Gilbert Frankau (21 April 1884 – 4 November 1952) was a popular British novelist. He was known also for verse (he was a war poet of World War I), including a number of

verse novel A verse novel is a type of narrative poetry in which a novel-length narrative is told through the medium of poetry rather than prose. Either simple or complex stanzaic verse-forms may be used, but there will usually be a large cast, multiple voice ...

s, and short stories. He was born in London into a Jewish family but was baptised as an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

at the age of 13. After education at Eton College, he went into the family cigar business and became managing director on his twenty-first birthday, his father,

Arthur Frankau Arthur Frankau (February 1849 – 21 November 1904) was the son of Bavarian-born Joseph Frankau (previously Frankenau), a Jewish merchant who moved to London from Frankfurt in 1837. Arthur ran the firm successfully, but suffered a bad shock fr ...

, having died in November 1904. A few months before his death, at sixty-eight, from lung cancer, he converted to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

Career

Frankau served in the British Army from the outbreak of war in 1914. He was first commissioned in the 9th Battalion of the

East Surrey Regiment The East Surrey Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1959. The regiment was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 31st (Huntingdonshire) Regiment of Foot, the 70th ...

on 6 October 1914, then transferred into the

Royal Field Artillery The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It came into being when created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of t ...

in March 1915. He went to the Western Front as a brigade adjutant and fought in major battles of the British Expeditionary Force – Loos, Ypres and

the Somme The Battle of the Somme (French language, French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. I ...

in France and Belgium – and wrote for the '' Wipers Times''. He was later promoted a staff captain in October 1916 for special duty in Italy. He was invalided out on 22 February 1918. His later used his wartime experiences in novels. The family business did not survive the war; Frankau became a writer. His novels, while having conventional romantic content, also contained material from his own conservative politics and meditations on Jewish identity in the climate of the times. Some of them were filmed (see ''

Christopher Strong ''Christopher Strong'' (also known as ''The Great Desire'' and ''The White Moth'') is a 1933 American pre-Code romantic drama film produced by RKO and directed by Dorothy Arzner. It is a tale of illicit love among the English aristocracy and st ...

''; ''If I Marry Again'' was based on a short story). His status as a divorcé (he married three times) frustrated his political ambitions the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

of the time did not regard divorce as acceptable. His outspoken criticism of

Stanley Baldwin Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, (3 August 186714 December 1947) was a British Conservative Party politician who dominated the government of the United Kingdom between the world wars, serving as prime minister on three occasions, ...

also did not endear him to the Tory leadership. Recalling the 1920s, Gilbert Frankau wrote: "Political journalism meant more to me than my novels and short stories. Only fiction, however, could make me enough money to gratify my supreme ambition a seat in the House." In 1928, he was invited by the then proprietor of "The Great Eight" a group of weeklies including '' Tatler'', '' The Graphic'' and '' The Illustrated London News'' to launch a new

Right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...

weekly newspaper, ''Britannia''. Frankau threw himself into this venture with characteristic energy, but it was not a success. After he had been unceremoniously removed from his post, ''Time'' gleefully reported: "Twirling his glass of sherry, Gilbert 'Swankau' Frankau alibied: "'As the founder of ''Britannia'' ip I said what I thought, without fear or favour. Evidently, I am against lots of people ip for I believe in everything British! That was what ''Britannia'' stood for while I held her helm.' "Actually the Frankau weekly ''Britannia'' stood not for but against everything British or foreign which did not come within the extreme Fascist fringe of the little Semite's whims. He was 'agin' the Government of Conservative Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, 'agin' the David Lloyd George Liberals, 'agin' the

Ramsay MacDonald James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the first who belonged to the Labour Party, leading minority Labour governments for nine months in 1924 ...

Laborites..." In the aftermath of this disappointment, Gilbert Frankau according to his own account approached a Conservative politician he "knew to be rather close to Stanley Baldwin", offering to stand for Parliament at his own expense in the forthcoming

General Election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, but was advised: "'I'd better be frank with you. As a divorced man, you could never be adopted by the Conservative party. If you're so keen on a political career, I should try the Labour people. They're not so particular.'" Frankau remained a staunch Right-winger, however. In 1933, his notorious ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

'' article "As a Jew I am Not Against Hitler" was published shortly after Adolf Hitler had come to power in Germany; he later retracted his position. In fact, this particular piece was more balanced than the headline now appears: "Time alone will tell whether the little Austrian with the

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...

moustache is a mere spellbinder or a statesman", comments Frankau, ending with the poignant question, "who are we, the great expounders of democracy, and how are we, already

disarmed Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, such as n ...

to the point of national danger, to interfere?" His autobiography, completed in August 1939, includes emphatically anti-German comments, such as: "The Pomper of Potsdam looked all of a warlord, even if he did bolt to Doorn like a rabbit. The Neurasthenic of Nuremberg and his gangster stooges look – the hooligans they are." On the eve of World War II, Frankau was commissioned into the

Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve The Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) was established in 1936 to support the preparedness of the U.K. Royal Air Force in the event of another war. The Air Ministry intended it to form a supplement to the Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF ...

in August 1939. He was promoted Squadron Leader in April 1940 but invalided from the service in February 1941. He was awarded permanent disability retired pay in 1944, in the meantime having served in the 14th ( Home Guard) Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment from 1942. Few of his literary works have survived in reputation.

Family

His mother, Julia Frankau (1859–1916), sister of Mrs Aria and

Owen Hall Owen Hall (10 April 1853 – 9 April 1907) was the principal pen name of the Irish-born theatre writer, racing correspondent, theatre critic and solicitor, James "Jimmy" Davis, when writing for the stage. After his successive careers in law ...

, wrote under the name Frank Danby (and is said to have collaborated with George Moore). His mother was an associate of

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

. His youngest daughter from his first marriage,

Pamela Frankau Pamela Sydney Frankau (3 January 1908 – 8 June 1967) was a popular English novelist from a prominent artistic and literary family. She was abandoned by her novelist father Gilbert Frankau at an early age, and she became a prolific writer. S ...

, was also a successful writer. His eldest daughter Ursula D'Arch Smith (Nee Frankau) wrote under the name Mary Nicholson. Her son Timothy d'Arch Smith, writer and bibliographer, is a grandson. His brother was comedian Ronald Frankau. His sister was the Cambridge don Joan Bennett (1896–1986), one of the "constellation of critics" called by the defence in the Lady Chatterley Trial.Michael Squires (ed.), ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' and "À Propos of ''Lady Chatterley's Lover''", Cambridge University Press 1993, Introduction pp''xxxviii-xxxix'' His niece was the actress

Rosemary Frankau Rosemary A. Frankau (14 April 1933 – 16 April 2017) was a British actress, born in Marylebone, London. She played Beattie Harris in nine series of the sitcom ''Terry and June'' between 1979 and 1987. Early life and career Frankau was e ...

Works

*''Eton Echoes'' (1901) poems *''The XYZ of Bridge'' (1906) *''Jack – One of Us: A Novel in Verse'' (1912) also as ''One of Us'' *''Tid'apa'' (What Does It Matter?) (1914) *''A Song of the Guns in Flanders'' (1916) poems *''How Rifleman Brown Came To Valhalla'' (1916) *''The Woman of the Horizon: A Romance of Nineteen-Thirteen'' (1917) *''One of Them: A Novelette in Verse'' (1918) *''The Judgement of Valhalla'' (1918) *''The Other Side, and Other Poems'' (1918) *''The City of Fear and Other Poems'' (1918) *''Peter Jackson, Cigar Merchant: A Romance of Married Life'' (1919) *''The Seeds of Enchantment'' (1921) *''

The Love Story of Aliette Brunton ''The Love Story of Aliette Brunton'' is a 1924 British silent romance film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Isobel Elsom, Henry Victor and James Carew. The film was based on the 1922 novel of the same title by Gilbert Frankau. The film ...

'' (1922) *''Men, Maids and Mustard Pot'' (1923) short stories *''Peter Jameson: A Modern Romance'' (1923) *''Poetical Works'' (1923) *'' Gerald Cranston's Lady'' (1924) *''Life – and Erica: A Romance'' (1924) *''The Dominant Type of Man'' (1925) non-fiction *''My Unsentimental Journey'' (1926) *''Masterson, a Story of an English Gentleman'' (1926) *''Twelve Tales'' (1927) *''So Much Good: A Novel in a New Manner'' (1928) *''Martin Make-Believe'' (1930) *''Dance, Little Gentleman!'' (1930) *''Concerning Peter Jackson and Others'' (c.1930) *''

'' (1932), adapted into a 1933 film directed by Dorothy Arzner, ''

,'' starring

Katharine Hepburn Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress in film, stage, and television. Her career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned over 60 years. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited perso ...

in her second screen role. *''Wine, Women And Waiters'' (1932) *''The Lonely Man: A Romance of Love and the Secret Service'' (1932) *''Secret Services: A Collection of Tales'' (1934) *''Everywoman'' (1934) *''A Century of Love Stories'' (c.1935) editor *'' Farewell Romance'' (1936) *''Three Stories of Romance'' (1936) with

Warwick Deeping George Warwick Deeping (28 May 1877 – 20 April 1950) was an English novelist and short story writer, whose best-known novel was '' Sorrell and Son'' (1925). Life Born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, into a family of physicians, Warwick Deeping ...

and

Ethel Mannin Ethel Edith Mannin (6 October 1900 – 5 December 1984) was a popular British novelist and travel writer, political activist and socialist. She was born in London. Life and career Mannin's father, Robert Mannin (d. 1948) was a member of the So ...

*''Experiments in Crime and Other Stories'' (1937) *''More of Us: Being the Present-Day Adventures of "One of Us": A Novel in Verse'' (1937) *''The Dangerous Years: A Trilogy'' (1937) *''Royal Regiment: A Drama of Contemporary Behaviours'' (1938) *''Gilbert Frankau's Self Portrait: A Novel of His Own Life'' (1940) *'' Winter of Discontent'' (1942) as ''Air Ministry Room 28'' (1942) in the United States *''World Without End'' (1942) *''Escape to Yesterday'' (1942) *''Selected Verses'' (1943) *''Three Englishman: A Romance of Married Lives'' (1935), (Re-issued with slight emendations December 1944) *''Michael's Wife'' (1948) *''Son of the Morning'' (1949) *''Oliver Trenton K.C.'' (1951) *''Unborn Tomorrow: A Last Story'' (1953) *''The Peter Jackson Omnibus''

References

*Hugh Cecil, ''The Flower of Battle: British Fiction Writers of the First World War'' (Secker & Warburg, 1995) - chapter 8

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frankau, Gilbert 1884 births 1952 deaths English Jewish writers People educated at Eton College British Army personnel of World War I East Surrey Regiment officers Royal Field Artillery officers British World War I poets 20th-century English male writers English male poets English male novelists 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English poets Converts to Anglicanism from Judaism English people of Jewish descent Writers from London Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Royal Air Force squadron leaders British Army personnel of World War II Royal Sussex Regiment soldiers British Home Guard soldiers Military personnel from London Frankau family