Oliver William Foster Lodge (born Newcastle-under-Lyme 11 August 1878; died

Cirencester Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...

17 April 1955), was a poet and author; he was the eldest son of

Sir Oliver Lodge Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge, (12 June 1851 – 22 August 1940) was a British physicist and writer involved in the development of, and holder of key patents for, radio. He identified electromagnetic radiation independent of Hertz's proof and at his ...

(1851–1940), the

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

, and his wife Mary (née Marshall), who had studied painting at the

Slade Slade are an English rock band formed in Wolverhampton in 1966. They rose to prominence during the glam rock era in the early 1970s, achieving 17 consecutive top 20 hits and six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. The ''British Hit Singles ...

. His five brothers all qualified as engineers, so that he was the only one of the boys with literary leanings, although their uncle

Sir Richard Lodge Sir Richard Lodge (20 June 1855 – 2 June 1936) was a British historian. He was born at Penkhull, Staffordshire, the fourth of eight sons and a daughter of Oliver Lodge (1826–1884) – later a china clay merchant at Wolstanton, Staffordshire ...

and their aunt

Eleanor Constance Lodge __NOTOC__ Eleanor Constance Lodge (18 September 1869, Hanley, Staffordshire – 19 March 1936) was a British academic who served as vice-principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford from 1906 to 1921 and then principal of Westfield College, Hampstea ...

both became distinguished academic historians. They grew up in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, close to Sefton Park, and frequented the

Rathbone family The Rathbone family of Liverpool, England, were a family of nonconformist merchants and ship-owners who were known to engage in philanthropy and public service. The family origins trace back to Gawsworth, near Macclesfield, where the first Will ...

Greenbank House Greenbank House, is a Grade II*-listed building in Liverpool, England. It stands within the University of Liverpool's Greenbank Halls of Residence site, between Greenbank Road and Greenbank Lane. History Original house The original house was bu ...

Life and works

He was educated at

Eastbourne College Eastbourne College is a co-educational independent school in the British public school tradition, for day and boarding pupils aged 13–18, in the town of Eastbourne on the south coast of England. The College's headmaster is Tom Lawson. Over ...

Liverpool University , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

and the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

. He worked as an architect with

Detmar Blow Detmar Jellings Blow (24 November 1867 – 7 February 1939) was a British architect of the early 20th century, who designed principally in the arts and crafts style. His clients belonged chiefly to the British aristocracy, and later he became es ...

for some years, but otherwise lived on a private income provided by his father. O. W. F. Lodge's published works included ''What Art Is'' (1927); ''Six Englishmen'' (six tributes in verse, to

Marlowe Marlowe may refer to: Name * Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593), English dramatist, poet and translator * Philip Marlowe, fictional hardboiled detective created by author Raymond Chandler * Marlowe (name), including list of people and characters w ...

Jonson Jonson is a surname, and may refer to: * Ben Jonson (c. 1572 – 1637), English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor * Fredric Jonson (born 1987), Swedish professional football player * Gail Jonson (born 1965), former medley and butterfly swimm ...

, Shelley,

Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculos ...

, Swinburne and

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

); ''Summer Stories'' (1911), a collection of stories, prose poems and fables; ''Poems'' (210pp); ''Love's Wine Corked; a poem in twenty-four measures'' (1948); ''The Betrayer and other poems'' (1950); and ''The Things People Do'', a collection of short stories published posthumously in 1966. He also wrote ''The Labyrinth'': a tragedy in one act, based on ''Fair Rosamond'' by Thomas Miller (1847), which was first performed by The Pilgrim Players (which later became the Birmingham Repertory Company) in 1911. Lodge married twice and had four children: Oliver (1922–2009) by his first marriage, to Winifred Atkinson, known always as Wynlane; and Belinda (1933–1996), Tom (1936–2012) and Colin (1944–2006) by his marriage, secondly, to the Welsh painter Diana Violet Irene Mabel Uppington (1906–1998). Marrying after a 12-year courtship, Lodge and his wife Wynlane settled at Upper Holcombe near

Painswick Painswick is a town and civil parish in the Stroud District in Gloucestershire, England. Originally the town grew from the wool trade, but it is now best known for its parish church's yew trees and the local Rococo Garden. The village is mainly ...

, Gloucestershire, in a farmhouse belonging to

. After Wynlane's death in childbirth in 1922, Lodge lived in

Cheyne Walk Cheyne Walk is an historic road in Chelsea, London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It runs parallel with the River Thames. Before the construction of Chelsea Embankment reduced the width of the Thames here, it fronted ...

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, painting and writing, and frequented the Bloomsbury Group and the Catholic artists

Eric Gill Arthur Eric Rowton Gill, (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as ″the greatest artist-cra ...

, David Jones and Sydney Sheppard. Ten years later Diana Uppington arrived on his doorstep answering his advertisement for a nude model (she had already modelled for both

and

Duncan Grant Duncan James Corrowr Grant (21 January 1885 – 8 May 1978) was a British painter and designer of textiles, pottery, theatre sets and costumes. He was a member of the Bloomsbury Group. His father was Bartle Grant, a "poverty-stricken" major i ...

, after a short spell on stage with the

Tiller Girls The Tiller Girls were among the most popular dance troupes of the 1890s, first formed by John Tiller in Manchester, England, in 1889. In theatre Tiller had noticed the overall effect of a chorus of dancers was often spoiled by lack of discipline. ...

). She asked him if he liked poetry – he replied that poetry was his life. After their marriage in 1932 they moved to a country cottage called Tanleather in Forest Green, Surrey, on the estate of Oliver's friend R. C. Trevelyan. Belinda and Tom were born there. Belinda's elder son, born in 1951, is the mathematician

David Trotman David John Angelo Trotman (born 27 September 1951) is a mathematician, with dual British and French nationality. He is a grandson of the poet and author Oliver W F Lodge and a great-grandson of the physicist Sir Oliver Lodge. He works in an are ...

. Lodge planned to settle in Paris with his young family in 1939 after spending a year in Valmondois with the

anglophile An Anglophile is a person who admires or loves England, its people, its culture, its language, and/or its various accents. Etymology The word is derived from the Latin word ''Anglii'' and Ancient Greek word φίλος ''philos'', meaning "frien ...

French painter Charles Geoffroy-Dechaume and their families. After the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Lodge returned to England and then took his young family first to Canada, during which period Oliver and Diana got to know well

Lynn Chadwick Lynn Russell Chadwick, (24 November 1914 – 25 April 2003) was an English sculptor and artist. Much of his work is semi-abstract sculpture in bronze or steel. His work is in the collections of MoMA in New York, the Tate in London and the ...

(later a prominent sculptor) and his first wife the Canadian poet Ann Secord. But very soon they moved to

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

and settled in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

in the United States. Here Lodge taught English literature at various institutions including

Ursinus College Ursinus College is a private liberal arts college in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1869 and occupies a 170-acre campus. History 19th century In 1867, members of the German Reformed Church began plans to establish a college wh ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Goucher College Goucher College ( ') is a private liberal arts college in Towson, Maryland. It was chartered in 1885 by a conference in Baltimore led by namesake John F. Goucher and local leaders of the Methodist Episcopal Church.https://archive.org/details/h ...

in Baltimore, and the

College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William I ...

in Williamsburg. In Virginia, they first lived at "Bay Cottage", Naxera, until they moved to "The Little House",

Elmington Ilmington is a village and civil parish about north-west of Shipston-on-Stour and south of Stratford-upon-Avon in the Cotswolds in Warwickshire, England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 712. Ilmington is the ...

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

, Virginia. On returning to England in 1946 Lodge settled near

, Gloucestershire, at Cud Hill House, on the Hilles estate of

's wife Winifred and son Jonathan (Lodge's godson), where the family stayed until 1959. After Lodge's death in 1955, his widow Diana Lodge changed her name by deed poll to Diana Kohr, taking the name of the Austrian economist and political scientist

Leopold Kohr Leopold Kohr (1909–1994) was an economist, jurist and political scientist known both for his opposition to the "cult of bigness" in social organization and as one of those who inspired the ''Small Is Beautiful'' movement. For almost twenty years, ...

, who had befriended Oliver and Diana in Virginia during the Second World War. Diana changed her name back to Lodge in 1966 when she and Kohr separated. Lodge's will guaranteed his widow a sizeable income until she remarried, which was thus an obstacle to her eventual marriage with Kohr, as she explained in a 1993 television documentary about her life. Some 200 letters written by O. W. F. Lodge to his father between 1908 and 1940 are held in the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

archives, part of the Papers of Sir Oliver Lodge.University of Birmingham archives
/ref>

Publications

*‘A Song of Working Men’, Cornish Brothers, Birmingham, 1897 *‘Summer Stories’, Cornish Brothers, Birmingham, 1911 *‘The Labyrinth: a tragedy in one act’, David Nutt, 1911 *‘The End of an Age’, Cornish Brothers, Birmingham, 1912 *‘Spurgeon Arrives’, 1912 (a one-act comedy) *‘Poems’, Cornish Brothers, Birmingham, 1915 *‘Six Englishmen’, Cornish Brothers, Birmingham, 1915 *‘The Schooling of Trimalchio’, 1920 (a tragi-comedy in three acts) *‘Love in the Mist’, E. F. Millard, Painswick, 1921 (a book of verse) *‘The Pindar of Wakefield’, 1921 (one-act play) *‘The Case is Altered’, 1921 (one-act comedy) *‘What Art Is', Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1927 *‘The Candle’, 1938 *‘Love's Wine Corked; a poem in twenty-four measures’, Gloucester, 1948 *‘The Betrayer and other poems’, Gloucester, 1950 *‘The Things People Do’, published privately, London, 1966

References

Sources

* ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' obituary, 25 April 1955

External links

Birmingham Repertory Theatre's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lodge, Oliver W F 1878 births 1955 deaths People from Newcastle-under-Lyme People educated at Eastbourne College Alumni of the University of Liverpool University of Paris alumni Ursinus College faculty Goucher College faculty and staff College of William & Mary faculty English male poets People from Gloucester County, Virginia