Pietro Berri:
...the figure of a priest, tall, but of a wan complexion, with a beard at one time golden, but gradually streaked with grey, always sporting dark glasses for the greater protection of his sight, or an eyeshade ...
Chute supported Mary and her mother when Pound was arrested and deported by the US army. In the last year of World War II, Chute himself was deported from Rapallo and held prisoner. He was interned at
Bobbio
Bobbio ( Bobbiese: ; lij, Bêubbi; la, Bobium) is a small town and commune in the province of Piacenza in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. It is located in the Trebbia River valley southwest of the town Piacenza. There is also an abbey and a dioc ...
, where he worked in a hospital.
Chute's radio play ''Poets in Paradise'' was broadcast by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
in 1955.
Chute died and was buried in Rapallo. According to his wishes, his grave carried the inscription ''Pulvis attamen sacerdos'' (dust yet a priest).
A memorial designed by Eric Gill stands in Canford Cemetery, Westbury-on-Trym, near Bristol. Some of his papers are held in the Eric Gill Collection at
.