70-578: Earl De La Warr ( / ˈ d ɛ l ə w ɛər / DEL -ə-wair ) is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain . It was created in 1761 for John West, 7th Baron De La Warr . The Earl holds the subsidiary titles of Viscount Cantelupe (1761) in the Peerage of Great Britain, Baron De La Warr (1572) in the Peerage of England , and Baron Buckhurst , of Buckhurst in the County of Sussex (1864) in
140-640: A Norman lieu-dit . This toponymic could derive from the Latin word ager , from the Breton gwern , or from the Late Latin warectum ( fallow ). The toponyms Gara, Gaire also appear in old texts cited by Lucien Musset , where the word ga(i)ra means gore . It could also be linked with a patronymic from the Old Norse verr . The barony and earldom are both pronounced "De La Ware", as in
210-421: A ménage à trois with journalist Evelyn Irons and Irons's lover, Olive Rinder. Irons had interviewed Sackville-West after her novel The Edwardians had become a best-seller. In 1930 the family acquired and moved to Sissinghurst Castle , near Cranbrook, Kent . It had once been owned by Vita's ancestors. This gave it a dynastic attraction as she was excluded from inheriting Knole and a title. Sissinghurst
280-438: A "scientific" approach backed up with quotes from Ellis and Carpenter allowed her to present her bisexuality as implicitly normal. Writing in the third person, Sackville-West declared "she regrets that the person Harold married wasn't entirely and wholly what he had thought of her, and that the person who loves and owns Violet isn't a second person, because each suits each other". Sackville-West presented her sexuality as part of
350-696: A British hospital. The family lived at 182 Ebury Street , Belgravia and bought Long Barn in Kent as a country house (1915–1930). They employed the architect Edwin Lutyens to make improvements to the house. The British declaration of war on the Ottoman Empire in November 1914, following Ottoman naval attacks on Russia, precluded any return to Constantinople. The couple had two children: Benedict (1914–1978), an art historian, and Nigel (1917–2004),
420-400: A Marriage , was not published until 1973. In the book she uses metaphors from nature to present her account as truthful and honest, describing her life as a "bog" and a "swamp", suggesting that her personal life was naturally unappealing and unpleasant. Sackville-West stated that she wanted to explain her sexuality, which she presented as being at the core of her personality. She wrote that in
490-464: A Marriage of the discovery and acceptance of her bisexuality as a teenager as the joyous "liberation of half my personality", suggesting that she did not really see herself as a woman with "deviant" sexuality, as this statement contradicted what she had written at the beginning of the book about her "perverted" sexuality. Johnson wrote that Sackville-West, in presenting the lesbian side of herself in terms that depicted Keppel as evil and Nicolson as good,
560-524: A collaborative endeavour. It was published in America but banned in the UK until 1974. The male character's name, Julian, had been Sackville-West's nickname when passing as a man. Challenge (first entitled Rebellion , then Enchantment , then Vanity and at some point Foam ), is a roman à clef with the character of Julian being a male version of Sackville-West and Eve, the woman he desires so passionately
630-662: A sickly semi-recluse. She persuaded Woolf that her nervous ailments had been misdiagnosed, and that she should focus on her own varied intellectual projects; that she must learn to rest. To help the Woolfs, Sackville-West chose their Hogarth Press to be her publisher. Seducers in Ecuador , the first Sackville-West novel to be published by Hogarth, sold only 1,500 copies in its first year. The Edwardians , published next, sold 30,000 copies in its first six months. The boost helped Hogarth financially, though Woolf did not always value
700-443: A tempting, if degrading, object of her desire. Sackville-West called for a "spirit of candor" in society that would allow for tolerance of gay and bisexual people. Much influenced by the theories promoted by sexologists like Magnus Hirschfeld , Edward Carpenter , Richard von Krafft-Ebing , Havelock Ellis and Sigmund Freud , Sackville-West sometimes wrote of her sexuality as abnormal and wrong and due to some psychological flaw she
770-523: A well-known editor, politician, and writer. Another son was stillborn in 1915. Sackville-West continued to receive devoted letters from her lover Violet Keppel . She was deeply upset to read of Keppel's engagement to Major Denys Trefusis. Her response was to travel to Paris to see Keppel and persuade her to honour their commitment. Keppel, depressed and suicidal, did eventually marry her fiancé, under pressure from her mother, though Keppel made it clear that she did not love her husband. Sackville-West called
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#1732782821342840-649: A wide array of famous lovers, including financier J. P. Morgan and Sir John Murray Scott (from 1897 until his death in 1912). Scott, secretary to the couple who inherited and developed the Wallace Collection , was a devoted companion and Lady Sackville and he were rarely apart during their years together. During her childhood, Vita spent a great deal of time in Scott's apartments in Paris, perfecting her already fluent French. Sackville-West debuted in 1910. She
910-484: Is Keppel. Notably, Sackville-West in Challenge defends Keppel against several of the insults Nicolson had applied to her in his letters to her; for example Nicolson often called Keppel a "swine" and a "pig", and in the book Julian goes out of his way to say that Eve is neither a swine nor a pig. In the book, Julian says that "Eve is not a 'little swine', she just has the weaknesses and faults of femininity carried to
980-622: Is first welcomed and accepted as a woman, as the Romani in the novel make no distinctions between the sexes. Ultimately Woolf satirizes Sackville-West's Romani fetish, as Orlando, an English aristocrat, prefers not to live in poverty as part of wandering Romani caravan in the Balkans, because the call of a settled life of the aristocracy at a country house in England proves too strong for her, just as in real life Sackville-West fantasised about living
1050-766: Is often named simply as "Lord Delaware". He served as governor of the Jamestown Colony in Virginia , and Delaware Bay was named after him. The state of Delaware , the Delaware River , and the Delaware Indian tribe were so-called after the bay, and thus ultimately derive their names from the barony. Many other American counties, townships, and the like derive their names directly or indirectly from this connection. Notable 20th-century descendants of George Sackville-West, 5th Earl De La Warr include
1120-564: Is the present holder's son William Herbrand Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst (b. 1979), nine generations away from the first Earl. The heir apparent's heir apparent is his son William Lionel Robert Sackville (b. 2014). Peerage of Great Britain The Peerage of Great Britain comprises all extant peerages created in the Kingdom of Great Britain between the Acts of Union 1707 and
1190-553: The Acts of Union 1800 . It replaced the Peerage of England and the Peerage of Scotland , but was itself replaced by the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1801. The ranks of the Peerage of Great Britain are Duke , Marquess , Earl , Viscount and Baron . Until the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999 , all peers of Great Britain could sit in the House of Lords . Some peerages of Great Britain were created for peers in
1260-554: The Bloomsbury Group . She felt herself to be sluggish of mind and she was never at the intellectual heart of her social group. Sackville-West's apparently Roma lineage introduced a passion for "gypsy" ways, a culture she perceived to be hot-blooded, heart-led, dark, and romantic. It informed the stormy nature of many of her later love affairs and was a strong theme in her writing. Sackville-West visited Roma camps and felt herself to be at one with them. Vita's mother had
1330-552: The Peerage of Scotland and Peerage of Ireland as they did not have an automatic seat in the House of Lords until the Peerage Act 1963 which gave Scottish Peers an automatic right to sit in the Lords. In the following table of peers of Great Britain, holders of higher or equal titles in the other peerages are listed. Those peers who are known by a higher title in one of the other peerages are listed in italics . The ranks of
1400-406: The Peerage of the United Kingdom . The barony De La Warr is of the second creation; however, it bears the precedence of the first creation, 1299, and has done so since shortly after the death of William West, 1st Baron De La Warr . The family seat is Buckhurst Park , near Withyham , Sussex . The name de La Warr is from Sussex and of Anglo - French origin. It may have come from La Guerre ,
1470-642: The Rue Laffitte in Paris, and at Sluie, Scott's shooting lodge in the Scottish Highlands, near Banchory . Their secret relationship ended in 1913 when Vita married. Sackville-West was more deeply involved with Violet Keppel , daughter of the Hon. George Keppel and his wife, Alice Keppel . The sexual relationship began when they were both in their teens and strongly influenced them for years. Both later married and became writers. Sackville-West
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#17327828213421540-555: The 9th degree, but is also redeemed by a self-sacrifice, which is very feminine". Reflecting her obsession with the Romani people, Eve is portrayed as a seductive Romani woman with an "insinuating femininity" that Julian cannot resist, calling him away from his political mission of winning independence on a fictional Greek island during the Greek war of independence. Nicolson wrote in a letter to his wife: "Don't please dedicate it to Violet, it would kill me if you did". When Challenge
1610-608: The American state of Delaware . The subsidiary title Viscount Cantelupe commemorates the West family's descent from the Anglo-Norman Cantilupe family. In the fourteenth century Sir Thomas West married Eleanor, heiress of Sir John de Cantilupe. Their son, also Thomas, inherited Hempston Cantilupe and was the father of Thomas West, 1st Baron West . The barony De La Warr is of the second creation; however, it bears
1680-665: The British Embassy in Constantinople at the time. Another of Sackville-West's suitors, Lord Granby , had an annual income of £100,000, owned vast acres of land and was heir to an old title, Duke of Rutland . The couple had an open marriage . Both Sackville-West and her husband had same-sex relationships before and during their marriage, as did some of the Bloomsbury Group of writers and artists, with whom they had connections. Sackville-West saw herself as psychologically divided into two: one side of her personality
1750-593: The Foreign Office, no longer had a diplomat's salary to draw upon. She also had to pay tuition for her two sons to attend Eton College . She felt she had become a better writer thanks to the mentorship of Woolf. In 1947 she began a weekly column in The Observer called "In your Garden", although she was not a trained horticulturist or designer. She continued the very popular column until a year before her death, and writing helped to make Sissinghurst one of
1820-891: The Great War, and she has nothing to occupy her apart from her son Dan (the Jarrolds' heir, who is away at Eton), social events, and visits to her dressmaker. Vane-Merrick is a farming landowner and Member of Parliament, and is writing a book on economics. He represents new, progressive values and the male world of work and economic activity, and Evelyn Jarrold represents traditional values and the female world of family ties and social engagements. The characters of Viola and Leonard Anquetil in Family History are socialists, pacifists and feminists, thinly veiled versions of Virginia and Leonard Woolf . In Orlando , Woolf allowed Vita to finally "own" Knole, and in Family History , Vita returns
1890-477: The Kent home of Sackville-West's aristocratic ancestors. She was the only child of cousins Victoria Sackville-West and Lionel Sackville-West, 3rd Baron Sackville . Vita's mother, the illegitimate daughter of Lionel Sackville-West, 2nd Baron Sackville and the Spanish dancer Pepita (Josefa de Oliva, née Durán y Ortega), had been raised in a Parisian convent. Although the marriage of Sackville-West's parents
1960-498: The Lighthouse , noteworthy for its theme of longing for someone absent, was partly inspired by Sackville-West's frequent absences. Sackville-West inspired Woolf to write one of her most famous novels, Orlando , featuring a protagonist who changes sex over the centuries. This work was described by Sackville-West's son Nigel Nicolson as "the longest and most charming love-letter in literature." There were, however, tensions in
2030-472: The Romani represented a social element both familiar and strange; a people perceived and admired as flamboyant romantics while at the same time viewed and hated as shifty, dishonest types; a rootless people who belonged nowhere yet could be found everywhere in Europe, serving as a symbol for a sort of unconventional femininity. The picture Sackville-West held of the Romani was much influenced by orientalism , as
2100-456: The Romani were believed to have originated from India. The idea of a people who belonged nowhere, existing outside of the values of "civilization", held genuine appeal to her as it offered up the possibility of gender roles different from those held in the West. Sackville-West was English, but she invented Romani ancestry for herself on the Spanish side of her family, explaining her bohemian behaviour as due to her alleged "Gypsy" descent. Woolf
2170-592: The artistic peak of both women's careers, owing to the positive influence they had on one another: "neither had ever written so much so well, and neither would ever again reach this peak of accomplishment". In December 1922, Sackville-West first met Virginia Woolf at a dinner party in London. Though Sackville-West came from an aristocratic family that was far richer than Woolf's own, the women bonded over their confined childhoods and emotionally absent parents. Woolf knew about Sackville-West's relationship with Keppel and
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2240-412: The authors Lady Margaret Sackville , Vita Sackville-West , Nigel Nicolson and Adam Nicolson . Another member of the West family was William Cornwallis-West (1835–1917), who was the grandson of the Hon. Frederick West , youngest son of the second Earl. Cornwallis-West was the father of George Cornwallis-West ; Daisy, Princess of Pless ; and Constance, Duchess of Westminster . The heir apparent
2310-639: The books' romantic themes. The increased security of the Press's fortunes allowed Woolf to write more experimental novels such as The Waves . Though contemporary critics consider Woolf a better writer, critics in the 1920s viewed Sackville-West as more accomplished, with her books outselling Woolf's by a large margin. Sackville-West loved to travel, frequently going to France, Spain and to visit Nicolson in Persia. These trips were emotionally draining for Woolf, who missed Sackville-West intensely. Woolf's novel To
2380-493: The capital of the Ottoman Empire . Sackville-West loved Constantinople, but the duties of a diplomat's wife did not appeal to her. It was only during this time that she attempted to don, with good grace, the part of a "correct and adoring wife of the brilliant young diplomat", as she sarcastically wrote. When she became pregnant, in the summer of 1914, the couple returned to England to ensure that she could give birth in
2450-495: The coronation of Rezā Khan and got to know the six-year old Crown Prince Mohammad Reza well. She also visited and wrote about the former capital of Isfahan to see the Safavid palaces. Sackville-West's relationship with the prominent writer Virginia Woolf began in 1925 and ended in 1935, reaching its height between 1925 and 1928. The American scholar Louise DeSalvo wrote that the ten years while they were together were
2520-403: The distancing of their relationship in 1935. My friendship to Vita is over. Not with a quarrel, not with a bang, but as ripe fruit falls. But her voice saying 'Virginia?' outside the tower room was as enchanting as ever. Only then nothing happened. However, the two women reconnected in 1937 and remained close until Woolf's death in 1941. Your friendship means so much to me. In fact it is one of
2590-658: The ears of a new generation, one so infinitely more compassionate than her own?" Sackville-West was fascinated with and often wrote about the Roma people. As the British scholar Kirstie Blair noted, for her: "Gypsies represent liberation, excitement, danger and the free expression of sexuality". In particular, the Roma women, especially Spanish Romani women, served as a symbol for female homosexuality in her writings. As with many other female writers in this period, for Sackville-West,
2660-469: The future "it will be recognized that many more people of my type do exist than under the present-day system of hypocrisy is commonly admitted". Reflecting a certain ambivalence about her sexuality, Sackville-West presented her sexual desires for Keppel as both "deviant" and "natural", as if she herself was uncertain of whether her sexuality was normal or not, though the American scholar Georgia Johnston has argued that Sackville-West's confusion on this point
2730-614: The lovers ran off again to France together and their husbands chased after them in a small two-seater aeroplane . Sackville-West heard allegations that Keppel and her husband Trefusis had been involved sexually, and she broke off the relationship as the lesbian oath of fidelity had been broken. Despite the rift, the two women stayed devoted to one another. From 1925 to 1927, Nicolson lived in Tehran where Sackville-West often visited him. Sackville-West's book A Passenger to Tehran recounts her time there. The couple were involved in planning
2800-601: The major things in my life One of Sackville-West's male suitors, Henry Lascelles , would later marry the Princess Royal and become the 6th Earl of Harewood. In 1927, Sackville-West had an affair with Mary Garman , a member of the Bloomsbury Group; between 1929 and 1931, she maintained a relationship with Hilda Matheson , head of the BBC Talks Department. In 1931, Sackville-West was in
2870-496: The marriage her own greatest failure. Sackville-West and Keppel disappeared together several times from 1918 on, mostly to France. One day in 1918 Vita writes that she experienced a radical 'liberation', where her male aspect was unexpectedly freed. She writes: "I went into wild spirits; I ran, I shouted, I jumped, I climbed, I vaulted over gates, I felt like a schoolboy let out on a holiday ... that wild irresponsible day". The mothers of both women joined forces to sabotage
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2940-772: The most famous and visited gardens in England. In 1948 she became a founder member of the National Trust 's garden committee. The grounds are now run by the National Trust. She was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal from the Royal Horticultural Society . In the early 1920s Sackville-West wrote a memoir of her relationships. In it she sought to explain both why she had chosen to stay with Nicolson and why she had fallen in love with Violet Keppel. The work, titled Portrait of
3010-514: The nomadic life of a Romani, but in reality preferred the settled life in the English countryside. Orlando , which was intended as a fantasy where the character of Orlando (a stand-in for Sackville-West) inherits an estate, not unlike Knole (which Sackville-West would have inherited as the eldest child if she had been a man), ironically marked the beginning of a tension between the two women. Sackville-West often complained in her letters that Woolf
3080-463: The peerage are Duke , Marquess , Earl , Viscount , and Baron . Marquesses, earls, viscounts and barons are all addressed as 'Lord X', where 'X' represents either their territory or surname pertaining to their title. Marchionesses, countesses, viscountesses and baronesses are all addressed as 'Lady X'. Dukes and duchesses are addressed just as 'Duke' or 'Duchess' or, in a non-social context, 'Your Grace'. The last non-royal dukedom of Great Britain
3150-575: The personality she had been born with, portraying herself as an accursed woman who should be the object of sympathy, not condemnation. In 1973, when her son Nigel Nicolson published Portrait of a Marriage , he was uncertain if he was going to be charged with obscenity, going to considerable lengths to stress the legitimacy of a love for a person of the same sex in his introduction. Despite portraying herself as in some way "deviant" because of her feelings for women, Sackville-West also wrote in Portrait of
3220-422: The portrayal obvious enough to refuse to allow publication of the novel in England; but Vita's son Nigel Nicolson praises his mother: "She fought for the right to love, men and women, rejecting the conventions that marriage demands exclusive love, and that women should love only men, and men only women. For this she was prepared to give up everything ... How could she regret that the knowledge of it should now reach
3290-407: The precedence of the first creation, 1299, and has done so since shortly after the death of William West, 1st Baron De La Warr . The precise legal situation concerning the second creation is murky. The modern rules attempt to regularize medieval practice, but there are many cases that cannot easily be made to fit, whether because a local custom was involved, or because an exception was made, or because
3360-623: The relationship and force their daughters back to their husbands. But they were unsuccessful. Sackville-West often dressed as a man, styled as Keppel's husband. The two women made a bond to remain faithful to one another, pledging that neither would engage in sexual relations with their husbands. Keppel continued to pursue her lover to great lengths, until Sackville-West's affairs with other women finally took their toll. In November 1919, while staying at Monte Carlo, Sackville-West wrote that she felt very low, entertaining thoughts of suicide, believing that Nicolson would be better off without her. In 1920
3430-462: The relationship. Woolf was often bothered by what she viewed as Sackville-West's promiscuity, charging that Sackville-West's great need for sex led her to take up with anyone who struck her fancy. In A Room of One's Own (1929), Woolf attacks patriarchal inheritance laws. This was an implicit criticism of Sackville-West, who never questioned the leading social and political position of the aristocracy to which she belonged. She felt that Sackville-West
3500-456: The rules were still in flux. This is such a case because William West was heir male but not heir general . Because the original barony was created by writ , the descent is presumed to be to the heir (or heirs) general, and therefore it fell into abeyance between the daughters of Sir Owen West (and their heirs in turn). The second creation has been viewed in at least three ways: In United States history books, Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr
3570-818: The title, and was bequeathed instead by her father to his brother Charles, who became the 4th Baron . Sackville-West was initially taught at home by governesses and later attended Helen Wolff's school for girls, an exclusive day school in Mayfair, where she met first loves Violet Keppel and Rosamund Grosvenor. She did not befriend local children and found it hard to make friends at school. Her biographers characterise her childhood as one filled by loneliness and isolation. She wrote prolifically at Knole, penning eight full-length (unpublished) novels between 1906 and 1910, ballads and many plays, some in French. Her lack of formal education led to later shyness with her peers, such as those in
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#17327828213423640-499: The two grew close, Woolf disclosed that as a child she had been abused by her step-brother. It was largely due to Sackville-West's support that Woolf began to heal from the trauma, allowing her for the first time to have a satisfying erotic relationship. Woolf purchased a mirror during a trip to France with Sackville-West, saying she felt she could look in a mirror for the first time in her life. Sackville-West's support gave Woolf greater confidence and helped her cast off her self-image of
3710-444: The visitors' experience to discovery and exploration. Her first garden at Long Barn (Kent, 1915–1930) was experimental, a place of learning by trial and error and she carried over her ideas and projects to Sissinghurst, using her hard won experience. Sissinghurst was first opened to the public in 1938. Sackville-West took up writing again in 1930 after a six-year break as she needed money to pay for Sissinghurst. Nicolson, having left
3780-601: Was an Elizabethan ruin and the creation of the gardens would be a joint labour of love that would last many decades, first entailing years of clearing debris from the land. Nicolson provided the architectural structure, with strong classical lines, which would frame his wife's innovative informal planting schemes. She created a new and experimental system of enclosures or rooms, such as the White Garden, Rose Garden, Orchard, Cottage Garden and Nuttery. She also innovated single colour-themed gardens and design principles orientating
3850-472: Was an English author and garden designer . Sackville-West was a successful novelist, poet and journalist, as well as a prolific letter writer and diarist. She published more than a dozen collections of poetry and 13 novels during her life. She was twice awarded the Hawthornden Prize for Imaginative Literature : in 1927 for her pastoral epic, The Land , and in 1933 for her Collected Poems . She
3920-560: Was born with, portraying heterosexuality as the norm that she wanted, but failed to live up to. Several times, Sackville-West stated that she wrote Portrait of a Marriage for scientific purposes so people would be able to understand bisexual people, which would thus allow her, despite her self-condemnation, to present her sexuality as in some way normal. Several of the sexologists Sackville-West cited, most notably Carpenter and Ellis, had argued that homosexuality and bisexuality were in fact normal, and despite her condemning herself, her use of
3990-420: Was courted for 18 months by young diplomat Harold Nicolson , whom she found to be a secretive character. She writes that the wooing was entirely chaste and throughout they did not so much as kiss. In 1913, at age 21, Vita married him in the private chapel at Knole. Vita's parents were opposed to the marriage on the grounds that "penniless" Nicolson had an annual income of only £250. He was the third secretary at
4060-621: Was created in 1766, and the last marquessate of Great Britain was created in 1796. Creation of the remaining ranks ceased when the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was formed; subsequent creations of peers were in the Peerage of the United Kingdom . The last 8 (6 non-royal and two royal) people who were created hereditary peers (from 1798 to 1800) were: Currently none Vita Sackville-West Victoria Mary, Lady Nicolson , CH (née Sackville-West ; 9 March 1892 – 2 June 1962), usually known as Vita Sackville-West ,
4130-403: Was due to her wish to have this memoir published one day. In this regard, Sackville-West wrote of her deep desire and love for Keppel while at same time declaring her "shame" about this "duality with which I was too weak and too self-indulgent to struggle". At various times, Sackville-West called herself a "pariah" with a "perverted nature" and "unnatural" feelings for Keppel, who was portrayed as
4200-486: Was four years her senior. In her journal, Vita wrote "Oh, I dare say I realized vaguely that I had no business to sleep with Rosamund, and I should certainly never have allowed anyone to find it out," but she saw no real conflict. Lady Sackville, Vita's mother, invited Rosamund to visit the family at their villa in Monte Carlo (1910). Rosamund also stayed with Vita at Knole House , at Murray Scott's pied-à-terre on
4270-416: Was impressed by her free spirit. Sackville-West greatly admired Woolf's writings, considering her to be the better author. She told Woolf in one letter: "I contrast my illiterate writing with your scholarly one, and I am ashamed". Though Woolf envied Sackville-West's ability to write quickly, she was inclined to believe that the volumes were written too much in haste: "Vita's prose is too fluent". As
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#17327828213424340-458: Was initially happy, the couple drifted apart shortly after her birth. Lionel took a mistress, an opera singer who came to live with them at Knole. Knole had been given to Thomas Sackville by Elizabeth I, in the sixteenth century. The Sackville-West family followed the English aristocracy's inheritance customs, preventing Vita from inheriting Knole upon the death of her father; this was a source of life-long bitterness for her. The house followed
4410-484: Was inspired by Sackville-West to write her novel Orlando (1928), featuring a protagonist who changes sex over the centuries. Reflecting Sackville-West's interest in the Romani, when Orlando goes to bed as a man and mysteriously wakes up as a woman in Constantinople (which is implied might have been the result of a spell cast by a Romani witch whom he married), it is at a Romani camp in the Balkans that Orlando
4480-473: Was more feminine, soft, submissive, and attracted to men while the other side was more masculine, hard, aggressive, and attracted to women. Following the pattern of his father's career, Harold Nicolson was at various times a diplomat, journalist, broadcaster, Member of Parliament, and author of biographies and novels. After the wedding the couple lived in Cihangir , a suburb of Constantinople (now Istanbul),
4550-464: Was more interested in writing a fantasy about her than in returning her gestures of affection in the real world. Sackville-West's 1932 novel Family History tells the story of Evelyn Jarrold, a rich widow who married into a family which owes its recent wealth and social position to the ownership of coal mines, and her ill-fated love affair with Miles Vane-Merrick, a much younger man with progressive social ideas. Evelyn Jarrold's husband, Tommy, died in
4620-563: Was published in 1924, the dedication was written in Romani reading: "This book is yours, honoured witch. If you read it, you will find your tormented soul changed and free". Throughout their relationship, Keppel was given to threatening suicide if Sackville-West left her, a character trait shared by Eve, who finally drowns herself by walking in the sea when Julian is aboard a boat and too far off to hear her calling for him. The book's ending reflected Sackville-West's guilt about breaking her relationship with Keppel. Her mother, Lady Sackville, found
4690-461: Was the inspiration for the protagonist of Orlando: A Biography , by her friend and lover Virginia Woolf . She wrote a column in The Observer from 1946 to 1961 and is remembered for the celebrated garden at Sissinghurst in Kent , created with her husband, Sir Harold Nicolson . Victoria Mary Sackville-West — called Vita, to distinguish her from her mother — was born on 9 March 1892 at Knole ,
4760-624: Was the only way possible at the time to express this side of her personality, writing "even if annihilating herself seemed the only way she could present any type of acceptable self." The memoir was dramatised by the BBC (and PBS in North America) in 1990, starring Janet McTeer as Vita, and Cathryn Harrison as Violet. The series won four BAFTAs . Sackville-West's novel Challenge (1923) also bears witness to her affair with Keppel: Sackville-West and Keppel had started writing this book as
4830-521: Was unable to critique the system she was both a part of and, to a certain extent, a victim of. In the 1930s they clashed over Nicolson's "unfortunate" involvement with Oswald Mosley and the New Party (later renamed the British Union of Fascists ), and they were at odds over the imminent war. Sackville-West supported rearmament while Woolf remained loyal to her pacifism; this contributed to
4900-498: Was wooed by Orazio Pucci, son of a distinguished Florentine family; by Lord Granby (later 9th Duke of Rutland) ; and by Lord Lascelles (later 6th Earl of Harewood) , among others. In 1924 she had a passionate affair with historian Geoffrey Scott . Scott's marriage collapsed shortly thereafter, as was often the fallout with Sackville-West's affairs, all with women after this point (as most of them had been beforehand). Sackville-West fell in love with Rosamund Grosvenor (1888–1944), who
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