Notes |
- Description: Edward Fairley Stuart CLOETE (alias GRAHAM)
b. 23 Jul 1897, Paris, France
d. 19 Mar 1976, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Cloete, Stuart - Novelist & Author 1897-1976 - Biography http://www.stuartcloete.com/biography - Stuart CLOETE was born in France in 1898 to a Scottish mother and a South African father. (His ancestor had come from Holland with Jan van Riebeck to establish a settlement for the Dutch East India Company). He remembered his early years in Victorian Paris with sweet nostalgia, but the idea was shattered when he began his schooling in France and England. He never excelled academically and - in his own words ' - 'learnt almost nothing'. At the age of 17 CLOETE went straight into the army, and became one of the youngest commissioned officers and friends died, he survived four years of fighting in France and, for a while, was treated like a living lucky charm by the troops. He was seriously injured twice and experience amnesia induced by 'shell-shock' which was largely left untreated. In a mental hospital in London he met his first wife, a volunteer nurse, Eileen HORSMAN, and fell deeply in love, even inducing a second breakdown with aspirin and whisky so he could see her again. After recuperating in France, CLOETE acted on his compulsion to identify with the land of his ancestors. He became a successful farmer in the Transvaal in South Africa. But soon as he had established himself and achieved his aims he became restless again and began pondering a life as a writer. His eighteen year marriage floundered through growing incompatibility and CLOETE's infidelity. He sold up and left for England to become an author, leaving Eileen behind in South Africa. He recalled the decision to become a writer as the biggest gamble of his life. Bit as it turned out, he hit the jackpot with his first novel, Turning Wheels, published in 1937. It sold more two million copies, although it was banned in South Africa where it scandalised the authorities with it commentary on the Great Trek and a mixed race relationship. CLOETE was a prolific writer and went on to complete 14 novels and at least eight volumes of short stories. On the way to America to promote Turning Wheels, CLOETE met Tiny who later became his second wife. It was not love at first sight, but eventually he realised he had found a soul mate. Tiny enjoyed the fruits of his success as a highly acclaimed writer and was his faithful companion until his death in the Cape in1976. CLOETE lived through a period of unprecedented upheavals and in his autobiography, published in the early 70s, he pondered whether 'progress' was in fact a misnomer; it had ushered in colourless uniformity and even the threat of nuclear war. He also reflected on The chapters of his vagabond eventful and, in this view, incredibly lucky life.
://livesofthefirstworldwar.org/lifestory/1410086 - 1891 - Several years before (1891) Stuart's father had been jailed for fraud, relocated to France and changed the family name to GRAHAM. Stuart saw the decision to run as cowardly, and it became one example of a long line of disappointment that ultimately eroded his love for his father. He later changed his name back to CLOETE. 1905 - School Years in England and France 1905-1913 - He attended several schools in England and France due to his family moving around a lot. His parents finally settled in Condette in France when he was 12, and for a time he became a day pupil at a crammer in Bologne, before he was boarded at Laning in 1913. By his own accounts he was a bad student, and he was asked to leave a school in Paris for his habit of fighting. But generally he was not openly rebellions, and found ways to break the rules without being caught.
1914 Lived at School/College - Lancing College, West Sussex, England
1914 The London Gazette 22 September 1914 - Temporary, 2nd Lieutenant in the British Army, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, 9th Battalion.
1916 The London Gazette 14 September 1916 - Temporary, Lieutenant in the British Army, King's Own Yorks Light Infantry, 9th Battalion.
1916 August. He was wounded - shot by a sniper in the shoulder, during a major battle. It was impossible for CLOETE to describe the scale of death that he witnessed, but it was enough for him to refer to the war as a holocaust. After encounters with rotting bodies in the trenches, he was now sent to a casualty clearing station - were severed arms and legs were pile up to the ceiling, and the doctor's white coats had become scarlet with blood from waist to neck. Three days later he arrived in London to be nursed at King Edward VII's Hospital Sister Agnes, at 9 Grosvenor Gardens, before convalescing in Hove, Sussex. But the war took its psycological toll and, soon into his sick leave. CLOETE developed amnesia and woke up in a mental hospital. Therapy was not available and he recalled that even the 'shell-shocked' did not discuss their experiences among themselves. 'We had all been three and knew about it: the notice, the wounded, the stinking dead."
1916 The London Gazette Supplement 2 Oct 1916 - War Office - 2nd Lieutenant in the British Arm, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, 9th Battalion
1918 The London Gazette Supplement 19 February 1918 - 2nd Lieutenant in the British Army, Coldstream Guards, 2nd Battalion
1918 The London Gazette Supplement 1 July 1915 - Lieutenant in the British Army, Coldstream Guards, 2nd Battalion
1918 27 August - He was nearly fatally wounded on 27 August 1918 during the 2nd Battalion actions at St Ledger - he was shot four times in the back and groin. A long recovery period involved five operations, and while he did persuade a medical board to clear him for active service again, he did return to service before Armistice.
1918 Marriage - Edward Fairley Graham CLOETE married Eileen HORSMAN in 1918
1918 November 1918 - July 1919 Married his great love. In a mental hospital in London he met his first wife, a volunteer nurse. Eileen HORSMAN, and fell deeply in love, even inducing a second breakdown with aspirin and whisky so he could see her again. The couple married in secret in Brighton and honeymooned at an expensive hotel in England at the end of 1918. The marriage was formalised in Summer 1919 in London, even though parents on both side of the union were not pleased.
[1]
|