Lionel George Logue, (26 February 1880 – 12 April 1953) was an Australian
speech and language therapist
Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if they are th ...
and amateur
stage actor who helped
King George VI manage his
stammer
Stuttering, also known as stammering, is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases as well as involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the ...
.
Early life and family
Lionel George Logue was born in
College Town,
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
,
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
, the oldest of four children. His grandfather Edward Logue, originally from
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
, in 1856 founded
Logue's Brewery, a predecessor of the
South Australian Brewing Company
The South Australian Brewing Company, Limited is a brewery located in Thebarton, an inner-west suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is a subsidiary of Lion, which in turn is owned by Kirin, a Japan-based beverage company. It manufactures ...
. His parents were George Edward Logue, an accountant at his grandfather's brewery who later managed the Burnside Hotel and the Elephant and Castle Hotel, and Lavinia Rankin.
[Logue and Conradi, p. 16.] Although not a Catholic himself, he was reportedly related to
Michael Cardinal Logue, a native of
County Donegal
County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconn ...
, who was the Roman Catholic
Primate of All Ireland and
Archbishop of Armagh in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
He attended
Prince Alfred College
, motto_translation = Do Brave Deeds and Endure
, established = 1869
, type = Independent, single-sex, day & boarding
, headmaster = David Roberts
, chaplain = Reverend ...
between 1889 and 1896. Unable to decide what to study, Logue came across
Longfellow's ''
The Song of Hiawatha
''The Song of Hiawatha'' is an 1855 epic poem in trochaic tetrameter by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow which features Native American characters. The epic relates the fictional adventures of an Ojibwe warrior named Hiawatha and the tragedy of his l ...
'':
The poem's rhythm inspired Logue to put his interest in voices to good use.
After leaving school at sixteen, he received
elocution training from Edward Reeves. Reeves had moved to Adelaide in 1878 and taught elocution to his pupils by day and gave popular recitals to audiences in Victoria Hall by night. Logue worked for Reeves as a secretary and assistant teacher from 1902, while studying music at the
University of Adelaide
The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...
's
Elder Conservatorium
The Elder Conservatorium of Music, also known as "The Con", is Australia's senior academy of music and is located in the centre of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. It is named in honour of its benefactor, Sir Thomas Elder. Dating in ...
. While working for Reeves, Logue began to give recitals of his own for which he was praised for his "clear, powerful voice."
After his father died on 17 November 1902, Logue set up his own practice as a teacher of elocution. By 1904, he had gained a good reputation and was receiving praise from the local newspapers.
[Logue and Conradi, p. 19.] However, he decided to take a contract with an engineering firm some westward in
Kalgoorlie,
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
, installing an electricity supply at a gold mine.
Professional career
His professional career began in
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...
, where, in addition to teaching elocution, acting, and public speaking, he put on plays and recitations, and also founded a club for public speakers. He was also involved with
YMCA
YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...
Perth and schools such as
Methodist Ladies' College,
Loreto Convent,
Scotch College,
Perth Technical School, and
Claremont Teachers College.
In 1911, Logue and his wife set out on a tour of the world to study methods of public speaking. Later he developed treatments for Australian
First World 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 ...
war veterans who had
shell shock
Shell shock is a term coined in World War I by the British psychologist Charles Samuel Myers to describe the type of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) many soldiers were afflicted with during the war (before PTSD was termed). It is a react ...
-induced
impaired speech. In addition to physical exercises, which helped with patients' breathing, Logue's distinctive therapy emphasised humour, patience, and "superhuman sympathy".
In 1924, Logue took his wife and three sons to England, ostensibly for a holiday. Once there, he
took jobs teaching elocution at schools around London, and in 1926 he opened a speech-defect practice at 146
Harley Street. Logue used fees paid by wealthy clients to subsidise patients unable to pay. It was here that the Duke of Yorkthe future
King George VIsought Logue's help. Logue became a founding fellow of the
Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists
The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (abbreviated as RCSLT) is the professional body for speech and language therapists in the UK and a registered charity. It was established on 6 January 1945 to promote the study of speech therapy ...
in 1944.
Treatment of George VI
As a speech therapist, Logue was self-taught and was initially dismissed by the medical establishment as a
quack, but he worked with the Duke from the late 1920s into the mid-1940s.
[The Daily Telegraph](_blank)
The King's Speech: how Lionel Logue cured King George VI's stammer
Before ascending the throne as George VI, the Duke of York dreaded public speaking because of a severe
stammer
Stuttering, also known as stammering, is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases as well as involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the ...
; his closing speech at the
British Empire Exhibition
The British Empire Exhibition was a colonial exhibition held at Wembley Park, London England from 23 April to 1 November 1924 and from 9 May to 31 October 1925.
Background
In 1920 the British Government decided to site the British Empire Exhibi ...
at
Wembley
Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...
on 31 October 1925 proved an ordeal for speaker and listeners alike. The Duke resolved to find some way to manage his stammer, and engaged Logue in 1926
after being introduced to him by
Lord Stamfordham.
Diagnosing poor co-ordination between the Duke's
larynx and
thoracic diaphragm
The thoracic diaphragm, or simply the diaphragm ( grc, διάφραγμα, diáphragma, partition), is a sheet of internal skeletal muscle in humans and other mammals that extends across the bottom of the thoracic cavity. The diaphragm is the m ...
, Logue prescribed a daily hour of vocal exercises. Logue's treatment gave the Duke the confidence to relax and avoid tension-induced muscle spasms. As a result, he only occasionally stammered. By 1927, he was speaking confidently and managed his address at the opening of the
Old Parliament House in
Canberra without stammering.
Logue was often called over the years when the king was expected to make a speech, and was regularly invited to the Royal Family's Christmas dinner party in order to assist with the
Christmas message. Their relationship was featured in
a film,
a play and
a book.
Honours
In 1944, King George VI appointed Logue a
Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, o ...
(CVO), elevating him from Member of the Order (MVO), which had been conferred upon Logue at the time of George VI's Coronation.
King George VI died on 6 February 1952. On 26 February 1952, Logue wrote to the late king's wife,
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother:
The Queen Mother replied: "I think that I know perhaps better than anyone just how much you helped the King, not only with his speech, but through that his whole life and outlook on life. I shall always be deeply grateful to you for all you did for him."
Personal life
Logue married Myrtle Gruenert, a 21-year-old clerk, at
St George's Anglican Cathedral,
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...
, on 20 March 1907. They had three sons, Valentine, Laurie, and Anthony. Valentine trained at
King's College London and
St George's Hospital and went on to become one of the most distinguished neurosurgeons of his generation.
Lionel Logue was a
Freemason, initiated, passed, and raised in 1908, and became
Worshipful Master
In Craft Freemasonry, sometimes known as Blue Lodge Freemasonry, every Masonic lodge elects or appoints Masonic lodge officers to execute the necessary functions of the lodge's life and work. The precise list of such offices may vary between the ...
in 1919; he was a member of St. George's Lodge (now J.D. Stevenson St. George's Lodge No.6, Western Australian Constitution).
He lived in a 25-room Victorian villa called Beechgrove in
Sydenham Sydenham may refer to:
Places Australia
* Sydenham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney
** Sydenham railway station, Sydney
* Sydenham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne
** Sydenham railway line, the name of the Sunbury railway line, Melbourne ...
from 1932 until 1947, now demolished and part of
Sydenham Hill Wood.
Myrtle died suddenly from a heart attack in June 1945, and Logue died in London, on 12 April 1953. His funeral was held on 17 April in
Holy Trinity Brompton
Holy Trinity Brompton with St Paul's, Onslow Square and St Augustine's, South Kensington, often referred to simply as HTB, is an Anglican church in London, England. The church consists of six sites: HTB Brompton Road, HTB Onslow Square (former ...
before his body was cremated.
Representatives of
Queen Elizabeth II and
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother attended the funeral.
In popular culture
With
Peter Conradi, Logue's grandson Mark wrote a book, ''
The King's Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy'', about his grandfather's relationship with the king.
In the 2010 British film ''
The King's Speech
''The King's Speech'' is a 2010 British historical drama film directed by Tom Hooper and written by David Seidler. Colin Firth plays the future King George VI who, to cope with a stammer, sees Lionel Logue, an Australian speech and language ...
'', written by
David Seidler
David Seidler (born 1937) is a British-American playwright and film and television writer.
He is most known for writing the scripts for the stage version and screen version for the story ''The King's Speech''. For the film, he won the Academy ...
, Logue was played by
Geoffrey Rush
Geoffrey Roy Rush (born 6 July 1951) is an Australian actor. He is known for his eccentric leading man roles on stage and screen. He is among 24 people who have won the Triple Crown of Acting, having received an Academy Award, a Primetime Em ...
, his wife by
Jennifer Ehle
Jennifer Anne Ehle (; born December 29, 1969) is an American actress, the daughter of English actress Rosemary Harris and American author John Ehle. She gained fame for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in the 1995 BBC miniseries '' Pride and Prejudi ...
, and his patient by
Colin Firth. In the West End stage adaptation of ''
The King's Speech
''The King's Speech'' is a 2010 British historical drama film directed by Tom Hooper and written by David Seidler. Colin Firth plays the future King George VI who, to cope with a stammer, sees Lionel Logue, an Australian speech and language ...
'' at
Wyndham's Theatre
Wyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by actor/manager Charles Wyndham (the other is the Criterion Theatre). Located on Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster, it was designed c.1898 by W. G. R. Sprague, the archit ...
, Australian actor
Jonathan Hyde
Jonathan Stephen Geoffrey King (born 21 May 1948), known professionally as Jonathan "Nash" Hyde, is an Australian-English actor. Hyde is perhaps best known for roles as Herbert Arthur Runcible Cadbury in the 1994 comedy film '' Richie Rich'', Sa ...
played Lionel Logue, and in the US stage premiere, Logue was played by
James Frain
James Dominic Frain is an English stage and screen actor. His best known television roles include Thomas Cromwell in the Showtime/ CBC historical drama ''The Tudors'' (2007–2009), Franklin Mott in the HBO drama ''True Blood'' (2010), Warwi ...
.
Welsh actor
Michael Elwyn
Michael Elwyn (born 23 August 1942) is a Welsh actor, notable for his work in film ('' Shadow Man''), stage ('' The Audience'', as Anthony Eden) and television ('' Stella'').
Elwyn was born in Pontypridd. He is the partner of actress Alison ...
played Logue in the 2002 television film ''
Bertie and Elizabeth''. Derek Lawson portrayed Logue in the 2015 comedy ''
A Royal Night Out
''A Royal Night Out'' is a 2015 British romantic comedy-drama film directed by Julian Jarrold and written by Trevor de Silva and Kevin Hood. The film stars Sarah Gadon as the teenaged Princess Elizabeth, who, with younger sister Princess Marga ...
''.
See also
*
Speech and language pathology
Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if they are th ...
*
British Stammering Association
The British Stammering Association (BSA), trading as STAMMA since 2019, is a national membership organisation in the United Kingdom for adults and children who stammer, their friends and families, speech and language therapists and other profes ...
References
;Notes
;Sources
Australian Dictionary of Biography*
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. ...
...
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (Monday, 11 February 1952), p. 3.
* Darbyshire, T., ''The Duke of York: an intimate and authoritative life story of the second son of Their Majesties the King and Queen by one who has had special facilities, and published with the approval of His Royal Highness'', Hutchinson, (London), 1929
* (Note: co-author Mark Logue is a grandson of the subject, Lionel Logue).
* Moses, E., & E. M. Foley
''The Sydney Morning Herald'', (Thursday, 24 December 1936), p. 5.
*
* St. Claire, M
Retrieved 1 January 2011
* Hutchinson, Norman C. (2010). ''Lionel Logue: the King's Mentor'', self-published, Box Hill South, Victoria, Australia
*