Émile Leon Cammaerts

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(16 March 1878 in

Saint-Gilles, Belgium ( French, ) or (Dutch, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the southern part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Anderlecht, Forest and Ixelles. In common with all of Bruss ...

– 2 November 1953,

Radlett Radlett is a village in Hertfordshire, England, between Elstree and St Albans on Watling Street, with a population of 8,042. It is in the council district of Hertsmere in the south of the county, and is covered by two wards; Aldenham East ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gover ...

) was a Belgian playwright, poet (including

war poet A war poet is a poet who participates in a war and writes about their experiences, or a non-combatant who writes poems about war. While the term is applied especially to those who served during the First World War, the term can be applied to a p ...

) and author who wrote primarily in English and French. Cammaerts translated three books by art, history and landscape expert

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and poli ...

and selected G. K. Chesterton

Father Brown Father Brown is a fictional Roman Catholic priest and amateur detective who is featured in 53 short stories published between 1910 and 1936 written by English author G. K. Chesterton. Father Brown solves mysteries and crimes using his intuiti ...

detective stories in ''La clairvoyance du père Brown''. He became Professor of Belgian Studies at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

in 1933, most of his works and papers are held there in the

Senate House Library Senate House is the administrative centre of the University of London, situated in the heart of Bloomsbury, London, immediately to the north of the British Museum. The Art Deco building was constructed between 1932 and 1937 as the first phase ...

. Cammaerts is the author of a famous quotation (often mistakenly attributed to

G. K. Chesterton Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English writer, philosopher, Christian apologist, and literary and art critic. He has been referred to as the "prince of paradox". Of his writing style, ''Time'' observed: "Wh ...

) in his study on Chesterton:

Personal life

Cammaerts was born in Saint-Gilles, a suburb of

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. He was educated at the University of Brussels and later at the experimental Université Nouvelle where he studied geography. He migrated to England in 1908 and was

baptised Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...

as an Anglican at age 34 (c. 1912) henceforth taking the middle name Pieter. He married the Shakespearian actress Helen Tita Braun, known as Tita Brand (daughter of

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libre ...

singer Marie Brema), with whom he had six children, including Pieter Cammaerts, who was killed while serving in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) a ...

during World War II, prominent SOE operative Francis Cammaerts and Catherine Noel "Kippe" Cammaerts, an actress and mother of

Michael Morpurgo Sir Michael Andrew Bridge Morpurgo ('' né'' Bridge; 5 October 1943) is an English book author, poet, playwright, and librettist who is known best for children's novels such as ''War Horse'' (1982). His work is noted for its "magical storytell ...

Works

Poems

* ''Belgian Poems : Chants patriotique, et autres poèmes'' (1915) * ''New Belgian Poems. Les trois rois et autres poèmes'' (1916 – 3 editions) * ''Messines and other Poems'' (1918)

Stage productions

*''A Christmas virgil'' at The New Theatre, St Martins Lane (1910) Tita played the widow * ''

Carillon A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmonio ...

'', stage recitation, music by

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

: (1914) * '' Une voix dans le désert'', stage recitation in English and French versions with music by

(1915) containing the poem for

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

aria In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...

below ** '' Quand nos bourgeons se rouvriront'' and for the English version ''When the spring comes round'' from Une voix dans le désert * ''

Le drapeau belge ''Le drapeau belge'' ''("The Belgian Flag")'' is a recitation with orchestral accompaniment written by the English composer Edward Elgar as his Op. 79, in 1917. The words are by the Belgian poet Émile Cammaerts. The poem reflects on the war ...

'', recitation, with music by

(1917)

Books

* ''The Adoration of Soldiers'' (1916) with illustrated poems * ''La Veillée de Noël. Les deux bossus'' (1917) * ''Through the iron bars, two years of German occupation in Belgium'' (1917) * ''A ma patrie enchainée'' (1918) * ''A history of Belgium from the Roman invasion to the present day'' (1921/2) * ''The legend of Ulenspiegel'' (1922) * ''The Treasure of Belgium'' (1924) * ''The Poetry of Nonsense'' (1925) * ''Discoveries in England'' (1930) * ''Albert of Belgium, defender of right'', a biography of King

Albert I of Belgium Albert I (8 April 1875 – 17 February 1934) was King of the Belgians from 23 December 1909 until his death in 1934. Born in Brussels as the fifth child and second son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders and Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Si ...

(1935) * ''The Laughing Prophet: The Seven Virtues And G. K. Chesterton'' (Study of

– 1937) * ''The Keystone of Europe'' (1939) * ''The Prisoner at Laeken: King Leopold, Legend and Fact'' (1941) * ''The Situation of Belgium: September 1939 to January 1941'' (1941) * ''Upon this rock'' (1943) * ''The flower of grass'' (1944/5) * ''The peace that is left'' (1945) * ''Principalities and Powers'' with Jeanne Lindley (1947) * ''The Devil takes the Chair'' (1949) * ''The cloud and the silver lining (1952) (followed by Christian contributions to the BBC Silver Lining Radio programme series * ''The Work of our Hands'' (1953) book on the themes of art and religion

Other

* Translation of

Guido Gezelle Guido Pieter Theodorus Josephus Gezelle (1 May 1830 – 27 November 1899) was an influential writer and poet and a Roman Catholic priest from Belgium. He is famous for the use of the West Flemish dialect. Life Gezelle was born in Bruges ...

from the

West Flemish West Flemish (''West-Vlams'' or ''West-Vloams'' or ''Vlaemsch'' (in French-Flanders), nl, West-Vlaams, french: link=no, flamand occidental) is a collection of Dutch dialects spoken in western Belgium and the neighbouring areas of France and t ...

dialect with Charles Van der Borren, ''Poèmes choisis'' * Preface to ''The glory of Belgium – An

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically catego ...

'' (1915) collated and edited by Russell Markland and dedicated on the front opening to Cammaerts. * ''Baron Edmond de Cartier de Marchienne'' (1946) booklet * Article on

William Dobson William Dobson (4 March 1611 (baptised); 28 October 1646 (buried)) was a portraitist and one of the first significant English painters, praised by his contemporary John Aubrey as "''the most excellent painter that England has yet bred''". He ...

, painter ''An English successor to van Dyck: William Dobson'' Second series no III

Notes

References

External links

Catalogue of Émile Cammaerts' papers
* *
"Carillon": monologue with music, poem by Émile Cammaerts and music by Elgar
Score from Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
"Une voix dans le désert": monologue with music, poem by Émile Cammaerts and music by Elgar
Score from Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Cammaerts, Emile 1878 births 1953 deaths Writers from Brussels Belgian poets in French People from Radlett