Background
Aldington was born on July 8, 1892, in Portsmouth, England, and was christened Edward Godfree Aldington, although he chose to be known as Richard from an early age. He was the oldest of four children. His father, Albert, an unsuccessful lawyer, had an extensive library of British poetry and was the author of The Queen’s Preferment (Digby, Long & Co., 1896), an historical novel. His mother, May, also became a novelist and poet with eight titles to her credit, of which Love Letters That Caused a Divorce (Standard Office, Dover, 1905) was the best known. The family soon moved to Dover and subsequently to the nearby St. Margaret’s-at-Cliffe, and Aldington attended Dover College, a local public (in the British sense) school. In 1910, Aldington entered London University, but, following financial difficulties experienced by his father, was forced to withdraw in 1911, and to seek employment. He became a junior sports reporter as he sought to commence a literary career. Meanwhile, his mother operated the famous Mermaid Inn at Rye in Sussex.
Madame Yevonde
Richard Aldington
Photograph
London, Madame Yevonde, 1929
© Mary Evans Picture Library; Exhibited with its consent
Publicity photograph of Aldington, aged about 37, issued in connection with the publication in 1929 of Death of a Hero, the World War I War Novel that made him famous. Madame Yevonde (Yevonde Philone Middleton) was an early pioneer of color photography.
Photographer unknown
May Aldington
Rye, Sussex, 1917
The photograph is signed by May Aldington and was taken in 1917 in Rye, where May Aldington bought and operated The Mermaid Inn following her separation from her husband.
David Wilkinson
The Mermaid Inn, Rye, Sussex
Photograph
The Mermaid is the best-known inn in the medieval town of Rye, East Sussex. Aldington’s mother owned and operated the Mermaid Inn from 1911-1924. Although Aldington did not greatly like his mother, he and H.D. used to stay with her from time to time.
May Aldington
Love Letters That Caused A Divorce
London, Sisley’s Ltd., 1906
Originally published by the Standard Office, Dover, 1905. The first of six novels and two books of poetry by May Aldington.
Aldington’s father, Albert, who had a fine library, also wrote a novel, The Queen’s Preferment, published by Digby Long & Co. in 1896.
May Aldington
Meg of the Salt-Pans
Manuscript, c. 1909
This is an autograph fair copy of the third of May Aldington’s six novels, written in “school” exercise books. The novel was published in 1909 by Everett & Co., London. In its June 1909 issue, The Westminster Review said, “…May Aldington has succeeded in doing for a corner of rural Kent that which Thomas Hardy has done for his beloved Wessex…”
By kind permission of the Estate of Richard Aldington, c/o Rosica Colin Limited, London.
Dover College
Dover, Kent
Prospectus
The school incorporates the remains of the medieval St. Martin’s Priory. In his memoirs, Life for Life’s Sake, Aldington recounts how, on a return visit to the school as a successful author, the headmaster asked him “where on earth did you get your scholarly knowledge?”!
Richard Aldington
Autograph Letter to “Straus” [Ralph Straus]
Twickenham, February 2, 1912
Written by Aldington, aged 19, following his withdrawal from University College, London. Ralph Straus (1882-1950), bibliophile, biographer and novelist, was then a reviewer for The Bystander, a London journal and Secretary of The Sette of Odd Volumes, a London bibliophilic dining club. Aldington’s threat of “doing something foolish and sudden” likely refers to Aldington potentially giving up hopes of a literary career and seeking employment in another field.
By kind permission of the Estate of Richard Aldington, c/o Rosica Colin Limited, London.
