The Alleynian 708 2020

THE ALLEYNIAN 708 | OUT OF THE ORDINARY

OPINION, INTERVIEWS & FEATURES

SPANISH FLU GAINED ITS NAME BECAUSE NEUTRAL SPAIN WAS NOT SUBJECTED TO THE SAME NEWS BLACKOUT AS THE OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES. IT WAS THEREFORE FROM THE IBERIAN PENINSULA THAT REPORTS OF A SHOCKINGLY LARGE DEATH TOLL STARTED TO EMERGE

SPANISH CONNECTION

In 1916, possibly because of the toll the war was taking on the staff, he returned, with Dorothy, to his alma mater, where he became an assistant master in the Classics Department. At this point, the pandemic enters the narrative. Starting in the spring of 1918, the so-called Spanish flu gained its name because neutral Spain was not subjected to the same news blackout as the other European countries. It was therefore from the Iberian Peninsula that reports of a shockingly large death toll started to emerge. A second, even more deadly outbreak of the influenza followed in the autumn. A characteristic of the Spanish flu was that it appeared to infect healthy young people, and one such victim was assistant master and teacher of Classics, Francis Fortescue. He died on 2 November 1918, just before the Armistice, at the age of 39. Dorothy was now a widow, but she did not stay single for very long. The documents in the Archives reveal that she and Classics master Philip Hope were married on 21 January 1919, less than three months after Francis’ death, and before probate was declared on Francis’ estate, which duly happened on 8 February 1919, leaving Dorothy nearly £1,000. It is possible that the unusual speed with which Philip and Dorothy married proved too much for the sensibilities of the College. In July 1919 they left Dulwich and moved to Southwold. Dorothy may have encouraged Philip to start the private tutoring business in their home, Craighurst, picking up connections forged by Francis during the four years he had coached in the town. Into the story now steps George Orwell. In December 1921, Eric Blair, who would later take the pen name by which he is universally known, left Eton College and returned home to his family, then living in Southwold. Eric’s father had retired from the Indian Civil Service, and Southwold had

Recent research on Old Alleynians who fought and died in the First World War has revealed a little-known story showing how the Spanish flu pandemic led to a Classics teacher from the College helping to launch George Orwell on his civil service career, says Calista Lucy , Keeper of the College Archives

A s College classrooms lie empty, and teaching and learning take place online, it is interesting to discover how a previous pandemic affected the lives of those in the school community. One story which colleagues and I have pieced together from documents in the Archives shows how the Spanish flu affected the lives of four people, including two members of the College Classics Department and a young man who would go on to become one of the 20th century’s most celebrated authors. The story came to light as we undertook research into the lives and deaths of OAs who fought and died in the First World War, preparing for the launch of our historical website Dulwich College. The Fallen of the Great War 1914-1918 (https://dulwichcollege1914-18.co.uk). We were on the lookout for mentions of the Spanish flu, which had spread like wildfire through the undernourished, exhausted and invalided population of Great Britain between 1918 and 1920. We felt certain it must have left its mark on the College, given that around 228,000 individuals died from it in Britain alone. We were surprised to find absolutely no mention of the pandemic in the Alleynian ; equally oddly, we could find no reference to it in the minutes of the Governors’ meetings. We wondered whether this might reflect an exhaustion with the subject of death, following the four and a quarter years of war which had claimed the lives of over 530 old boys, some not old at all, but still in their teens. During further research, this time for Patrick Humphries’ quatercentenary publication Cradle of Writers , we discovered the threads of a fascinating story featuring two

Dulwich College Classics teachers, together with that far- sighted prophet of 20th-century discord, George Orwell. And in this story, the Spanish flu plays a key role. Philip Hope, the first of the tale’s characters, was born in Staffordshire on 26 August 1869. His family moved from Stoke-on-Trent to London, where Philip was educated at University College School. He went to University College, London University, from 1886 to 1888 when he won a scholarship to King’s College, Cambridge. Taking a first class in the Classical Tripos in 1892, he went on to become a teacher in the Classics Department at Dulwich College in the same year. He was, at that time, unmarried. The second character, Francis Herbert Fortescue, joined the College as a pupil in 1895. Francis, who boarded at Blew House, was academically gifted, and was on the Classical Side at Dulwich. In 1898 he won an exhibition to Brasenose College, Oxford, to which he added a scholarship, also in 1898, and the Wordsworth Prize, in 1901, before becoming the senior Hulmeian Scholar and taking a First Class in ‘Greats’ in 1902. He followed his father into the Civil Service, coming 62nd in the entrance exam. He was appointed the Estate Duty Officer at Somerset House. In 1909 he married Dorothy Elsie Forbes Bassett, at St George’s Hanover Square. She was the eldest daughter of George Bassett, a solicitor in Southampton. In 1910 Francis resigned his post in the Civil Service to become an assistant master at Worcester Cathedral School. After a couple of years he and Dorothy moved to the Suffolk coastal town of Southwold, where he became a private tutor.

attracted them, as a few other Anglo-Indian families had settled there. The other attraction may well have been Philip Hope’s crammer. It had been decided that Eric should join the Indian Imperial Police. To pass the examination he would need to brush up on his Latin, English, History, Mathematics and freehand drawing, and would have to learn to ride. At Dulwich College during the war, Philip Hope had been a Second Lieutenant in the Officer Training Corps, which would have equipped him with additional skills he could pass on to a would-be Indian policeman. The exams lasted a week, and Eric received his highest mark in Latin: 1,782 out of a possible 2,000. He did less well in the riding exam, coming 21st out of 23 candidates. Overall, he acquitted himself well, coming seventh out of the 26 candidates who exceeded the rather low pass mark of 6,000 out of 12,400. He chose Burma for his posting, and would later draw on his experiences there when writing his novel Burmese Days (1934). Philip and Dorothy Hope retired, in time, to Surrey, where Philip died in October 1943. Dorothy then returned to Suffolk, where she died in June 1949. It is thought that Philip Hope, who was also the College Librarian, had significant influence on both PG Wodehouse and Raymond Chandler. This makes it likely that one Classics teacher from the College mentored three of the 20th century’s literary giants.

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