Sir Sacheverell Reresby Sitwell, 6th Baronet, (; 15 November 1897 – 1 October 1988) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

writer, best known as an art critic, music critic (his books on Mozart,

Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

, and Domenico Scarlatti are still consulted), and writer on

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

, particularly the baroque. Dame

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 ...

and Sir

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 ...

were his older siblings. Sitwell produced some 50 volumes of poetry and some 50 works on art, music, architecture, and travel.

Life

Sacheverell Sitwell was the youngest child of Sir George Sitwell, 4th Baronet, of

Renishaw Hall Renishaw Hall is a country house in Renishaw in the parish of Eckington in Derbyshire, England. It is a Grade I listed building and has been the home of the Sitwell family for nearly 400 years. The hall is southeast of Sheffield, and north of R ...

. His mother was the former Lady Ida Emily Augusta Denison, a daughter of the 1st Earl of Londesborough and a granddaughter of

Henry Somerset, 7th Duke of Beaufort Major Henry Somerset, 7th Duke of Beaufort, KG (5 February 1792 – 17 November 1853), styled Earl of Glamorgan until 1803 and Marquess of Worcester between 1803 and 1835, was a British peer, soldier, and politician. Background Beaufort was t ...

. She claimed a descent through female lines from the

Plantagenets The House of Plantagenet () was a royal house which originated from the lands of Anjou in France. The family held the English throne from 1154 (with the accession of Henry II at the end of the Anarchy) to 1485, when Richard III died in batt ...

. Born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, he was brought up in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

and educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

and Balliol College, Oxford. In

World War I 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 ...

he served from 1916 in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

, in the

Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

. After the war he went to

Balliol College Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...

in Oxford but did not complete a degree, and was heavily involved in Osbert and Edith's projects. On 12 October 1925 he married a Canadian daughter of a wealthy banker, Georgia Doble (1905–1980). They had two sons – Sir Sacheverell Reresby Sitwell, 7th Baronet (1927–2009) and Francis Trajan Sacheverell Sitwell (1935–2004). He was also a member of

White's White's is a gentlemen's club in St James's, London. Founded in 1693 as a hot chocolate shop in Mayfair, it is the oldest gentleman's club in London. It moved to its current premises on St James's Street in 1778. Status White's is the oldes ...

and

St James's St James's is a central district in the City of Westminster, London, forming part of the West End. In the 17th century the area developed as a residential location for the British aristocracy, and around the 19th century was the focus of the d ...

clubs.

Georgia Doble Sitwell by William Acton (1906-1945)

Georgia Doble had difficulty adapting to married existence and missed the social life in London. Despite affairs on both sides, they remained deeply attached to each other until the end and never officially separated. The personal correspondence of Doble, preserved at the

Harry Ransom 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 ...

at 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 ...

, include letters with David Stuart Horner and Frank Magro, Osbert Sitwell's partners, and friends like Lawrence Audrain,

John Lehmann Rudolf John Frederick Lehmann (2 June 1907 – 7 April 1987) was an English poet and man of letters. He founded the periodicals ''New Writing'' and '' The London Magazine'', and the publishing house of John Lehmann Limited. Biography Born i ...

Loelia Lindsay Loelia Mary, Lady Lindsay, formerly Loelia, Duchess of Westminster, ('' née'' The Honourable Loelia Ponsonby (6 February 1902 – 1 November 1993), was a British socialite, needlewoman and magazine editor. Family and first marriage Lindsa ...

René Massigli René Massigli (; 22 March 1888 – 3 February 1988) was a French diplomat who played a leading role as a senior official at the Quai d'Orsay and was regarded as one of the leading French experts on Germany, which he greatly distrusted. Early ca ...

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires '' Decl ...

, and

Mae West Mae West (born Mary Jane West; August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American stage and film actress, playwright, screenwriter, singer, and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned over seven decades. She was known for her breezy ...

. Sitwell was an early member of the New Party, a group established in 1931 by

Oswald Mosley Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980) was a British politician during the 1920s and 1930s who rose to fame when, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, he turned to fascism. He was a member ...

and containing former members of the major British political parties. In his later life he withdrew from the publicity that attached to

the Sitwells The Sitwells (Edith Sitwell, Osbert Sitwell, Sacheverell Sitwell), from Scarborough, North Yorkshire, were three siblings who formed an identifiable literary and artistic clique around themselves in London in the period roughly 1916 to 1930. T ...

collectively, instead preferring to travel and concentrate on writing. He became the 6th

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...

, inheriting the title when Osbert died in 1969. He was made a Companion of Honour in 1984. His main residence was

Weston Hall Weston Hall is a 17th-century manor house in Weston, Northamptonshire. The house was owned by the Sitwell family's ancestors from 1714 to 2021. It is a Grade II* listed building. History The manor house dates to the 17th century, and is believ ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

, the family home and he served as

High Sheriff of Northamptonshire This is a list of the High Sheriffs of Northamptonshire. The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the respo ...

for 1948. He died aged 90 in October 1988, and is buried in the churchyard of Weedon Lois in

, next to his wife Georgia, who predeceased him, and near his sister Edith. As his poetry was so severely criticised, particularly by those who disliked the Sitwells in general, and although ''Canons of Giant Art'' was a work of considerable impact, he refused to publish any of his poems for many years. In 1967

Derek Parker Derek Parker (born 1932) is a British writer and broadcaster. He is the author of numerous works on literature, ballet, and opera, and with his wife Julia of several books about astrology. Biography He was born in Looe, Cornwall, and educate ...

published a selection of his poems in the summer edition of ''

Poetry Review ''Poetry Review'' is the magazine of The Poetry Society, edited by the poet Emily Berry. Founded in 1912, shortly after the establishment of the Society, previous editors have included poets Muriel Spark, Adrian Henri, Andrew Motion and Maurice R ...

'', including his elegy for his beloved sister Edith. Among his most remarkable and original works are a series of lengthy autobiographical and art-based "fantasias" such as "For Want of the Golden City", "The Hunters and the Hunted" and "Dance of the Quick and the Dead" (1936).

Constant Lambert Leonard Constant Lambert (23 August 190521 August 1951) was a British composer, conductor, and author. He was the founder and music director of the Royal Ballet, and (alongside Ninette de Valois and Frederick Ashton) he was a major figure in th ...

set to music ''The Rio Grande'', one of his poems, which was performed and broadcast in 1928. Sitwell was the author of the book ''Poltergeists'' (1940). It reviewed poltergeist cases over the centuries. He concluded that many cases could be explained by human trickery (conscious or unconscious) and hysteria.Bradford, Sarah. (1993). ''Sacheverell Sitwell: Splendours and Miseries''. Sinclair-Stevenson. p. 291

Works

*''The People's Palace'' (1918; poems) *''The Hundred and One Harlequins'' (1922; poems) *''Southern Baroque Art: a Study of Painting, Architecture and Music in Italy and Spain of the 17th & 18th Centuries'' (1924) *''The Thirteenth Caesar'' (1924; poems; contains ''The Rio Grande'', the basis of

's '' The Rio Grande'') *''German Baroque Art'' (1927) *''The Cyder Feast'' (1927; poems) *''All at Sea: A Social Tragedy in Three Acts for First-Class Passengers Only'' (1927) with

*''The Gothick North: A Study of Mediaeval Life, Art, and Thought'' (1929) *''Dr. Donne and Gargantua'' (1930) poems *''Spanish Baroque Art, with Buildings in Portugal, Mexico, and Other Colonies'' (1931) *''Mozart'' (1932) *''Canons of Giant Art: Twenty Torsos in Heroic Landscapes'' (1933), containing " Agamemnon's Tomb" *''Liszt'' (1934) *''Conversation Pieces: a Survey of English Domestic Portraits and their Painters'' (1936) *''Dance of the Quick and the Dead'' (1936) *''Selected Poems'' (1936) *''Narrative Pictures: a Survey of English Genre and its Painters'' (1938) *''German Baroque Sculpture'' (1938) *''Roumanian Journey'' (1938) *''The Romantic Ballet'' (1938; with C. W. Beaumont) *''Old Fashioned Flowers'' (1939) *''Poltergeists: An Introduction and Examination Followed By Chosen Instances'' (1940) *''Valse des Fleurs'' (1941; new limited edition (400 copies, 20 of which signed and accompanied by a Henry Moore lithograph) published by The Fairfax Press in 1980; new edition published by Eland in 2008) *''The Homing of the Winds: and other passages in prose.'' Faber & Faber, London (1942) *''Primitive Scenes and Festivals'' Faber & Faber, London (1942) *''Splendours and Miseries'' (1944) *''British Architects & Craftsmen: survey taste, design, styles 1600-1830'' (1945) *''The Hunters and the Hunted'' (1948) *''Selected Poems'' (1948) *''The Netherlands; A Study of Some Aspects of Art, Costume and Social Life'' (1948, revised 1952) *''Tropical Birds'' (1948) *''Spain'' (1950) *''Cupid and the Jacaranda'' (1952) *''Fine Bird Books'' (1953) with Handasyde Buchanan and James Fisher *''Truffle Hunt with Sacheverell Sitwell'' (1953) *''Portugal and Madeira'' (1954) *''Denmark'' (1956) *''Arabesque & Honeycomb'' (1957) *''Journey to the Ends of Time, etc.'' (1959) *''The Bridge of the Brocade Sash: Travels and Observations in Japan'' (1959) *''Golden Wall and Mirador: Travels and Observations in Peru'' (1961) *''Great Houses of Europe'' (1964) *''Monks, Nuns and Monasteries'' (1965) *''Southern Baroque Revisited'' (1967) *''Gothic Europe'' (1969) *''A Background for Domenico Scarlatti, 1685-1757: Written for His Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary'' (1970) *''Tropicalia'' (1971; poems) *''For Want of the Golden City'' (1973) *''Battles of the Centaurs'' (1973) *''Les Troyens'' (1973) *''Look at Sowerby's English Mushrooms and Fungi'' (1974) *''A Notebook on My New Poems'' (1974) *''All Summer in a Day : An Autobiographical Fantasia'' (1976) *''Placebo'' (1977) *''An Indian Summer: 100 recent poems'' (1982; poems) *''Hortus Sitwellianus'' (1984) with Meriel Edmunds and George Reresby Sitwell *''Sacheverell Sitwell's England'' (1986) edited by Michael Raeburn

References

Sources

*Sarah Bradford, ''Sacheverell Sitwell: Splendours and Miseries'' (1993) *''Sacheverell Sitwell: A Symposium ''(1975; ed. Derek Parker) *Thomas Balston, ''Sitwelliana 1915-1927'' (1928) Thomas Balston *

, ''A Nest of Tigers: The Sitwells in Their Times'' (1968)

External links

Sacheverell Sitwell Collection
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 ...

(HRHRC)
Georgia Doble Sitwell Collection
at the HRHRC * *
Sacheverell Sitwell
on Faber and Faber {{DEFAULTSORT:Sitwell, Sacheverll 1897 births 1988 deaths Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom British Army personnel of World War I Burials in Northamptonshire English art critics Grenadier Guards officers High Sheriffs of Northamptonshire Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour Parapsychologists People educated at Eton College People from Scarborough, North Yorkshire English male poets 20th-century English poets English travel writers Sacheverell 20th-century English male writers