Gerald Gould (1885 – 2 November 1936) was an English writer, known as a journalist and reviewer, essayist and poet.

Life

He was born in

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

, and brought up in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

, and studied at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

and Magdalen College, Oxford. He had a position at University College from 1906, and was a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, from 1909 to 1916. Gould had assisted the production of the edition of ''The Suffragette'' when the offices of the

WSPU The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership an ...

had been raided to review at the printers, whilst Grace Roe was going to Paris to speak to the Pankhursts. On 6 February 1914 he and his wife

Barbara Ayrton-Gould Barbara Bodichon Ayrton-Gould (née Ayrton; 3 April 1886 – 14 October 1950) was a British Labour politician and suffragist who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hendon North from 1945 to 1950. Background and family life Ayrton-Goul ...

became two of the founders of the

United Suffragists The United Suffragists was a women's suffrage movement in the United Kingdom. History The group was founded on 6 February 1914, by former members and supporters of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). In contrast to the WSPU, it admit ...

, which had male and female members, including

Agnes Harben Agnes Helen Harben (née Bostock; 15 September 1879 – 29 October 1961) was a British suffragist leader who also supported the militant suffragette hunger strikers, and was a founder of the United Suffragists. Family and life Harben was bor ...

and her husband, and welcomed former militant and non-militants. The United Suffragists ended their campaign when the Representation of the People Act 1918 gave women limited suffrage in the United Kingdom. From 1914 he was an official in C. F. G. Masterman's Wellington House

War Propaganda Bureau Wellington House is the more common name for Britain's War Propaganda Bureau, which operated during the First World War from Wellington House, a building on Buckingham Gate, London, which was the headquarters of the National Insurance Commission b ...

, which may explain his failure to produce much poetry concerned with the War. He also worked as a journalist on the '' Daily Herald'' as one of "Lansbury's Lambs" — the group of idealistic young men helping with it after

George Lansbury George Lansbury (22 February 1859 – 7 May 1940) was a British politician and social reformer who led the Labour Party from 1932 to 1935. Apart from a brief period of ministerial office during the Labour government of 1929–31, he spe ...

purchased it in 1913, and which included

G. D. H. Cole George Douglas Howard Cole (25 September 1889 – 14 January 1959) was an English political theorist, economist, and historian. As a believer in common ownership of the means of production, he theorised guild socialism (production organised ...

, W. N. Ewer,

Harold Laski Harold Joseph Laski (30 June 1893 – 24 March 1950) was an English political theorist and economist. He was active in politics and served as the chairman of the British Labour Party from 1945 to 1946 and was a professor at the London School of ...

, William Mellor and

Francis Meynell Sir Francis Meredith Wilfrid Meynell (12 May 1891 – 10 July 1975) was a British poet and printer at The Nonesuch Press. Early career He was the son of the journalist and publisher Wilfrid Meynell and the poet Alice Meynell, a suffragist a ...

. It was probably Gould who brought Siegfried Sassoon to the paper as literary editor after its relaunch in 1919. Gould regularly contributed poetry to the ''Herald'' and gave several sonnets to

Millicent Fawcett Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett (née Garrett; 11 June 1847 – 5 August 1929) was an English politician, writer and feminist. She campaigned for Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, women's suffrage by Law reform, legal change and in 1897– ...

's ''Common Cause'' when it became the ''Woman's Leader'' in 1920. Gould also reviewed novels for the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British Political magazine, political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney Webb, Sidney and Beatrice ...

'', moving to ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' as fiction editor in 1920. He was also (not coincidentally) made chief reader for

Victor Gollancz Ltd Victor Gollancz Ltd () was a major British book publishing house of the twentieth century and continues to publish science fiction and fantasy titles as an imprint of Orion Publishing Group. Gollancz was founded in 1927 by Victor Gollancz, an ...

, where he was involved in the early publication history of George Orwell. He died in 1936 in London.

Family

Gould married Barbara Bodichon Ayrton (1888–1950),

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

and after his death on the Labour National Executive and a Labour Party MP 1945–1950; she was daughter of the scientists

William Edward Ayrton William Edward Ayrton, FRS (14 September 18478 November 1908) was an English physicist and electrical engineer. Life Early life and education Ayrton was born in London, the son of Edward Nugent Ayrton, a barrister, and educated at Universit ...

and

Hertha Marks Ayrton Phoebe Sarah Hertha Ayrton (28 April 1854 – 26 August 1923) was a British engineer, mathematician, physicist and inventor, and suffragette. Known in adult life as Hertha Ayrton, born Phoebe Sarah Marks, she was awarded the Hughes Medal by the ...

. The artist

Michael Ayrton Michael Ayrton (20 February 1921 – 16 November 1975)T. G. Rosenthal, "Ayrton , Michael (1921–1975)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2008accessed 24 Jan 2015/ref> was a British arti ...

(1921–1975) was their son.

Works

*''Lyrics'' (1906) *''On the Nature of Lyric'' (1909) *''My Lady's Book'' (1913) *''Poems'' (1914) *''Monogamy'' (1918) poems *''The Happy Tree and Other Poems'' (1919) *''The Journey: Odes and Sonnets'' (1920) *''Lady Adela'' (1920) *''The Coming Revolution in Great Britain'' (1920) *''The English Novel of Today'' (1924) *''The Return to the Cabbage and Other Essays and Sketches'' (1926) *''Beauty the Pilgrim'' (1927) poems *''Collected Poems'' (1929) *''Democritus or the Future of Laughter'' (1929) *''The Musical Glasses'' (1929) essays *''All About Women: Essays and Parodies'' (1931) *''Isabel'' (1932) novel *''Refuge From Nightmare'' (1933) His poem ''Wander-thirst'' is often quoted.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gould, Gerald 1885 births 1936 deaths British suffragists English male journalists Alumni of University College London Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Academics of the University of London Fellows of Merton College, Oxford People from Scarborough, North Yorkshire English male poets 20th-century English poets 20th-century English male writers Ayrton family