James Wedgwood Drawbell (1899–6 February 1979) was a
British writer
British literature is literature from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands. This article covers British literature in the English language. Anglo-Saxon (Old English) literature is inc ...
, playwright, and journalist, known in equal measure for his literary works and professional association (of variable closeness) with prominent figures of the day, including
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
,
Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
,
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...
,
D. H. Lawrence
David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...
,
Margot Asquith
Emma Margaret Asquith, Countess of Oxford and Asquith (' Tennant; 2 February 1864 – 28 July 1945), known as Margot Asquith, was a British socialite, author. She was married to H. H. Asquith, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from 1894 ...
, and many others. In 1925, he was hired by
William Berry as editor-in-chief of the ''
Sunday Chronicle
The ''Sunday Chronicle'' was a newspaper in the United Kingdom, published from 1885 to 1955.
The newspaper was founded in Manchester by Edward Hulton in August 1885. He was known for his sporting coverage, already publishing the ''Sporting Chron ...
'' to become the second youngest (after
John Delane) British editor-in-chief of a newspaper ever, and he remained in that position until 1946, whereupon he undertook a variety of other occupations. Among other things, Drawbell wrote three autobiographies, which, in addition to being valuable and often minute accounts of the changing age, also contain unique and insightful recollections of his encounters with famous people from all walks of life—ranging from great men of letters such as
Fitzgerald
The FitzGerald/FitzMaurice Dynasty is a noble and aristocratic dynasty of Cambro-Norman, Anglo-Norman and later Hiberno-Norman origin. They have been peers of Ireland since at least the 13th century, and are described in the Annals of the ...
to politicians such as
Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
.
Life
Drawbell, the youngest of 6 siblings to survive to maturity, was born in
Falkirk
Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow.
Falkirk had a ...
to a
pupil teacher
Pupil teacher was a training program in wide use before the twentieth century, as an apprentice system for teachers. With the emergence in the beginning of the nineteenth century of education for the masses, demand for teachers increased. By 1840, ...
from
Linlithgow
Linlithgow (; gd, Gleann Iucha, sco, Lithgae) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It was historically West Lothian's county town, reflected in the county's historical name of Linlithgowshire. An ancient town, it lies in the Central Belt on a ...
and the daughter of a locally prominent entrepreneurial and authoritative figure, one Francis Wedgwood Broome, whose late-life penchant for his newspaper ''
Bo'ness
Borrowstounness (commonly known as Bo'ness ( )) is a town and former burgh and seaport on the south bank of the Firth of Forth in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Historically part of the county of West Lothian, it is a place within the Falki ...
Journal'' must have influenced Drawbell's choice of career. Drawbell's early years were overshadowed by his father's
drinking problem
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...
, which always kept the family on the brink of poverty; the marital discord finally resulted in Drawbell's father being forced to leave for the Colonies for good. The rest of the family shortly thereafter emigrated to
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, where Drawbell attended school.
At the age of 17, he enlisted in one of the
Scottish infantry regiments, where he served until the
Great War
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 ...
ended. After a while, Drawbell and a friend sailed to Canada in pursuit of a position in journalism, but, unsatisfied with the limited prospects Montreal had to offer, they moved to New York. There he held a variety of jobs with different editions (such as ''
The Journal'' and ''
The World
In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
'') and made a number of acquaintances; in particular, it was there that he first crossed paths with Coward and Fitzgerald.
Ultimately, at the age of 23, he elected to return to London, where he worked first for ''
John Bull
John Bull is a national personification of the United Kingdom in general and England in particular, especially in political cartoons and similar graphic works. He is usually depicted as a stout, middle-aged, country-dwelling, jolly and matter- ...
'' and then as editor-in-chief of the ''Sunday Chronicle'', a newspaper in which he was to achieve the pinnacle of his journalistic career. Drawbell sought to revitalise the edition by making it relevant, up-to-date, and sometimes verging on provocative, and so engaged the most diverse contributors and attracted exclusive material. For example, his was the only newspaper to offer
Jacob Epstein
Sir Jacob Epstein (10 November 1880 – 21 August 1959) was an American-British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British subject in 1911.
He often produc ...
space for an apology of ''
Rima
Rima, also known as Rima the Jungle Girl, is the fictional heroine of W. H. Hudson's 1904 novel '' Green Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical Forest''. In it, Rima, a primitive girl of the shrinking rain forest of South America, meets Abel, a pol ...
'', then a newly erected statue in
Kensington Gardens
Kensington Gardens, once the private gardens of Kensington Palace, are among the Royal Parks of London. The gardens are shared by the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and sit immediately to the west of Hyde P ...
that the contemporary public had by and large considered scandalous; he bought exclusive rights to
Isadora Duncan's memoirs for £300 (up to £50,000 in today's money), thereby indirectly sponsoring Duncan's perilous
Amilcar
The Amilcar was a French automobile manufactured from 1921 to 1940.
History
Foundation and location
Amilcar was founded in July 1921 by Joseph Lamy and Emile Akar. The name "Amilcar" was an imperfect anagram of the partners' names. The b ...
ride; he encouraged
Monica Dickens
Monica Enid Dickens, MBE (10 May 1915 – 25 December 1992) was an English writer, the great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens.
Biography
Known as "Monty" to her family and friends, she was born into an upper-middle-class London family to Henry ...
in her literary pursuits; and he was one of the first recipients of ''
Lady Chatterley's Lover
''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' is the last novel by English author D. H. Lawrence, which was first published privately in 1928, in Italy, and in 1929, in France. An unexpurgated edition was not published openly in the United Kingdom until 1960, w ...
'' (he dismissed it as a falsification).
Drawbell's consistent anti-
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
stance is also notable: as he led the newspaper through the period leading up to and including
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, he worked methodically to dispel—employing targeted pieces even from such people as
Leon Trotsky
Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...
—the notion that Hitler harboured no ill will towards Britain and consistently underlined the poor preparedness of Britain for the war, which he saw as inevitable already in 1930, when his correspondent James Mellor wrote from Berlin: "Hitler is fanatical and ruthless... he is a real menace to the British Empire and to world peace".
[Drawbell, J. W. ''The Sun within Us'' (Collins, 1963)]
Bibliography
;Novels and autobiographies
* ''Dorothy Thompson's English Journey: The Record of an Anglo-American Partnership'' (1942)
* ''Night and Day'' (1945)
* ''Drifts My Boat'' (1947)
* ''The long year.'' Allan Wingate, London (1958). (Political Diary from 1 September 1939 to 5 October 1940)
* ''The Sun within Us'' (1963)
* ''James Drawbell: An Autobiography'' (1964)
* ''Time on My Hands'' (1968)
;Plays
*
* ''The Milky Way'' (adapted for screen in 1932)
* ''Who Goes Next?'' (adapted for screen in 1938)
* ''A Lady Surrenders'' (adapted for screen in 1944)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drawbell, James Wedgwood
1899 births
1979 deaths
People from Falkirk
British male journalists
British dramatists and playwrights
British Army personnel of World War I