Philip Mairet (; full name: Philippe Auguste Mairet; 1886–1975) was a British designer, writer and journalist. He had a wide range of interest: crafts,
Alfred Adler
Alfred Adler ( ; ; 7 February 1870 – 28 May 1937) was an Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and founder of the school of individual psychology. His emphasis on the importance of feelings of belonging, relationships within the family, a ...
and psychiatry, and
Social Credit
Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed in the 1920s and 1930s by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made t ...
. He translated major figures including
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary criticism, literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th ...
. He wrote biographies of
Sir Patrick Geddes and
A. R. Orage, with both of whom he was closely associated, as well as of
John Middleton Murry
John Middleton Murry (6 August 1889 – 12 March 1957) was an English writer. He was a prolific author, producing more than 60 books and thousands of essays and reviews on literature, social issues, politics, and religion during his lifetime. ...
. As editor of the ''
New English Weekly'' in the 1930s, he championed both
Christian socialism
Christian socialism is a Religious philosophy, religious and political philosophy that blends Christianity and socialism, endorsing socialist economics on the basis of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. Many Christian socialists believe cap ...
, as it was known at the time, and ideas on agriculture that would come together later as
organic farming
Organic farming, also known as organic agriculture or ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2024 on organic production and labelling of ...
.
Early life
He was born in
Islington
Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...
, London, on 27 April 1886, the son of Charles Sylvain Mairet, a Swiss watchmaker, and his wife Mary Ann Goldsmith. He was educated at a
board school
School boards were ''ad hoc'' public bodies in England and Wales that existed between 1870 and 1902, and established and administered Elementary school (England and Wales), elementary schools.
Creation
The Elementary Education Act 1870 (33 & ...
and the
Stationers' Company's School
The Stationers' Company's School was a grammar school for boys, later a comprehensive school in Hornsey, north London.
Foundation
The school was founded by the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers to provide education for sons ...
.
Mairet studied at the
Hornsey School of Art
Hornsey College of Art, also known as HCA, founded in 1880 as the Hornsey School of Arts, was an art school in Crouch End, part of Hornsey, Middlesex, England. From 1965 it was in the London Borough of Haringey.
From 1955 to 1973, when it was ...
, becoming a draughtsman and designer of
stained glass
Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...
. Failing to enter the
Royal Academy Schools
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...
, he took a job in advertising. He went to work in
graphic design
Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art that involves creating visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdisciplinary branch of ...
for
Charles Robert Ashbee and joined his
Arts and Crafts
The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...
community at
Chipping Campden
Chipping Campden is a market town in the Cotswold (district), Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. It is notable for its terraced High Street, dating from the 14th to the 17th centuries.
A wool trading centre in the Middle Ages, Chipp ...
.
Marriage, Mitrinović and Ditchling
Mairet married in 1913, and with his wife Ethel moved away from Chipping Campden. They lived in a cottage at
Shottery
Shottery is a district of Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England situated about one mile west of the town centre. It was formerly a hamlet.
Shottery is the location of the Anne Hathaway's Cottage, the childhood home of Anne Hathaway. It is ...
: Ethel worked as a weaver, and Mairet for
Burlison and Grylls
Burlison and Grylls is an English company who produced stained glass windows from 1868 onwards.
The company of Burlison and Grylls was founded in 1868 at the instigation of the architects George Frederick Bodley and Thomas Garner. Both John Bur ...
. In 1914 Mairet met and was influenced by
Dimitrije Mitrinović
Dimitrije "Mita" Mitrinović (Serbian Cyrillic: Димитрије Мита Митриновић; 21 October 1887 – 28 August 1953) was a Serbian philosopher, poet, revolutionary, mystic, theoretician of modern painting and traveler.
Biograph ...
, attached to the Serbian Delegation.
In the summer of 1915 he prepared wall lecture diagrams for a summer course on ''The War: Its Social Tasks and Problems'' at
King's College, London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...
. The course was given by
Patrick Geddes
Sir Patrick Geddes (2 October 1854 – 17 April 1932) was a Scottish biologist, sociologist, Comtean positivist, geographer, philanthropist and pioneering town planner. He is known for his innovative thinking in the fields of urban plannin ...
and
Gilbert Slater.
At the end of 1915 Mairet joined the
Red Cross Society
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the world's largest group of non-governmental organizations working on humanitarian aid, is composed of the following bodies:
*The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), is an indep ...
.
In ''An Autobiographical Compilation'', he described his time serving in the Red Cross personnel in France, and catching up with Mitrinović when on leave in England. In 1917 he had a revelatory experience, after which he described himself as a disciple, and resigned from the Red Cross.
Mairet and his wife moved to
Ditchling
Ditchling is a village and civil parish in the Lewes (district), Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is contained within the boundaries of the South Downs National Park; the order confirming the establishment of the park was sign ...
, Sussex, where they settled. Mairet took on work as an agricultural labourer, on the farm that
Hilary Pepler and his wife had bought on the edge of Ditchling Common. In so doing, Mairet was avoiding conscripted military service. Eventually he was discovered, and enrolled in the
Royal Sussex Regiment
The Royal Sussex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that was in existence from 1881 to 1966. The regiment was formed in 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 35th (Royal Sussex) Regiment of Foo ...
. He was sentenced by a
court-martial
A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...
having refused to obey orders, and spent a period in
Wormwood Scrubs
Wormwood Scrubs, known locally as The Scrubs (or simply Scrubs), is an open space in Old Oak Common located in the north-eastern corner of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London. It is the largest open space in the borough ...
as a
conscientious objector
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...
. He was released in 1919, and returned to Ditchling where Ethel was a successful weaver; there Mitrinović visited.
From 1921 to 1924 Mairet worked as an actor at the
Old Vic
Old or OLD may refer to:
Places
*Old, Baranya, Hungary
*Old, Northamptonshire, England
*Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD)
*OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...
. In 1926 he turned to journalism.
The ''New English Weekly'' circle
Mairet began going to the editorial meetings of
A. R. Orage after World War I, where the so-called ''New Age'' circle attended, ''
The New Age
''The New Age'' was a British weekly magazine (1894–1938),credited as a major influence on literature and the arts during its heyday from 1907 to 1922, when it was edited by Alfred Richard Orage. It published work by many of the chief politi ...
'' being Orage's magazine. In 1922 Orage quit as its editor, going abroad to study at and work in the
Gurdjieff Institute. From 1930 to 1934, Mairet edited with
W. Travers Symons ''Purpose'', a quarterly magazine founded in 1929, mixing
Social Credit
Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed in the 1920s and 1930s by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made t ...
ideas with
Alfred Adler
Alfred Adler ( ; ; 7 February 1870 – 28 May 1937) was an Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and founder of the school of individual psychology. His emphasis on the importance of feelings of belonging, relationships within the family, a ...
's. In 1930 Orage was rebuffed when he offered to return to ''The New Age'', by the controlling
Anglican
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
s who now ran it, known as the "
Chandos Group", who were
Christian socialist
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words ''Christ'' and ''Chr ...
s.
During the 1930s, there were changes in Mairet's life. His marriage broke down; he threw off the influence of Mitrinović; and he changed the spelling of his first name from Philippe to Philip.
Orage set up the ''
New English Weekly'' in 1932. He died suddenly in 1934, leaving the publication in limbo. The editorial line, as legacy from Orage, was Social Credit in the sense of the Economic Freedom League, a faction led by H. E. B. Ludlam; and approval of
Oswald Mosley
Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980), was a British aristocrat and politician who rose to fame during the 1920s and 1930s when he, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, turned to fascism. ...
.
Mairet, in 1934 the literary editor of the ''New English Weekly'', emerged as its editor as a compromise candidate. One group of Social Credit advocates wanted to exclude another group, of supporters of Mitrinović. Mairet was identified more with a third force, the Chandos Group. They took their name from the Chandos Restaurant in
St Martin's Lane
St Martin's Lane is a street in the City of Westminster, which runs from the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, after which it is named, near Trafalgar Square northwards to Long Acre. At its northern end, it becomes Monmouth Street, London, Mo ...
, where they met.
The Chandos Group overlapped the Mitrinović group: there had been a shared interest in the journal ''Purpose''; and the theories of Adler were also a common factor. W. Travers Symons introduced Mairet to
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...
, who was holding the ring.
[ In practical terms the Chandos Group were already deeply involved in producing the ''New English Weekly'', and were sympathetic to Social Credit.
]
Associations
The Chandos group was founded by Mitrinović, meeting for the first time on the last day of the 1926 General Strike
The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 to 12 May 1926. It was called by the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British government ...
. It later centred on Maurice Reckitt
Maurice Benington Reckitt (19 June 1888 – 11 January 1980) was a leading English Anglo-Catholic and Christian socialist writer. He edited ''Christendom: A Journal of Christian Sociology'' from 1931 to 1950. He founded the charity Christendom T ...
, with Mairet, W. Travers Symons, V. A. Demant
Vigo Auguste Demant (1893 – 1983), known as V. A. Demant, was an English Anglican priest, theologian, and social commentator. He was one of the 14 committee members who served on the Wolfenden Report on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution.
...
, and Alan Porter.[Jason Harding, ''The Criterion: Cultural Politics and Periodical Networks in Inter-War Britain'' (2002), pp. 191-2.] Albert Newsome, Alan Porter and Egerton Swan attended, while working up ''Coal: A Challenge to the National Conscience''. Others were B. T. Boothroyd, Hilderic Edwin Cousens, Geoffrey Davis the Distributist
Distributism is an economic theory asserting that the world's productive assets should be widely owned rather than concentrated. Developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, distributism was based upon Catholic social teaching princi ...
, and R. S. J. Rand. G. D. H. Cole
George Douglas Howard Cole (25 September 1889 – 14 January 1959) was an English political theorist, economist, historian, and novelist. As a believer in common ownership of the means of production, he theorised guild socialism (production ...
, T. S. Eliot and Lewis Mumford
Lewis Mumford (October 19, 1895 – January 26, 1990) was an American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology, and literary critic. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a broad career as a ...
were occasionally at the meetings, which occurred once every two weeks.
Mairet belonged to other small societies and discussion groups of the period before 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 ...
. Those included Oldham's Moot. Mairet wrote a piece "The Gospel, Drama, and Society" for Oldham's ''Christian News-Letter'' series; Pepler wrote a reply to it on "training the imagination".
Mairet was an early supporter of George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...
, who wrote to the ''New English Weekly'' in May 1932, and was given a book by Karl Adam to review. He wrote in positive and comprehending terms about ''Homage to Catalonia
''Homage to Catalonia'' is a 1938 memoir by English writer George Orwell, in which he accounts his personal experiences and observations while fighting in the Spanish Civil War.
Covering the period between December 1936 and June 1937, Orwell re ...
'' and Orwell's approach. He was a friend and long-time correspondent of T. S. Eliot, who dedicated his ''Notes towards the Definition of Culture'' to him. The work's title harked back to a seminar series Eliot and Mairet had run in the winter 1943/4, at St Anne's House, under the title "Towards the Definition of a Culture". The House was attached to St Anne's Church, Soho
St Anne's Church serves in the Church of England the Soho section of London. It was consecrated on 21 March 1686 by Bishop Henry Compton as the parish church of the new civil and ecclesiastical parish of St Anne Within the Liberty of Westminst ...
, bombed out in two air raids in autumn 1940.
In December 1938 the magazine ''New Pioneer'' was launched, a far right
Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and Nativism (politics), nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on ...
publication associated with Viscount Lymington. Mairet was one of the group of its supporters, with John Beckett, Ben Greene, Anthony Ludovici
Anthony Mario Ludovici MBE (8 January 1882 – 3 April 1971) was a British philosopher, sociologist, social critic and polyglot. He is known as a proponent of aristocracy and anti-egalitarianism, and in the early 20th century was a leading ...
and many of those who formed the British People's Party (1939)
The British People's Party (BPP) was a British far-right political party founded in 1939 and led by ex-British Union of Fascists (BUF) member and Labour Party Member of Parliament John Beckett.
Origins
The BPP had its roots in the journal '' ...
shortly afterwards. He joined Rolf Gardiner's ''Kinship in Husbandry'' group in 1941.
For Walter Moberly's Christian Frontier Council, Mairet edited ''The Frontier'' (1951). Also for the Christian Frontier Council, he organised a symposium ''Christianity and Psychiatry'', and edited its proceedings as ''Christian Essays in Psychiatry'' (1956).
Brian Harrison recorded an oral history interview with Mairet, in May 1974, as part of the Suffrage Interviews project, titled ''Oral evidence on the suffragette and suffragist movements: the Brian Harrison interviews.'' Mairet talks about his introduction to women's suffrage, the WSPU
The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom founded in 1903. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and p ...
and Maude Royden
Agnes Maude Royden (23 November 1876 – 30 July 1956), later known as Maude Royden-Shaw, was an English preacher, suffragist and campaigner for the ordination of women.
Early life and education
Royden was born in Mossley Hill, Liverpool, the ...
.
Works
Mairet did the drawings for Ashbee's re-design of the Norman Chapel House in Broad Campden, and the 1907 commission for Thomas Shaw-Hellier's Villa San Giorgio in Taormina
Taormina ( , , also , ; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina, on the east coast of the island of Sicily, Italy. Taormina has been a tourist destination since the 19th century. Its beaches on the Ionian Sea, incl ...
. Fiona MacCarthy
Fiona Caroline MacCarthy (23 January 1940 – 29 February 2020) was a British biographer and cultural historian best known for her studies of 19th- and 20th-century art and design.
Early life and education
Fiona MacCarthy was born in Sutton, ...
, the biographer of the architect, judges it "the most impressive of Ashbee's remaining buildings"; it survives as the Hotel Ashbee. Mairet also illustrated Ashbee's ''Conradin: A Philosophical Ballad'' (1908).
Biography
*''A. R. Orage: a memoir'' (1936)
*''Pioneer of Sociology: The Life and Letters of Patrick Geddes'' (1957)
*''John Middleton Murry'' (1958)
Essays and pamphlets
*''An essay on crafts & obedience'' (1918), with Hilary Pepler
*''The Idea Behind Craftsmanship'' (1928)
*''Aristocracy and the Meaning of Class Rule – An Essay upon Aristocracy Past and Future'' (1931)
*''The Frontier'' (1951)
*''Christian Essays in Psychiatry'' (1956) editor
Social Credit
*''The Douglas Manual: Being a Recension of Passages from the Works of Major C. H. Douglas, Outlining Social Credit'' (Stanley Nott, 1934) editor
Alfred Adler
*''ABC of Adler's psychology'' (1928)
*''Alfred Adler Problems of Neurosis'' (1929) editor, case histories
Translations
Mairet's numerous translations to English included ''L'existentialisme est un humanisme'' by Jean-Paul Sartre, and ''Calvin'' by François Wendel (1905–1972).
Family
The woman Mairet married, Ethel Mary Partridge, was an influential hand loom
A loom is a device used to weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of the loom and its mechanics may vary, but th ...
weaver and teacher. She was born in 1872 and, in 1903, married Ananda Coomaraswamy
Ananda Kentish Muthu Coomaraswamy (, ''Āṉanta Kentiś Muthū Kumāracuvāmi''; ''Ānanda Kumārasvāmī''; 22 August 1877 − 9 September 1947) was a Ceylonese metaphysician, historian and a philosopher of Indian art who was an early inte ...
, the geologist and art historian. Mairet worked on their house and became Coomaraswamy's secretary. The Coomaraswamy marriage broke down, and the couple divorced in 1910.
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mairet, Philip
1886 births
1975 deaths
English fascists
English male journalists
Organic farmers