Émile Leon Cammaerts

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two 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 Brus ...

– 2 November 1953,

Radlett Radlett is a large village in Hertfordshire, England, between Elstree and St Albans on Watling Street, with a population of 10,060. It is in the council district of Hertsmere in the south of the county, and forms part of the civil parish of A ...

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) was a Belgian playwright, poet (including

war poet War poetry is poetry on the topic of war. While the term is applied especially to works of the First World War, the term can be applied to poetry about any war, including Homer's ''Iliad'', from around the 8th century BC as well as poetry of th ...

) 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 polymath a writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as art, architecture, Critique of politic ...

and selected G. K. Chesterton

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

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-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

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) in his study on Chesterton:

Personal life

Cammaerts was born in Saint-Gilles, a suburb of

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. He was educated at the Free 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 ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...

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 History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

singer

Marie Brema Marie Brema (28 February 1856 – 22 March 1925) was a British dramatic mezzo-soprano active in concert, operatic and oratorio roles during the last decade of the 19th and the first decade of the 20th centuries. She was the first British singer ...

), 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 Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 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 storytelli ...

. Jeanne Cammaerts (later Jeanne Lindley) collaborated with her father on ''Principalities and Powers'' (1947) and wrote his biography in 1962.Lindley, Jeanne. ''Seeking And Finding: The Life Of Emile Cammaerts'', S.P.C.K, London (1962)

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 musical keyboard, keyboard and consists of at least 23 bells. The bells are Bellfounding, cast in Bell metal, bronze, hung in fixed suspension, and Musical tuning, tu ...

'', 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 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 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

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

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 wartim ...

'', 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. He is popularly referred to as the Knight King (, ) or Soldier King (, ) in Belgium in reference to his role during World War I ...

(1935) * ''The Laughing Prophet: The Seven Virtues And G. K. Chesterton'' (Study of G. K. Chesterton – 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, but he also wrote in other languages ...

from the

West Flemish West Flemish (''West-Vlams'' or ''West-Vloams'' or ''Vlaemsch'' (in French Flanders), , ) is a collection of Low Franconian varieties spoken in western Belgium and the neighbouring areas of France and the Netherlands. West Flemish is spoken by ...

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 related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

'' (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 Commanders_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire