The Coterie was a fashionable and famous set of English aristocrats and

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...

s of the 1910s, widely quoted and profiled in magazines and newspapers of the period. They also called themselves the "Corrupt Coterie".

Members

Its members included

Lady Diana Manners Diana, Viscountess Norwich (née Lady Diana Olivia Winifred Maud Manners; 29 August 1892 – 16 June 1986) was an English actress and aristocrat who was a well-known social figure in London and Paris. As a young woman, she moved in a celebrat ...

, then considered a famous beauty in England;

Duff Cooper Alfred Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich, (22 February 1890 – 1 January 1954), known as Duff Cooper, was a British Conservative Party politician and diplomat who was also a military and political historian. First elected to Parliament in 19 ...

, who became a Conservative politician and a diplomat;

Raymond Asquith Raymond Herbert Asquith (6 November 1878 – 15 September 1916) was an English barrister and eldest son of British prime minister H. H. Asquith. A distinguished Oxford scholar, he was a member of the fashionable group of intellectuals known as ...

, son of the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

H. H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom f ...

and a famed barrister;

Maurice Baring Maurice Baring (27 April 1874 – 14 December 1945) was an English man of letters, known as a dramatist, poet, novelist, translator and essayist, and also as a travel writer and war correspondent, with particular knowledge of Russia. During Wo ...

;

Patrick Shaw-Stewart Patrick Houston Shaw-Stewart (17 August 1888 – 30 December 1917) was a British scholar and poet of the Edwardian era who died on active service as a battalion commander in the Royal Naval Division during the First World War. He is best remember ...

, a managing director of

Barings Bank Barings Bank was a British merchant bank based in London, and one of England's List of oldest banks in continuous operation, oldest merchant banks after Berenberg Bank, Barings' close collaborator and German representative. It was founded in 1762 ...

and war poet; Julian & Billy Grenfell,

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 her friend

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 ...

;

Edward Horner The equestrian statue of Edward Horner stands inside St Andrew's Church in the village of Mells in Somerset, south-western England. It was designed by the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, as a memorial to Edward Horner, who died of wounds in the ...

and Sir Denis Anson. Also included in the group were Hugo Francis Charteris, Lord Elcho and Yvo Alan Charteris, sons of the Earl and Countess of Wemyss of

Stanway House Stanway House is a Jacobean manor house, located near the village of Stanway in Gloucestershire, England. The manor of Stanway was owned by Tewkesbury Abbey for 800 years then for 500 years by the Tracy family and their descendants, the Earls ...

. Many were the children of

The Souls The Souls was a small loosely-knit but distinctive elite social and intellectual group in the United Kingdom from 1885 to the turn of the century. Many of the most distinguished British politicians and intellectuals of the time were members. Th ...

, with Lady Diana Manners and Raymond Asquith being seen as the undisputed golden couple of the group.

First World War

The

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 ...

destroyed the original Coterie, taking the lives of Percy "Perf" Wyndham in 1914; Charles Lister,

Julian Grenfell Julian Henry Francis Grenfell (30 March 1888 – 26 May 1915) was a British soldier and a war poet of World War I. Early life Julian Grenfell was born at 4 St James's Square, London, the eldest son of William Grenfell, later Baron Desborough ...

, Billy Grenfell, and Yvo Charteris in 1915; Edward Tennant, Ego Charteris and

in 1916; and

, and

in 1917. It also destroyed the security of the group's prewar life, and the remnants were slowly breaking around them after the war.

was seen as a "focus for all the interlocking friendships", comforting many who had lost their husbands or siblings in the War. She wrote to Patrick Shaw-Stewart about supporting

Katharine Asquith Katharine Frances Asquith (; 9 September 18859 July 1976) was an English landowner and patron of the arts. During the First World War, she served as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse. She was the wife of Raymond Asquith and the daughter-in-law of ...

after the death of her husband

Raymond Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ( ...

: "I tried to sink my misery and think of holding K up as we all must."

Activities

They were best known for their extravagant parties and were associated with such places as the

Café Royal A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-caf ...

and

The Cave of the Golden Calf The Cave of the Golden Calf was a night club in London. In existence for only two years immediately before the First World War, it epitomised decadence, and still inspires cultural events. Its name is a reference to the Golden Calf of the Biblica ...

, London's first nightclub. The group made a common pledge to be "unafraid of words, unshocked by drink, and unashamed of 'decadence' and gambling". The group reveled in drink, blasphemy, gambling, injecting heroin, and

chloroform Chloroform, or trichloromethane, is an organic compound with chemical formula, formula Carbon, CHydrogen, HChlorine, Cl3 and a common organic solvent. It is a colorless, strong-smelling, dense liquid produced on a large scale as a precursor to ...

("chlorers") sniffing. While the group's principal purpose was the pursuit of pleasure, their default attitude was one of cynical heartlessness, that at times was downright cruel. Reportedly, without the occasionally moderating influence of

, the behaviour of the group might have been even more unacceptable and out of control, as he was fourteen years older than Lady Diana and well respected by the whole group. In the early years of the group Asquith was the leader, moderating them to take pride in their learning and erudition, while enjoying wild and riotous parties and pranks. For all their wild parties, however, there was still a standard of behaviour to be upheld and all members paid for the damage that they caused. The members indulged themselves in treasure hunts, fancy dress balls, and poker evenings, while holding riotous parties until dawn with their actions documented by the press. The members were also in high demand by the great hostesses and eminent politicians of the day. Their behavior at one such party was documented by Asquith's stepmother who recorded that, "After dinner, Diana ejaculated, 'I must be unconscious tonight' and went away in a taxi to fetch chloroform from the chemist. 'Jolly old chlorers!' One guest who had nearly fainted at dinner had to be removed before the orgy began."

World War I

With the outbreak of war, many members left for the front, causing Asquith to be seen as the pre-war symbol of the Coterie, and

, wife of

, to become the post-war symbol for the 'new' Coterie. She became known for throwing wilder parties, with freer sex and drink in an effort to escape the horrors of the war. During the War, Manners wrote to Edward Horner on 7 August 1914, claiming that she thought it was "...up to the Coterie to stop this war."

Reactions

Lady Diana Manners later wrote that she was a little ashamed of the name, and did not know how it came to be called the Coterie, just as her mother was ashamed of title of the Souls. Lady Diana also reported that the group's "...peak of unpopularity was certainly 1914 and 1915." This sentiment was followed by some of their parents, as Raymond Asquith's stepmother wrote to Hilda Harrisson, calling the group "...a rotten social gang...who lead a futile and devastating life." Lady Cynthia Asquith, Raymond Asquith’s sister-in-law, wrote in her diary, "I don't care a damn about their morals and manners, but I do think what – for want of a better word – I call their anti-cant, is really suicidal to happiness." Two deaths were attributed to the group and their actions, with Gustav Hamel, a Swedish amateur flyer and racing driver crashing his private plane during a flight from France to London, and Denis Anson drowning in the Thames during a late-night swimming party.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coterie, The English culture 1910s in England