Sayers new life Part II

 In her letters to John Cornous, Dorothy discussed the possibility of his helping her to find a new man, and reminded him that she wanted to be married rather than engage in another relationship.  She may have felt that outside Bloomsbury, there might not be many men at that time who would take on a wife who already had a child by someone else.  However, she did meet "Mac" Fleming, a journalist, who had been in the Army and who was presently writing on sports and motor racing..  He was several years' Dorothy's senior and was divorced from his wife..  He had been in the Boer war and then in World War one.. and he suffered from health issues relating to his war service.  Although it was not apparent at the time, he also suffered from PTSD.. 

He had left his wife and children and ceased to send money for them, and his wife had sued for divorce.  Dorothy was probably not deeply in love with him but at first they got on well and he seemed to be all right with her previous relationship and the existence of her son.  However Dorothy told Ivy that while she hoped to adopt John Anthony, and bring him to her home later, at present, she and Mac were both working full time and did not have the space or time to look after the child.   Ivy lived in the country and could give him full time attention, and she had other children living with her who provided him with companionship.  Mac seems to have agreed to adopt John later on, and he met the child.

He and Dorothy moved into her flat in Bloomsbury and they settled down to married life.   He was fond of cookery and good food which was another interest they had in common.  He helped Dorothy with her books as he knew about PR.. 

However he and Dorothy were not able to marry in church, due to his divorce.  They married in a registry office and she took him home to meet her parents.  They liked him.  He was affable and good natured and he seemed very fond of Dorothy, taking care of her when she was ill and supporting her in her work. 

The first years of their marriage seemed happy.  Dorothy was working very hard, and Mac also had his work and helping his wife.   They frequented race tracks following motor and motorbike racing venues as this was an interest they shared.  They also enjoyed the cinema and the music hall though he did not really share her more academic interests.  

Dorothy went on with writing the Wimsey books, gradually making her hero a deeper and more developed character.  The books sold well but she kept up her job at Bensons for some years.  She liked working in town but there was a lot of pressure in her life, especially as Mac had arrears of income tax to pay off.  His health was uncertain.. he had been left with stomach problems after his war service and he became increasingly depressed at his poor health.  Dorothy was reluctant to bring her son into their home as she felt that Mac would not be able to put up with a small child..  They also often had elderly relatives staying.  Mac was generally a "good husband" but as time passed and he became more depressed he began to drink more, which did not help his physical health problems. 

Sayers new Life

 Dorothy had a lot of sadness and depression in the year or so following the birth of her son.  She had to give the baby to her cousin, and worried about him, although she knew that Ivy was a loving and experienced foster mother.  

She could not talk to anyone except Ivy about the baby, and her relationship with Bill had come to an end.  He was unable to do anything to help financially and soon moved on to other relationships and Dorothy gave up hope that he would take any real interest in his son.  She met John Cornous again, when he returned from America and for a time she wrote to him, as he was someone that she could talk to about her child.  However Cornous was still a selfish and difficult man.  He had married an American woman during his stay in the US and Dorothy was hurt that after his insistence that he did not believe in marriage, he had chosen to marry another woman.   

Their correspondence was not very satisfying as he was annoyed that she had become Bill's mistress after refusing to be his.  

During her pregnancy Dorothy had been working on her second Novel, Clouds of Witness, and had had to re write some of it, while very preoccupied with her personal problems but she was always a dedicated worker.  The novel was much more emotional than her first, introducing the reader to Gerald, Peter's brother and Mary, his sister whose fiance was found dead.  It covered the love affairs of Mary and Gerald, and culminated in a trial in the House of Lords. 

Sayers Secret Life

 Dorothy was horrified when she became pregnant and then learned that her boyfriend was not free to marry her.  She had just found a reasonably well paying job with prospects, but she was far from rich... and if she lost her job, she would not be able to support a baby.  Bill was also unable to help with money.   She decided not to tell her parents about this as it would probably shock them very much.  She knew they would be willing to help but her father was a clergyman and also far from well to do.  She decided to keep the baby's existence a secret and to support the child on her own, if she could. 

Bill's wife proved willing to help her with managing the birth and keeping it secret.. and Dorothy took some time off work to go out of London and have the baby in a private nursing home. She was tempted to tell her mother but refrained, believing that it was her problem and her burden to carry and that she should not shock and upset her mother and father. 

Her cousin Ivy (together with Ivy's mother) lived in the country and made a modest living looking after children whose parents were unable to care for them, so towards the end of her pregnancy, Dorothy decided to ask Ivy for help.   She knew that Ivy was an affectionate capable foster mother and would be good at looking after the baby, but she was part of the family so there was a slight risk of the secret slipping out to her parents.  Just before the birth she asked Ivy if she could take on another child, who would "not have any legal father" - but not mentioning that she was the mother.  

In early January 1924,  Sayers' son John Anthony was born and she told Ivy the truth, trusting her not to be judgemental and to keep the baby's parents secret.  After handing over the child, she returned to her job at Bensons. 

Sayers In London next part

 Dorothy became friendly with Bill White, a motor mechanic who came from a middle class family but was finding it hard to find steady work.  He got odd jobs selling cars or fixing them.. and had been visiting friends who lived in the same building as Dorothy.  She brought him home to meet her parents but while she had grown fond of him, it does not seem as if the affair was very serious on her part, but she was lonely and had been upset by the end of her relationship with Cournous, who had treated her badly.  He had aroused her sexually yet frustrated her, and his behaviour had done a lot of damage to her self esteem.

She liked Bill, who was good natured, and unpretentious.  He enjoyed the cinema, he taught her about motor bikes and cars and she was happy to take him to dances at Bensons.  However, having been involved sexually with Cornous, it was probably inevitable that her relationship with Bill would quickly become sexual.. in spite of her religious scruples.  

She rushed into what she saw as a light relationship which would cheer her up after Cournos' condescending behaviour and desertion.  Within a few months, however she accidentally became pregnant, in spite of using precautions.  She then found that Bill was a married man, who was in an on and off relationship with his wife.   Bill was far from well off and could not marry her..  and she realised that for a third time she had made a bad mistake in getting involved with a man. 

Sayers In London Spoilers for Whose Body

 Dorothy enjoyed her time in Bensons, the advertising agency, at first, though she later came to be dubious about the morality of advertising..  She loved to write, and at the time it was about clever writing, making slogans, and thinking up ideas to promote products.  She wrote copy for Colman's Mustard and may have invented the slogan "It Pays to Advertise".  She also wrote copy for Guinness.

She kept very busy with her work and her writing, believing that if she could do well out of "Lord Peter" books, she could eventually quit advertising and become a full time writer.  However her affair with Cournous was a difficult one and depressed her.   Eric Whelpton had flirted with her but he had made it clear that he was not seriously interested in her.. whereas Cornous did engage in a deeper way with her and she half believed that she might persuade him to marry her, although he claimed to be opposed to marriage.   He seems to have felt that he would only commit to her up to a certain point, and that he still did not wish to marry, but that if Dorothy was willing to become his mistress he might consider marriage. 

However he did not take into account the fact that outside Bloomsbury, most people did not agree with the new freedoms, especially for women.   Dorothy was cautious because she was essentially conservative and too religious to think of having an affair without a great deal of thought and stress.  Eventually she broke off with him, because she could see no future in the relationship, and Cornous went to America to promote his novels there.  

Sayers had written her first Lord Peter novel, "Whose Body" which was a little clumsy but well written and an enjoyable read.  Peter becomes involved in a murder case when his mother's architect, Mr Thipps, finds a dead body in his bathroom.  It seems that the body is that of a missing Jewish financier, Sir Reuben Levy, whose wife was a friend of Peter's ditzy, charming mother, the society hostess who is the Dowager Duchess of Denver.   Peter realizes that the body is not that of Levy, because he is not circumcised but the case takes quite a complicated investigation.  Peter finds that the murderer is a well known neurologist Julian Freke who was once in love with Lady Levy.. but he has substituted the body of a pauper for that of Levy, and dissected the victim's body. 

The novel did not sell as well as Dorothy hoped but it was a start and in her next book she created a case set in Yorkshire, and involving members of Peter's family,  his sister Mary and his brother the Duke of Denver.  In this novel,  there is a shooting party.. and Denis Cathcart is found dead, he was the fiancé of Mary.. and the Duke is accused of his murder but refuses to say where he was during the night. 

By now Dorothy was finished with John Cornous but she met a very different man, Bill White and "chummed up" with him... 

Sayers in London

 On her return to England, Dorothy was depressed by the end of her relationship with Eric Whelpton but she was always a positive person, and she threw herself into finding work.  She found a flat in Bloomsbury, and met up with old friends who were mostly writers and artists.  She would later use this as background for her novel "Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club" and "Strong Poison"...

She did occasional teaching jobs, and found some work translating French documents for  a Polish organisation..but money was tight and she was still dependent on help from her father.  At this stage, in the early 1920s, she met another man who would cause her a lot of heartache.  His name was John Cournous and he was of Russian origin but had spent many years in America.  He had made his way from poverty to working as  a writer and by the time Dorothy knew him, he was very much a part of the Bloomsbury set.  

She fell in love with him, and this time, her man friend responded but like Whelpton, he was not in love with her.  She was passionately attached to him but he cared a lot less deeply for her. 

Like Whelpton, he was rather pretentious and looked down on her interests such as reading detective fiction, doing crosswords and going to the cinema.  She enjoyed other pursuits but was not snobbish about intellectual matters.   She had begun to write her first Lord Peter novel and beleived that she had created a character (aristocratic detective) who would do well and make money for her.  

She then secured a job in an advertising agency, where her talent for writing would be useful and she hoped to write detective stories in her spare time, and give up the day job later.

Her relationship with Cornous was volatile.  They had some sexual contact but she was essentially a conservative minded girl who did not eagerly embrace the freedoms of the 1920s.. Sexual freedom for women was still a new idea and she was very religious.  Cornous however wanted her to become his mistress and said that he did not believe in marriage, or want children.. and that he wanted her to be ready to yield to him.  She wanted children..  and felt that it would be an unhappy relationship and sinful, if she became his mistress.   They argued about these issues, and Dorothy felt the strain of an unhappy love affair..  

She enjoyed her new job at the advertising agency, and continued to work on the Lord Peter books.....

Sayers after Oxford Part II

 Dorothy moved to France to take up her job with Eric Whelpton..  She enjoyed being with him and liked France.  Her French was excellent and she took some classes at the school when Whelpton was occupied elsewhere.  However while they were good friends and he flirted with her a little, he did not see her as a romantic partner.  She sometimes acted as escort for the pupils who were coming to France or back to London.  The work was not demanding and Dorothy began to read detective stories which were becoming increasingly popular.  She believed that she could write something of that nature, and make her fortune.. but Whelpton looked down on such light literature.  

He was fond of Dorothy and willing to make use of her devotion to him but she knew that he was involved with other women.. and eventually he fell in love with a married lady who was looking for a divorce and wanted to marry her.   However, his sophisticated persona was probably an influence in the creation of Lord Peter Wimsey who is similarly cosmopolitan and successful with women.  

Whelpton grew bored with his job, and began to plan for a move to Florence.  He offered Dorothy a chance to buy into his business and take over, but she did not do so.  She finally gave up the job and returned to England.. She decided to live in London and seek employment there but yet again she seemed to have reached a dead end.  The job with Whelpton and their friendship seemed to have ended, and she was now looking for work again.  

Sayers After Oxford

 On gaining her degree, Sayers took up a teaching post in Hull, and stayed for over a year. However, her experience of teaching was not that happy.  She was enthusiastic, but realised that most of the pupils had not learned very much and that it was difficult for someone like her, who had always loved studying and been well taught, to get down to their level.   She also knew that in her heart of hearts, she wanted to be a writer or dramatist, rather than teach even though at the time probably most women graduates ended up as teachers.  The War was still going on.  After a year, she returned to Oxford, where she had been so happy.  Her father had been helping her with a small allowance, until she was able to be self supporting and now he paid out a sum of money for her to become an apprentice learner in a publishing house.  She took up work at Blackwells, which was then a small but thriving business, and Basil Blackwell, the owner, who became a good friend, engaged to teach her all about the publishing process.  She was on a very small salary, but was so happy to be back in Oxford.  She felt she was much better suited to mixing with writers and artists, than with schoolchildren. She continued to write poetry, often on religious themes and had some work published.  

She enjoyed the social life in Oxford, seeing old friends - many of whom were also starting on a writing career and she met the famous Sitwell brothers who were poets.  Through one of her women friends, Doreen Wallace, she met a man called Eric Whelpton.  Like her he dabbled in writing, and was a Francophile who had spent some of his early life in France.  He had several health issues, due to his war service and Dorothy began to grow fond of him.  She moved into  a new boarding house where he was staying and their friendship developed.    He was more sophisticated, especially in sexual matters than the inexperienced Dorothy, and while he liked her very much, he did not seem to reciprocate her feelings... 

After 2 years in Blackwells, Dorothy left the job, because Basil Blackwell had moved on towards publishing school text books, and that left little outlet for her creativity. She continued to do some work for him, reading manuscripts and she made a little money tutoring but she seemed to be a standstill, career wise.  She didn't like teaching, and publishing had not worked out.  Her friendship with Whelpton was going nowhere.  Then he got a job in France teaching, and decided to set up a sideline business, arranging for English schoolchildren to go to France to learn, and vice versa.  He suggested that Dorothy might like to become his secretary and help him run the business, which would mean being based in the school in France, for a time.   Pleased at the idea of working with him, and having no real job prospects in Oxford, she decided to take up the offer....

Sayers At Oxford Part III

 Sayers enjoyed her years at Oxford though she later said that she never particularly wished for an academic career, that she preferred working outside Oxford.  

In 1914, during the summer break, she and a friend took a holiday in France and were caught out by the sudden outbreak of war.  Like many people in England she didn’t seem to be that well aware of how serious the international situation was, and during World War One,  she was busy with her student life and didn’t take much part in war work.  She and her friend got home safely and she returned to her studies.  But apart from helping to provide for Belgian refugees, she did not get involved with anything to do with the war.  

She had cousins who were in the Army and some of her women friends at Oxford had brothers who were serving.. but she had noone very close to her who was in danger. Her attitude was somewhat detached, which was common for civilians in the early years of the War.

When she finished her degree, she toyed with the idea of taking up some kind of work to help the war, such as nursing, but unlike her fellow writer Vera Brittain she did not follow through.  She talked of other social services but ended up deciding to get some experience in teaching.. which was the most common profession for women graduates. 

Sayers Part II

 Dorothy Sayers went to Godolphin School, where she studied until she went to Oxford.  She had mixed feelings about school.  She had never been away from home, or her parents and had usually mixed with older people.  The school had an emphasis on academic subjects but there were also games, which she enjoyed less. She had always loved music, writing and drama and at home had acted out scenes from her favourite novels including Dumas' Three Musketeers, and at school, she developed an even greater love of music, including singing and took part in plays and school entertainments.  She was good at languages and seemed as if she would end up as a teacher or a college lecturer. 

She made friends and kept in touch with her younger relatives by letter.  However she had some health problems and in her last year, got seriously ill and had to go home.. taking her final exams after she had left and been tutored by letter, by her teachers.  She had grown rather tired of the restrictions of school life, and noted that "everyone thought she loved school but she hated it"... 

After leaving school, she got a scholarship to Oxford, which she was to love much more than her school....

Sayers enjoyed her life at Oxford very much.  She was studying languages and she not only wrote poetry of her own but also translated works into different languages for enjoyment.  She made many women friends at Somerville College, many of whom also became writers and she remained friends with some of them for her life.  She also took part in musical activities and in acting.  The young women at Oxford were somewhat restricted in their social lives, much more so than male undergraduates.  They were new to the college, and it was expected that they would conform to almost Victorian standards of propriety, in order to win the approval of male dons and academic men in general.  It was felt that learning made women unfeminine or even immoral but the girls seemed to accept their probationary status with good humour, rather than resenting it too much.  Dorothy would later say that the restrictions of undergraduate life for young women meant that they didnt learn much about men and were inexperienced when going out into the wider world.. but while at college she seems to have been happy enough with her life.  

Sayers Part I

 Dorothy Leigh Sayers became famous as a writer, one of the early women detective novelists and a poet.  She also wrote numerous plays about religious themes and was a well known lay theologian in her middle years.  She was born in 1893 to a clergyman, Henry Sayers in Oxford.  In childhood her family moved to a remote parish in the Fens, where there were relatively few middle class or gentry families.  So she grew up somewhat isolated from her contemporaries.  Her parents often had relatives living with them, such as elderly aunts or grandparents and Dorothy got on better with older people.  She sometimes shared lessons with other children... but in her teens she went to a good boarding school, to prepare for going to University.

She was a very clever child and enjoyed lessons and it was clear that she had the talents to do well at Oxford... though at the time Oxford did not grant full degrees to women.   Her family were not all that well off and Dorothy hoped to be able to earn her living.. unlike many girls of her class.  

Dorothy Sayers

 Havent been posting for a few weeks but I hope to write about Dorothy L Sayers, one of my favourite writers and one of the creators of the modern mystery story...