Roger Henry Pocklington Senhouse (18 November 1899 31 August 1970) was an English publisher and translator, and a peripheral member of the

Bloomsbury Group The Bloomsbury Group was a group of associated British writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the early 20th century. Among the people involved in the group were Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster, Vanessa Bell, a ...

of writers, intellectuals, and artists. He had a

sado-masochistic Sadism () and masochism (), known collectively as sadomasochism ( ) or S&M, is the derivation of pleasure from acts of respectively inflicting or receiving pain or humiliation. The term is named after the Marquis de Sade, a French author known ...

sexual relationship with Bloomsbury Group member

Lytton Strachey Giles Lytton Strachey (; 1 March 1880 – 21 January 1932) was an English writer and critic. A founding member of the Bloomsbury Group and author of ''Eminent Victorians'', he established a new form of biography in which psychology, psychologic ...

Early life and education

Roger Henry Pocklington Senhouse was the fourth and youngest son (there being also two daughters) of Humphrey Pocklington-Senhouse, JP, of Netherhall,

Maryport Maryport is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is on the coast of the Solway Firth and lies at the northern end of the former Cumberland Co ...

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

(now

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

), and Ashby St Ledgers, near

Rugby, Warwickshire Rugby is a market town in eastern Warwickshire, England, close to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, its population was 78,117, making it the List of Warwickshire towns by population, secon ...

, Colonel of the Westmorland and Cumberland Yeomanry Cavalry, and his wife Florence Catherine (died 1920), daughter of Turner A. Macan, of Carriff, County Armagh, of a gentry family of Drumcashel. The Pocklington-Senhouse- originally Senhouse- family were landed gentry; Roger's grandmother, Elizabeth Senhouse, was the heir of the Senhouse family, her only brother having died unmarried. She married Joseph Pocklington, JP, of Barrow House- from a

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

family recorded back to the reign of Henry VIII- who assumed his wife's surname. Senhouse attended both

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, where he was friends with Michael Llewelyn Davies, one of the boys upon whom

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythical ...

was based.

J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succe ...

, the author of Peter Pan became legal

guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unit ...

of the Llewellyn Davies boys on the death of their parents.

Robert Boothby Robert John Graham Boothby, Baron Boothby, (12 February 1900 – 16 July 1986) was a British Conservative politician. Early life The only son of Sir Robert Tuite Boothby, KBE, of Edinburgh and a cousin of Rosalind Grant, mother of the broad ...

, who was a friend of Senhouse and Davies during that period and himself bisexualCullen, Pamela V, "A Stranger in Blood: The Case Files on Dr John Bodkin Adams", London, Elliott & Thompson, 2006, . said in a 1976 interview that the relationship between Senhouse and Davies was "fleetingly" homosexual in nature.

Career

In 1935, Senhouse became co-owner with

Fredric Warburg Fredric John Warburg (27 November 1898 – 25 May 1981) was a British publisher, who in 1935 founded the company Secker & Warburg. He is best known for his association with the author George Orwell. During a career spanning a large part of the ...

of the publishing house which became

Secker & Warburg Harvill Secker is a British publishing company formed in 2005 from the merger of Secker & Warburg and the Harvill Press. History Secker & Warburg Secker & Warburg was formed in 1935 from a takeover of Martin Secker, which was in receivership, ...

, rescuing it from receivership. Senhouse translated several works by French novelist

Colette Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known as Colette or Colette Willy, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a Mime artist, mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaki ...

, and collaborated on a translation of '' The Blood of Others'' by

Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, nor was she ...

- these were published by Secker, along with major works of the era including

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 ...

's ''

Nineteen Eighty-Four ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (also published as ''1984'') is a dystopian novel and cautionary tale by the English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final completed book. Thematically ...

'' and ''

Animal Farm ''Animal Farm'' (originally ''Animal Farm: A Fairy Story'') is a satirical allegorical novella, in the form of a beast fable, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. It tells the story of a group of anthropomorphic far ...

'', and works by

Theodore Roethke Theodore Huebner Roethke ( ; May 25, 1908 – August 1, 1963) was an American poet. He is regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential poets of his generation, having won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1954 for his book '' The ...

Alberto Moravia Alberto Pincherle (; 28 November 1907 – 26 September 1990), known by his pseudonym Alberto Moravia ( , ), was an Italian novelist and journalist. His novels explored matters of modern sexuality, social alienation and existentialism. Moravia i ...

Günter Grass Günter Wilhelm Grass (; 16 October 1927 – 13 April 2015) was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born in the Free City of Danzig (now Gda ...

Angus Wilson Sir Angus Frank Johnstone-Wilson (11 August 191331 May 1991) was an English novelist and short story writer. He was one of England's first openly gay authors. He was awarded the 1958 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for '' The Middle Age of Mrs ...

, Julian Gloag, and

Melvyn Bragg Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg (born 6 October 1939) is an English broadcaster, author and parliamentarian. He is the editor and presenter of ''The South Bank Show'' (1978–2010, 2012–2023), and the presenter of the BBC Radio 4 documentary series ...

Personal life

The private letters of writer and Bloomsbury Group member

reveal that Senhouse was his (last) lover, and with whom in the late ‘20s and early 1930s he had a

sexual relationship.Levy, Paul
"Bloomsbury's final secret", telegraph.co.uk
/ref>

References

External links

*Archival Material at
Roger Senhouse Correspondence, 1919-1931
held b
Princeton University Library Special Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Senhouse, Roger 1899 births 1970 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of the University of Oxford Publishers (people) from London Gay businessmen English gay men English LGBTQ businesspeople 20th-century English businesspeople 20th-century English LGBTQ people

Early life and education

Career

Personal life

See also

References

External links