The Sitwells (

Edith Sitwell Dame Edith Louisa Sitwell (7 September 1887 – 9 December 1964) was a British poet and critic and the eldest of the three literary Sitwells. She reacted badly to her eccentric, unloving parents and lived much of her life with her governess ...

Osbert Sitwell Sir Francis Osbert Sacheverell Sitwell, 5th Baronet CH CBE (6 December 1892 – 4 May 1969) was an English writer. His elder sister was Edith Sitwell and his younger brother was Sacheverell Sitwell. Like them, he devoted his life to art and ...

Sacheverell Sitwell Sir Sacheverell Reresby Sitwell, 6th Baronet, (; 15 November 1897 – 1 October 1988) was an English writer, best known as an art critic, music critic (his books on Mozart, Liszt, and Domenico Scarlatti are still consulted), and writer on a ...

), from

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 ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

, were three

sibling A sibling is a relative that shares at least one parent with the subject. A male sibling is a brother and a female sibling is a sister. A person with no siblings is an only child. While some circumstances can cause siblings to be raised separat ...

s who formed an identifiable literary and artistic

clique A clique ( AusE, CanE, or ), in the social sciences, is a group of individuals who interact with one another and share similar interests. Interacting with cliques is part of normative social development regardless of gender, ethnicity, or popular ...

around themselves in London in the period roughly 1916 to 1930. This was marked by some well-publicised events, notably Edith's ''

Façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a Loanword, loan word from the French language, French (), which means 'frontage' or 'face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often t ...

'' with music by

William Walton Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantat ...

, with its public debut in 1923. All three Sitwells wrote; for a while their circle was considered by some to rival

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...

, though others dismissed them as

attention-seekers Attention seeking behavior is to act in a way that is likely to elicit attention. Attention seeking behavior is defined in the DSM-5 as "engaging in behavior designed to attract notice and to make oneself the focus of others’ attention and admir ...

rather than serious artists.

''Wheels'' anthologies

The first Sitwell venture was the series of ''Wheels''

anthologies In book publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed work ...

produced from 1916. These were seen either as a counterweight to the contemporary Edward Marsh ''

Georgian Poetry Georgian Poetry refers to a series of anthologies showcasing the work of a school of English poetry that established itself during the early years of the reign of King George V of the United Kingdom. The Georgian poets were, by the strictest ...

'' anthologies, or as light 'society verse' collections. They did not really match the

Imagist Imagism was a movement in early-20th-century Anglo-American poetry that favored precision of imagery and clear, sharp language. It is considered to be the first organized literary modernism, modernist literary movement in the English language. ...

anthologies of the same years, or the

modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

wing, in terms of finding poets with important careers ahead of them, but included both

Nancy Cunard Nancy Clara Cunard (10 March 1896 – 17 March 1965) was a British writer, heiress and political activist. She was born into the British upper class, and devoted much of her life to fighting racism and fascism. She became a muse to some of the ...

and

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the prominent Huxley ...

. ;Wheels 1916 *Nancy Cunard *Arnold James * V. T. Perowne * Helen Rootham *

* Edward Tennant *

Iris Tree Iris Tree (27 January 1897 – 13 April 1968) was an English poet, actress and artists' model, described as a bohemian, an eccentric, a wit and an adventurer. Biography Tree's parents were actors Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and Helen Maud, Lady T ...

;Wheels 1917 *

*Arnold James *Helen Rootham *Edith Sitwell *Osbert Sitwell *Sacheverell Sitwell *Edward Tennant *Iris Tree * Sherard Vines ;Wheels 1918 *

Álvaro Guevara Álvaro Guevara Reimers (13 July 1894 – 16 October 1951) was a Chilean-born painter, based in London and loosely associated with the Bloomsbury set. Guevara left Chile in 1909 and arrived in London on 1 January 1910. He attended Bradford Tech ...

*Arnold James *Edith Sitwell *Osbert Sitwell *Sacheverell Sitwell *Iris Tree *Sherard Vines ;Wheels 1919 *

*Arnold James *

Wilfred Owen Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC (18 March 1893 – 4 November 1918) was an English poet and soldier. He was one of the leading poets of the First World War. His war poetry on the horrors of trenches and gas warfare was much influenced b ...

* Francesco Quevedo *Edith Sitwell *Osbert Sitwell *Sacheverell Sitwell *Iris Tree *Sherard Vines ;Wheels 1920 * John J. Adams * Leah McTavish Cohen *

Geoffrey Cookson Geoffrey, Geoffroy, Geoff, etc., may refer to: People * Geoffrey (name), including a list of people with the name * Geoffroy (surname), including a list of people with the name * Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1095–c. 1155), clergyman and one of the ...

*Alan Porter * William Kean Seymour *Edith Sitwell *Osbert Sitwell *Sacheverell Sitwell *Sherard Vines ;Wheels 1921 * H. R. Barber *

* Charles Orange *Alan Porter * Augustine Rivers *

Paul Selver (Percy) Paul Selver (22 March 1888 – 6 April 1970) was an English writer and translator. A prolific translator of Czech literature into English, he was best known as the translator of Karel Čapek.Robert M. Philmus, 'Matters of Translation: ...

*Edith Sitwell *Osbert Sitwell *Sacheverell Sitwell *Sherard Vines

Coat of arms

Barry of eight or and vert, charged with three lions rampant sable. The motto is ''Ne cede malis'' (Latin: Yield not to misfortune).

Legacy

Wood End, the former family home of the Sitwells in

has been redeveloped into a "creative industries centre" providing artists' workspace as well as administrative and learning spaces. Weston Hall in Northamptonshire, owned by the Sitwell family, was sold in 2021. A large collection of the Sitwells' papers reside at the

Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center The Harry Ransom Center (until 1983 the Humanities Research Center) is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe for the pur ...

The University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, Austin. A poem by

Ogden Nash Frederic Ogden Nash (August 19, 1902 – May 19, 1971) was an American poet well known for his light verse, of which he wrote over 500 pieces. With his unconventional rhyming schemes, he was declared by ''The New York Times'' the country's best ...

contains a reference to the family: "How many miles to Babylon? / Love-in-a-mist and Bovril. / Are there more Sitwells than one? / Oh yes, there are Sacheverell." There is a coffee shop in Cincinnati, Ohio, named Sitwell's Coffee House in honour of Edith Sitwell.Cincinnati Refined website
/ref>

References

External links

Digitised copies of ''Wheels'' on the Modernist Journals Project website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sitwells, The English literary movements Literary collaborations Sibling musical trios Literary families Sitwell family

''Wheels'' anthologies

Coat of arms

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading

External links