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: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

writer, particularly on

baroque architecture Baroque architecture is a highly decorative and theatrical style which appeared in Italy in the late 16th century and gradually spread across Europe. It was originally introduced by the Catholic Church, particularly by the Jesuits, as a means to ...

, and an

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

and

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

critic. Sitwell produced some 50 volumes of poetry and some 50 works on art, music, architecture, and travel.

Early life

Blue plaque to Sacheverell Sitwell - geograph

Sitwell was born in

Scarborough, North Yorkshire Scarborough () is a seaside town and civil parish in North Yorkshire District, the district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. With a population of 61,749, Scarborough is the largest town on the Yorkshire Coast and the No ...

on 15 November 1897 and brought up in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

. He 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 ...

, and the former Lady Ida Emily Augusta Denison. 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 l ...

were his older siblings. His paternal grandparents were

Sir Sitwell Sitwell, 3rd Baronet ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part o ...

and his wife Louisa Lucy Hutchinson (daughter of the Hon. Henry Hely Hutchinson). His maternal grandparents were

William Denison, 1st Earl of Londesborough William Henry Forester Denison, 1st Earl of Londesborough (''né'' Conyngham; 19 June 1834 – 19 April 1900), known as The Lord Londesborough from 1860–87, was a British peer and Liberal politician. He was also one of the main founders of S ...

and Lady Edith Somerset (a daughter of the 7th Duke of Beaufort), who claimed descent through female lines from the

Plantagenets The House of Plantagenet ( /plænˈtædʒənət/ ''plan-TAJ-ə-nət'') was a royal house which originated from the French county of Anjou. The name Plantagenet is used by modern historians to identify four distinct royal houses: the Angevi ...

. Sitwell was educated at

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 ...

. In

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he served from 1916 in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

, in the

Grenadier Guards The Grenadier Guards (GREN GDS) is the most senior infantry regiment of the British Army, being at the top of the Infantry Order of Precedence. It can trace its lineage back to 1656 when Lord Wentworth's Regiment was raised in Bruges to protect ...

. After the war he went to

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

but did not complete a degree, and was heavily involved in Osbert and Edith's projects.

Career

Sitwell's poetry collection ''A Hundred and One Harlequins'' attracted some attention in 1922, but the first works to gain more widespread notice and acclaim were three prose studies of painting, architecture and music: ''Southern Baroque Art'' (1924), ''German Baroque Art'' (1927) and ''Spanish Baroque Art'' (1931).'Sir Sacheverell Sitwell: Last of a talented literary line', ''The Times'' obituary, 3 October 1988, p. 18

Cyril Connolly Cyril Vernon Connolly CBE (10 September 1903 – 26 November 1974) was an English literary critic and writer. He was the editor of the influential literary magazine ''Horizon (British magazine), Horizon'' (1940–49) and wrote ''Enemies of Pro ...

called ''Southern Baroque Art'' "a milestone in the development of our modern sensibility". A series of books on music and musicians - including ''Mozart'' (1932), ''Liszt'' (1934) and shorter essays on Scarlatti, Offenbach and Tchaikovsky (''Valse des Fleurs'', 1941) - were also highly influential. ''The Dance of the Quick and the Dead'' (1936) established a new strand of his work, evoking "outcast and vagabond societies; their music, their dress, their customs and rituals". This was the first of a series of lengthy autobiographical, travel and art-based "fantasias" that are among his most original works. Later examples include ''The Hunters and the Hunted'' (1947) and ''For Want of the Golden City'' (1973). Although most often associated with exotic art, culture and foreign travel, Sitwell also established himself as a connoisseur of English art and architecture, with the publication of ''British Arts and Craftsmen'' (1945), concluded by his final publication, the anthology ''Sacheverell Sitwell's England'' (1986). ''Poltergeists'' (1940) reviewed

poltergeist In German folklore and ghostlore, a poltergeist ( or ; ; or ) is a type of ghost or spirit that is responsible for physical disturbances, such as loud noises and objects being moved or destroyed. Most claims or fictional descriptions of polter ...

cases over the centuries. Sitwell concluded that many, though not all, cases could be explained by human trickery (conscious or unconscious) and

hysteria Hysteria is a term used to mean ungovernable emotional excess and can refer to a temporary state of mind or emotion. In the nineteenth century, female hysteria was considered a diagnosable physical illness in women. It is assumed that the bas ...

.Bradford, Sarah. (1993). ''Sacheverell Sitwell: Splendours and Miseries''. Sinclair-Stevenson. p. 291 ''Journey to the Ends of Time'' (1959), was "a kaleidoscopic series of meditations on death and the possibility of survival". As his poetry was so severely criticised, particularly by those who disliked the Sitwells in general, and although ''Canons of Giant Art'' (1933, including the highly praised poem '

Agamemnon's Tomb "Agamemnon's Tomb" is a poem by Sacheverell Sitwell. It was first published in 1933, the fifth of twenty poems in ''Canons of Giant Art: Twenty Torsos in Heroic Landscapes.'' It was included in ''Collected Poems of Sacheverell Sitwell'' (1936), pu ...

') was a work of considerable impact, he refused to publish any of his poems for many years.

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

's setting of his early poem '' The Rio Grande'' for chorus and orchestra (taken from ''The Thirteenth Caesar, and other Poems, 1924'') was first performed and broadcast in 1928 and has retained its popularity. In 1967

Derek Parker Derek Parker (27 May 1932 – 2 January 2025) was a British writer and broadcaster. He was the author of numerous works on literature, ballet, and opera, and with his wife Julia of several books about astrology. Biography Parker was born in L ...

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

Poetry Review ''The Poetry Review'' is the magazine of The Poetry Society, edited by the poet Wayne Holloway-Smith. Founded in 1912, shortly after the establishment of the Society, previous editors have included poets Muriel Spark, Adrian Henri, Andrew Mo ...

'', including 'Serenade to a Sister', an elegy for his sister Edith. ''An Indian Summer'' (1982), with a preface by

Peter Quennell Sir Peter Courtney Quennell (9 March 1905 – 27 October 1993) was an English biographer, literary historian, editor, essayist, journalist, poet and critic. He wrote extensively on social history. In his ''Times'' obituary he was described as "th ...

, collecting together 100 of his best most recent poems, was his final volume of poetry.

Later life

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 aristocrat and politician who rose to fame during the 1920s and 1930s when he, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, turned to fascism. ...

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, Scarborough, North Yorkshire and the family seat of Renishaw Hall, were three siblings who formed an identifiable literary and artistic cliqu ...

collectively, instead preferring to travel and concentrate on writing. He succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of his elder brother Osbert in 1969. He was made a

Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded on 4 June 1917 by King George V as a reward for outstanding achievements. It was founded on the same date as the Order of the British Empire. The orde ...

(CH) in 1984. His main residence was

Weston Hall Weston Park is a country house in Staffordshire, England. Weston Park may refer to: * Weston Park, Sheffield Weston Park is a public park with an area of just over 5 hectares in the City of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It lies imme ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

, 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 respon ...

for 1948.

Personal life

On 12 October 1925 Sitwell married Georgia Doble, the daughter of Arthur Richard Doble, a wealthy Canadian banker. They had two sons: * Sir Sacheverell Reresby Sitwell, 7th Baronet (1927–2009), who married to Penelope Forbes, the daughter of Col. Hon. Donald Alexander Forbes (brother of the 8th Earl of Granard) and Mary Doreen Lawson (a daughter of Andrew Sherlock Lawson and granddaughter of the 14th Viscount Mountgarret), in 1952.Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes.''

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish geneal ...

, 2003, vol. 2, p. 1629. * Francis Trajan Sacheverell Sitwell (1935–2004), father of Sir George Sitwell, 8th Baronet. 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 London's oldest club and therefore the oldest private members' club in the world. It moved to its current premises on St James's St ...

and

St James's St James's is a district of Westminster, and a central district in the City of Westminster, London, forming part of the West End of London, West End. The area was once part of the northwestern gardens and parks of St. James's Palace and much of ...

clubs. 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, known as the Humanities Research Center until 1983, 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 ...

at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

, include letters with

David Stuart Horner David Stuart Horner (29 July 1900 – 1983) was a crime fiction novelist and the longtime partner of Osbert Sitwell. Early life David Stuart Horner was born on 29 July 1900, the son of John Stuart Horner (b. 1855) and Emily Green, the daughter of ...

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 publisher, poet and man of letters. He founded the periodicals '' New Writing'' and ''The London Magazine'', and the publishing house of John Lehmann Limited. Early ...

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

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 ...

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 ''Decli ...

, and

Mae West Mary Jane "Mae" West (August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American actress, singer, comedian, screenwriter, and playwright whose career spanned more than seven decades. Recognized as a prominent sex symbol of her time, she was known ...

. Sitwell died in October 1988 at the age of 90. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his elder son Reresby.

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; poems), containing "

" *''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) *''La Vie Parisienne, a Tribute to Offenbach'' (1937) *''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) *''Sacred and Profane Love'' (1940) *''Valse des Fleurs'' (1941; new limited edition (400 copies, 20 of which signed and accompanied by a

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract art, abstract monumental Bronze sculpture, bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. 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 Sarah Mary Malet Bradford, Viscountess Bangor (''née'' Hayes; born 3 September 1938) is an English author who is best known for her royal biographies. Early life and education Bradford was born in Bournemouth in 1938, the daughter of Brigadie ...

, ''Sacheverell Sitwell: Splendours and Miseries'' (1993) *

(ed.) ''Sacheverell Sitwell: A Symposium ''(1975) * Thomas Balston, ''Sitwelliana 1915-1927'' (1928) *

, ''A Nest of Tigers: The Sitwells in Their Times'' (1968) * John Pearson, ''Facades: Edith, Osbert and Sacheverell Sitwell'' (1978)

External links

Sacheverell Sitwell Collection
at the

Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center The Harry Ransom Center, known as the Humanities Research Center until 1983, 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 ...

(HRHRC)
Georgia Doble Sitwell Collection
at the HRHRC * *
Sacheverell Sitwell
on

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, commonly known as Faber & Faber or simply Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, Margaret S ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sitwell, Sacheverell 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 British parapsychologists People educated at Eton College Writers from Scarborough, North Yorkshire English male poets 20th-century English poets English travel writers Sacheverell 20th-century English male writers