Dates
Biography
Poet and writer Siegfried Loraine Sassoon was born on 8 September 1886 at Weirleigh, near Matfield in Kent. His mother, Georgiana Theresa Thornycroft, was from a prominent family of sculptors and artists, while his father, Alfred Ezra Sassoon, came from a wealthy Jewish merchant family. His father left home when he was seven and died soon after, so Siegfried and his brothers, Michael and Hamo, were raised solely by their mother.
Educated at Marlborough College (1902-4), Sassoon read law at Clare College, Cambridge (1905-6) but left before taking a degree, choosing instead to live the life of a country gentleman, fox-hunting, cricketing, playing golf, and reading and writing poetry. His early poems were printed privately and distributed chiefly among family and friends.
It was the onset of the Great War that propelled Sassoon from a life of relative idleness and luxury into his role as soldier-poet and vitriolic critic of the War. In 1914, Sassoon enlisted as a trooper in the Sussex Yeomanry. The following year, he was commissioned in the Royal Welch Fusiliers and sent to France, where his bravery earned him the nickname 'Mad Jack'. In June 1916 he was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry in action. In April 1917, however, he was wounded in the shoulder, and while recuperating in England wrote his 'Soldier's Declaration', a statement in protest against the continuation of the War, calling for a negotiated peace. Sensitive to the needless suffering of his men, affected by the deaths of close friend, David Thomas, and of his younger brother Hamo (killed at Gallipoli in November 1915), and enraged with a sense that the conflict was being needlessly prolonged by those who had the power to end it, Sassoon had become increasingly disillusioned with the politics of the War. His protest statement was read out in the House of Commons and printed in 'The Times' in July 1917. Sassoon expected a court-martial; instead, due partly to the intervention of his friend Robert Graves, he was declared to be suffering from 'shellshock' and sent to Craiglockhart Military Hospital in Edinburgh. There he met the poet Wilfred Owen and became his friend and mentor. He also formed a friendship with psychologist and anthropologist William H. R. Rivers, who eventually helped persuade Sassoon to return to the front. In February 1918 he was posted to Palestine, but was sent back to France in May where he received a head wound which ended his direct involvement in the War.
During his time at the front, Sassoon wrote many of the war poems which were to establish his reputation as a poet. Caustic, bitter, moving and compassionate, his poems reflected the savage reality of war. These were published in a series of volumes entitled 'The Old Huntsman and Other Poems' (1917), 'Counter-Attack and Other Poems' (1918), 'Picture Show' (1919), and 'War Poems' (1919).
Throughout his life Sassoon continued to write and publish poetry. He also kept copious diaries, many of which later formed the basis of his prose work: the Sherston novels, a thinly veiled autobiographical trilogy based around the fictitious character George Sherston, beginning with 'Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man' (1928), and a second trilogy of true autobiography, beginning with 'The Old Century and Seven More Years' (1938). In 1948 he also published 'Meredith', his biography of the novelist and poet George Meredith. He remains best known, however, as a war poet.
Sassoon married Hester Gatty in 1933 and purchased Heytesbury House in Wiltshire. His marriage followed a series of homosexual relationships, most notably with artist Gabriel Atkin and socialite Stephen Tennant. His only son George was born in 1936, and his marriage dissolved a few years later. In 1957 Sassoon converted to Catholicism. He died in 1967 at the age of eighty.
In his lifetime Sassoon was honoured with a number of awards. In 1928 he received the Hawthornden Prize and the James Tait Black Prize for his book 'Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man'. In 1951 he was appointed CBE, while in 1957 he was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. He received honorary degrees from the Universities of Liverpool (1931) and Oxford (1965), and was made an honorary fellow of Clare College, Cambridge in 1953. He is among sixteen Great War Poets commemorated in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey.
Found in 58 Collections and/or Records:
Item
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.8905/10/S/14
Scope and Contents
From the Fonds:
Hassall died intestate. His working papers were taken to the Royal Society of Literature by his assistant Gillian Paterson, who arranged and (presumably) listed them. They were bought by CUL from Bloomsbury Book Auctions in 1992. They were housed in paper box files 1 25 and cartons A D, as listed. They have now been re boxed, in 28 boxes and one packet, which has involved some reorganisation of the material and hence some rearrangement and re numbering of the original list.
Dates:
7 Jun 1949
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
Item
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.8905/10/S/15
Scope and Contents
From the Fonds:
Hassall died intestate. His working papers were taken to the Royal Society of Literature by his assistant Gillian Paterson, who arranged and (presumably) listed them. They were bought by CUL from Bloomsbury Book Auctions in 1992. They were housed in paper box files 1 25 and cartons A D, as listed. They have now been re boxed, in 28 boxes and one packet, which has involved some reorganisation of the material and hence some rearrangement and re numbering of the original list.
Dates:
12 Jul 1949
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
Item
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.8905/10/S/17
Scope and Contents
From the Fonds:
Hassall died intestate. His working papers were taken to the Royal Society of Literature by his assistant Gillian Paterson, who arranged and (presumably) listed them. They were bought by CUL from Bloomsbury Book Auctions in 1992. They were housed in paper box files 1 25 and cartons A D, as listed. They have now been re boxed, in 28 boxes and one packet, which has involved some reorganisation of the material and hence some rearrangement and re numbering of the original list.
Dates:
23 Jun 1951
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
Series
Series
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.7973/S/4-S/77b
Scope and Contents
S/58-S/77b are poems written in Sassoon's hand unless otherwise stated. References are to Rupert Hart-Davis's edition of the 'War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon', London, Faber and Faber, 1983.
Dates:
1915-1918 (Circa)
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
Series
Series
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9963/57-65
Scope and Contents
From the Fonds:
Letters addressed to Gilles David in response to enquiries made in the course of researching a thesis on Siegfried Sassoon
Dates:
13 Oct. 1971-1 July 1974
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
Series
Series
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.8538
Scope and Contents
Typed poems stuck onto ruled bound notepaper with adhesive tape; interleaved with silicon paper by Cambridge University Library, 1985. Also some handwritten examples (specified below). Some poems have revisions in ink or pencil. Contents: Title page: /1r. Poems: - 'The Tasking' and 'Two Twinklings': /2r. - 'The Visitant' and 'The Question': /2v. - 'The Making': /3r. - 'The Darkness' and 'The Contention': /3v. - 'The Dispersal' and 'Faith Unfaithful' (both handwritten): /4r. - 'Can it be?...'...
Dates:
June 1954
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
File
File
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9877/1/2/1/1
Scope and Contents
Concerning Rachel Beer's illness.
Dates:
1927 (date inferred; marked 'Sunday')
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
File
File
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9877/2/5/3
Scope and Contents
Criticising Manning as a disciple of Eliot and enclosing the copy of 'Beyond the Terminus' he had received from Manning, adding annotations on page 25 (see MS Add.9877/2/5/1).
Dates:
1 May 1949
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
File
File
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9251/S/15
Scope and Contents
From the Fonds:
The correspondence consists of c.1100 letters, 1926-61, with the letters after 1959 addressed to Kendon's widow. The correspondents include Lascelles Abercrombie (1 letter, 1931); Ernest Altounyan (surgeon, Aleppo) (17, 1936-51); John Arlott (3, 1944); John Armitage (4, 1940-51); Henry Baerlein (3, 1945-56); Sir Ernest Barker (2, 1948-55); H.E. Bates (1, 1941); Clifford Bax (1, 1948); Adrian H. Bell (11, 1940-47); Ernest A. Benians (8, 1948); Anthony Bertram (2, 1948); Edmund Blunden (16,...
Dates:
24 Jan. 1955
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
File
File
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9877/1/4/1/5
Scope and Contents
Sassoon writes that she must be brave and that he longed to be with her.
Dates:
Nov. 1915-Dec. 1915 (date is inferred; marked 'Friday')
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
File
File
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9877/1/4/1/4
Scope and Contents
A brief letter stating that he was too upset to write but that they must keep their chins up.
Dates:
Nov. 1915-Dec. 1915 (date is inferred; marked 'Friday')
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
Series
Series
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.8856/330
Scope and Contents
Sends facetious verse 'Theme & variations' for 'The Lady Clare' magazine; published in 'The Lady Clare', Spring 1935, p. 53
Dates:
22 Jan. 1935
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
File
File
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.10304/47
Scope and Contents
Autograph. With an envelope addressed to Low by Sassoon, and a photographic print of the entrance to Heytesbury House.
Dates:
8 August 1946
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
Item
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9750/109
Scope and Contents
Photocopy.
Dates:
26 Apr. 1929
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
File
File
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9750/128-129
Scope and Contents
Includes letter from Sydney Giffard to John Wells (Archivist, Cambridge University Library), explaining the context of Sassoon's letter.
Dates:
1946-2010
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
Item
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9750/211
Scope and Contents
Concerning Siegfried Sassoon's financial affairs.
Dates:
12 Feb. 1965
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
Sub-sub series
Sub-sub series
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9852/12/2/2
Scope and Contents
From the Series:
This section contains a variety of material accumulated or produced by persons other than Sassoon but which has become appended to the collection. Much of the material is family related (e.g. belonging to Hester Sassoon or her mother Lady Katherine Gatty) or of literary interest (e.g. typescripts of Sassoon's diaries produced by Rupert Hart-Davis). The section also includes a copy of the script of a television drama about Sassoon, transcripts of Sassoon's letters to Rev. Mother Margaret Mary...
Dates:
1938-1948
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
Sub-Series
Sub-Series
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9877/1/3
Scope and Contents
For further letters sent by Sassoon in this collection, see MS Add.9877/1/6/1 (letters to Hester Sassoon) and MS Add.9877/1/4/1/4-5 (letters from Sassoon to his mother).
Dates:
1927-1962
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
File
File
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.10304/51
Scope and Contents
(1)-(2): Two letters from de la Mare, autograph and typescript signed, 30 December 1935 and 7 September 1942. (3)-(7): Five letters from Sassoon, autograph, 11 June 1938, 29 June 1954, 21 June 1955, 30 June 1956 and 18 July 1956.
Dates:
1935-1956
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
Series
Series
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9926/1
Scope and Contents
With related items, including notes by Tomkinson, press cuttings and photographs. Until September 1924 Sassoon addressed the correspondence to 'C. F. Tomkinson' in error.
Dates:
7 June 1922-22 Aug. 1945
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
Other level
Other level
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9877/1/6/1
Scope and Contents
Sassoon Sassoon married Hester Gatty (1906-1973) in 1933 and had a son, George. After some years, Hester took up residency on the island of Mull, with occasional visits to Siegfried at Heytesbury House, Wiltshire. These letters post-date their separation. Some are illustrated by Sassoon.
Dates:
1957-1966
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
Series
Series
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9862/1
Scope and Contents
The early letters chiefly concern Sassoon's admiration for Davie's collection of poetry Piers Prodigal, and his efforts to find a publisher for it and champion its reputation. The correspondence also mentions Sassoon's social and religious life, his health, and related topics. With enclosures including two letters from Margaret Villiers to Sassoon and versions of his Foreword for Piers Prodigal
Dates:
30 Apr. 1960-10 Mar. 1965
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
Item
Item
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.10106/1
Scope and Contents
The contents include autobiographical reminiscences and a Lister family tree, and accounts of friends and contemporaries, including Siegfried Sassoon, Philip Gosse, Clifford Bax, Geoffrey Keynes and Margaret Keynes.
Dates:
1954-November 1960
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
Most of the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
Access to the daybooks from 1980 onwards (MSS Add.10016/5-9) is restricted until 1 January 2040.
File
File
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9724/1/1
Scope and Contents
Notebook with inside title 'More poem's. by S. Sassoon. with illustrations', and inscribed 'For Mamsey. from Siegfried'. In two parts, with dates of 'October 20th', 'December 25th' and 'December 1897' at the front. Written in coloured inks, with crayon illustrations. Part one runs from folios /1-55r. A table of contents is at folios /2r-2v. It includes the following poems, mostly illustrated: - 'List, tis the twilight's shades descending': /3r. - 'The cold earth slept': /3r (adapted from a...
Dates:
Oct 1897 - Dec 1897
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
Series
Series
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.9862/3
Scope and Contents
'Rogation' and 'A Prayer at Pentecost'
Dates:
Mar. 1959-12 June 1960
Conditions Governing Access:
From the Fonds:
Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).