Raleigh Trevelyan (1923–2014)

World War II was a brutal and degrading war, but in some ways less so than in World War I. Because tanks and aircraft had made war mobile again, relatively few World War II soldiers had to engage in the sort of trench warfare characteristic of the Great War.

Except in Italy, where long trench battles were the order of the day. And nowhere was that worse than at Anzio, where Allied forces made a landing and then found themselves encircled. They were trapped in a perimeter so small that Germany show more artillery could hit any point in the Allied encampment, from the front lines to the hospitals and headquarters buildings back on the shore. The fights were deadly, boring, and sickening, as winter cold and rain sapped the troops' health. And diaries were forbidden, so there are few firsthand accounts from the trenches. This is one of the exceptions.

From a plot standpoint, it's an odd book that shows some of the characteristics of the British army of the time. It was much more class-conscious than the American army, so officers were taken from the educated classes, even if that meant sticking a twenty-year-old subaltern with only the slightest military training in charge of a platoon of men who were most of them older and more experienced than he was. Raleigh Trevelyan took charge of a front line platoon, watched most of his platoon destroyed, was wounded in the process, spend a long time behind the lines recovering, went back to the front with different troops, and was wounded again.

The first section was a terrifying, eye-opening description of the squalor, danger, and erratic decision-making on the front lines. This is, I think, tremendously valuable for anyone who wants to understand what it was like to be in the Anzio beachhead. The second section, about Trevelyan's recovery after he suffered his first wounds, I found far harder. Wandering around everywhere, falling in love at first sight, sneaking out of quarters -- it sounds more like a drunken spree than a soldier's story. Then it's back to the trenches, briefly, and then blooie -- end of story; Trevelyan was out of action for so long that his war was basically over. The middle section simply sounded like a boy out of control, and it doesn't teach much about the actual war. But for those who want to understand Anzio, the first section should be required reading. show less

What struck me most about the contents of Sir Walter Raleigh, a lengthy biography by Raleigh Trevelyan, was why a man so talented and so proactive in defending his country against all her enemies would have had his head chopped off for treason.

First observation: don’t make powerful enemies. Raleigh was a brilliant, exciting, unique individual. He was very literate, knowledgeable in many subjects, quick-witted, courageous, and virile: simply put, superior to most men. His great mistake was show more that he flaunted his talents, was exceedingly ostentatious in his attire, and strived always to sway people to his way of thinking. Raleigh rose rapidly in Queen Elizabeth’s court after the Queen became acquainted with him. Rarely allowing him to leave her sight, she bestowed upon him special economic privileges, heeded his advice as much as she did any councilor, and permitted him to select subordinates to implement his plan to establish an English outpost in North America. His enemies resented that he was not of noble birth. His disdain for them, exhibited especially by his dismissal of their malice, infuriated them. They circulated vicious stories about him. He was a liar, an opportunist, a thief, an atheist, a traitor.

Second observation: don’t underestimate the scorn of a woman. Elizabeth bestowed her favoritism on several virile young men during her lengthy reign: Robert Dudley (the Earl of Leicester), during the early years; Sir Christopher Dutton during the late 1570s and early 1580s; Raleigh; and, finally, Robert Devereux (the Second Earl of Essex). Raleigh’s downfall occurred after the Queen discovered that he had secretly married one of her maids of honor, whom he had impregnated. Elizabeth did not give her favorite courtiers permission to marry. Rarely did she permit a maid of honor to marry. Dudley had done so and been punished. Raleigh’s punishment was worse: several months in the Tower of London in 1592 and, after his release, banishment from the Court for nearly five years, although Elizabeth did permit him to lead an expedition to Guiana in 1595 to search for gold. It wasn’t until Raleigh’s worst enemy, Essex, had fallen substantially out of favor that Elizabeth allowed Raleigh back to Court, in June 1597; and he remained more or less in the Queen’s good graces up to her death March 24, 1603.

Third observation: a monarch’s will trumps justice. As Elizabeth’s death neared, Raleigh’s enemies filled the ears of their future king with incessant lies. Raleigh was selfish, disloyal, an atheist, dangerous. Everything about Raleigh, James I disliked. Raleigh fell instantly out of favor. The economic privileges that he had received from Elizabeth were withdrawn. Raleigh’s worst enemies were appointed to the Privy Council. James wanted above anything else a peace treaty with Spain. Because Spain hated Raleigh, he had to be eliminated. He was tried and conviction of treason before the end of 1603 for having consented to spy for Spain. He had been offered an annual pension of 1,500 pounds. (Unbeknownst to James at least two of his Privy Council advisors were receiving such pensions) Raleigh had refused the offer. The confederates of this treasonous act lied at Raleigh’s trial. It didn’t matter. He was sentenced to be hung, drawn, and quartered. James, fearing a public outcry, stayed the execution. He imprisoned Raleigh in the Tower, where he stayed for nearly 15 years.

Raleigh was released in 1617 on his promise to find and mine gold in Guiana. James, in serious debt, needed his treasury replenished. He warned Raleigh that he would execute him should Raleigh attack Spanish forces. (The desired peace treaty with Spain had been signed in 1604) Raleigh tried his best to avoid confrontation during his journey to Trinidad. An old man, he was too sick to journey up Guiana’s Orinoco River. That task fell to a subordinate, who lacked good judgment. Raleigh warned the subordinate not to engage the one Spanish village on the river. Attacked by a small Spanish reconnaissance party, he and his ill-disciplined men retaliated, took the village, and burned it. Various false accusations were made against Raleigh at his trial. None carried sufficient weight to convict him, Raleigh’s prosecutors concluded. But Raleigh had to be executed. The Spanish ambassador (James’s very close friend) and King Philip III demanded it. And James wanted it. He needed the 500,000 pound dowry that Philip had promised him should his son Charles marry Spanish royalty. Consequently, James lifted his stay of execution. For the trumped up verdict of Raleigh having committed treason by agreeing in 1603 to receive a pension from Spain for spying, Raleigh was beheaded October 29, 1618.

Although tedious at times due mostly to the book’s wealth of detail (which included many excerpts of Raleigh’s poetry), I found this biography well worth reading. show less

A look at the life of Julius Wernher and his descendants. Julius made a fortune in the diamond trade in South Africa. Following his move to England, he assumed the role of country gentleman at a grand estate, Luton Hoo, entertaining such illustrious personages as King Edward VII.

The beginning of the book was simply fascinating, offering insights into how the diamond trade began and worked. It was so interesting. However, the more the book delved into the deeper workings of the diamond show more business, the less interested I became.

For me, a major interest point in the book was Wernher's wife, Birdie, who later became Lady Ludlow. I think she was the most interesting character in the book. I absolutely did not like his daughter-in-law, Lady Zia, a daughter of Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia and his morganatic wife, Countess Sophie de Torby. His son, Harold, was an affable man and I greatly enjoyed the parts about him.

Good reading about a now little known family. show less

In 1942 the author, eighteen at the time, found a diary in the attic of a house in Essex where his family was staying. Full of vague references and hard to decipher misspellings, it included the words (translated from the original) "If I should be poisoned at last, and this book is found, it will explain everything. What bad fellows Tommy took up with, and encouraged him to poison his father and now trying to poison me."

It was the diary of Jimmy Mason the hermit, who had lived in that house show more until moving to a tiny hut[book:Cold Comfort Farm|92780] on a small patch of land he and his brother owned. He had died that year. Jimmy seems to have had some kind of social anxiety disorder. He lived alone and kept bees, though he was interested in local children and left them fruit and coins on the fence outside the property.

Trevelyan became obsessed by the diary and Jimmy's life. Over the years he transcribed the diary, interviewed everyone he could find who had known him or whose parents had known him, even consulting a psychic. At some point he happened to read a salacious story in a paper about how James Mason had been a farmer who, when rejected by his only love, vowed to never see another woman's face and became a hermit, living alone for the next fifty years. Trevelyan examines this too.

The forward by William Golding describes him as "observing Cold Comfort Farm from ground level" which certainly caught my interest, but ultimately Jimmy and village life weren't terribly interesting and I didn't finish. A blurb by Angus Wilson points out that it is "most fascinating as a chronicle of the growing obsession of a very enlightened, individual person, the author, with the life of a nearly illiterate, insanely individualistic obsessionist...a document both of psychology and of social history."

It was initially entertaining but ultimately I wasn't that obsessed and didn't finish. If anyone wants this, my copy is available. show less