HESTER GATTY
Sassoon met his wife Hester Gatty in June 1933 at a pageant at Wilton celebrat- ing the tercentenary of George Herbert’s death. They spoke a little, and Sassoon recorded in his diary that she was “a charming young lady” who “looked delightful in a lavender coloured silk dress”. They did not see each other again until the September, when Sassoon noticed a beautiful young woman sat near Fitz House with a sketchbook. She came over and introduced herself, reminding him of their meeting months before. He asked her to dinner, and they both fell deeply in love in the coming months, with Sassoon writing in October, “I believe that my whole life has been a prepara- tion for the moment when I met you & know, in my soul, that we were made for one another. You, the first woman I have ever loved”. They married in a small wedding on 18th December 1933, Glen Byam Shaw was best man, with T. E. Lawrence, Rex Whistler and Geoffrey Keynes also in attend - ance. Two weeks after the wedding, on New Year’s Day, Sassoon inscribed the book offered opposite, before setting off on their honeymoon on January 26th.
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker