John Davenport (critic)
John Lancelot Agard Bramhall Davenport (10 May 1908 – 27 June 1966) was an English critic and book reviewer who wrote for, amongst other publications, The Observer and The Spectator. He was a mentor to the critic Nora Sayre.[1]
Life
The son of Robert Davenport (known as "Robin" or "Arthur"),
After coming down from Cambridge, Davenport worked for
He was a close friend of
Davenport was renowned for his physical strength and willingness to employ that strength as a countermeasure to what he considered "impertinence" in others; he had been an all-in wrestler, as well as a noted boxer whilst at Cambridge, making a living for a time as a fairground boxer.[12] One anecdote (related slightly differently by Paul Johnson and Nora Sayre)[13][1] has him, whilst at either the Savage Club or the Savile Club, hoisting a man (per Johnson, Lord Maugham, the Lord Chancellor and brother of the author Somerset Maugham; per Sayre, a bishop) six feet into the air and depositing him upon a mantelpiece, from which descent proved complicated. Davenport was duly expelled from the club. In contrast to this bellicose approach, Davenport was considered "one of the most remarkable and talented men of his generation", with an "appreciation of literature ... equalled only by his insight into the wearisome condition of humanity" and "exhilarating" wit.[9]
In 1934, Davenport married Clemency (known as "Clement") Hale, a painter and set designer, daughter of Swinburne Hale, an American lawyer, and his wife Beatrice, née Forbes-Robertson, the niece of the actor Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson. Following their divorce, Davenport married Marjorie Morrison.[11] He had children from both marriages, including a son, Roger, an author.[14] In the 1960s, following difficulties with alcoholism, Davenport retired to the country where his mother lived, and died shortly afterwards.[15]
References
- ^ a b Sayre, Nora (10 April 1977). "John Davenport Remembered". The New York Times. p. 6.
- ^ a b The New Review, vol. 3, issue 31, 1976, pg 69
- ^ A Dictionary of Music and Musicians (A.D. 1450–1880), George Grove, Macmillan, 1889, pg 608
- ^ Symphonies, Alice Mary Smith, ed. Ian Graham-Jones, A-R Editions Inc., 2003, pg xi
- ^ Historical Dictionary of English Music: ca. 1400–1958, Charles Edward McGuire and Steven E. Plank, Scarecrow Press Inc., 2011, pg 310
- ^ British Women Composers and Instrumental Chamber Music in the Early Twentieth Century, Laura Seddon, Routledge, 2016, pg 25
- ^ "John Davenport (1908–1966), critic and pugilist". 16 September 2017.
- ^ "RootsWeb: DAVENPORT-L [DAVENPORT] Re: English [DAVENPORTS]". archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com.
- ^ a b "John Davenport " 1 Jul 1966 " The Spectator Archive".
- ^ Piepenbring, Dan (2 March 2016). "I Left Your Manuscript in a Cab, and Other News".
- ^ a b Pursued by Furies: A Life of Malcolm Lowry, Gordon Bowker, pg 1
- ^ Brief Lives, Paul Johnson, Random House, 2010, pg 88
- ^ Brief Lives, Paul Johnson, Random House, 2010, pg 89
- ^ "Chiswick's Local Web site". chiswickw4.com.
- ^ Brief Lives, Paul Johnson, Random House, 2010, pg 90
External links
- John Davenport at IMDb