Joan Jackson, née Joan Hunter Dunn (13 October 1915 – 11 April 2008) was the muse of Sir

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture, ...

in his poem "A Subaltern's Love-song".

Biography

Early life

She was the daughter of Dr George Hunter Dunn, a GP from

Farnborough, Hampshire Farnborough is a town in northeast Hampshire, England, part of the borough of Rushmoor and the Farnborough/Aldershot Built-up Area. Farnborough was founded in Anglo-Saxons, Saxon times and is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. The name is ...

. Her grandfather, Andrew Hunter Dunn, was Bishop of Quebec from 1892 to 1914, and her uncle, Edward Dunn, was

Bishop of British Honduras The Anglican Diocese of Belize was established in 1883. The current bishop is Philip Wright. Established in 1883 as a member of the Church of the Province of the West Indies, the Diocese of Belize now comprises 31 churches spread throughout t ...

and

Archbishop of the West Indies The Archbishop of the West Indies is the Anglican primate of the Province of the West Indies, part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. History The West Indies became a self-governing province of the Church of England in 1883, when William Pierc ...

. A great-great-grandfather was William Hunter, Lord Mayor of London in 1851-52 (the grandfather of both of her father's parents). Her mother, Mabel Liddelow, died in 1916.

Education

Joan was educated from the age of six at

Queen Anne's School Queen Anne's School is an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18, situated in the suburb of Caversham just north of the River Thames and Reading town centre and occupying a campus. There are around 450 pupils. Nearly half a ...

, Caversham, near Reading, Berkshire, where she played tennis, became captain of the lacrosse team, and was head girl. She studied for a diploma at

King's College of Household and Social Science Queen Elizabeth College (QEC) was a college in London. It had its origins in the Ladies' (later Women's) Department of King's College, London, England, opened in 1885 but later accepted men as well. The first King's 'extension' lectures for l ...

, and joined the catering department at the University of London.

Becoming a muse

Betjeman saw her for the first time in December 1940. He was working for the Films Division of the Ministry of Information, based in the

Senate House Senate House may refer to: * The building housing a legislative senate ** List of legislative buildings **Senate House State Historic Site, in Kingston, New York, where the state's first Constitution was ratified in 1777. * The building (formerly) h ...

of the University of London, where she worked in the canteen. Although married for seven years, he was struck by her beauty, he fell in love, and composed a 44-line poem fantasising about them being engaged and playing tennis together in Aldershot: shows the full text. The poem was published in

Cyril Connolly Cyril Vernon Connolly CBE (10 September 1903 – 26 November 1974) was an English literary critic and writer. He was the editor of the influential literary magazine ''Horizon'' (1940–49) and wrote '' Enemies of Promise'' (1938), which combin ...

's ''

Horizon The horizon is the apparent line that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This line divides all viewing directions based on whether i ...

'' magazine in February 1941. Betjeman invited Hunter Dunn to lunch, and presented her with a copy of the magazine containing the poem, begging her forgiveness. In an interview in '' The Sunday Times'' magazine in 1965, illustrated with photographs by Lord Snowdon, she said: "It was such a marvellous break from the monotony of the war. It really was remarkable the way he imagined it all. Actually, all that about the subaltern, and the engagement is sheer fantasy, but my life was very like the poem."

Later years

She married Harold Wycliffe Jackson, a civil servant in the Ministry of Information, in January 1945, at St Mark's Church in Farnborough. Betjeman was invited, but was unable to attend. The poem was republished in Betjeman's book '' New Bats in Old Belfries'' in 1945, and was later mentioned in Flanders and Swann's "Tried by Centre Court". Joan Jackson accompanied her husband to

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

after the war, where he ran a radio station. They then lived in Singapore, before returning to the UK in 1957. Harold worked for

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

and then for the BBC in

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

. He died of a heart attack in 1963. She returned to their home, in Headley, Hampshire, to raise their three young boys. Despite straitened finances, all three attended Winchester College. She attended the memorial service for Betjeman at Westminster Abbey in 1984. Her letters from Betjeman, contained in a bureau, were stolen in a burglary in 1996. She was survived by her three sons, one of whom continued the family's sporting tradition by representing Cambridge University at both football and cricket.

References

Obituary, ''The Guardian'', 18 April 2008

Obituary, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 18 April 2008

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter Dunn, Joan 1915 births 2008 deaths People from Farnborough, Hampshire People educated at Queen Anne's School 20th-century English women 20th-century English people John Betjeman