Ford

FORD MADOX FORD (1873 - 1939)

Ford was the grandson of Ford Madox Brown, the painter, and was brought up in Pre-Raphaelite circles. He is one of the 20th century's greatest writers and his The Good Soldier (1915) is considered by many good critics to be the finest novel of modern times.

Ignoring the strong opposition of Violet Hunt (q.v.), Ford had enlisted in the army in 1915, despite being over-age at 42, and was commissioned in the Welch Regiment. He had two spells of duty in France but was invalided home for good on 15 March 1917. In early January 1918 he was moved to a training appointment in Redcar. For a time, he seems to have lived in a tent and washed in a bucket, so may have been quartered with troops on Redcar racecourse. On 6 January 1918, Ford says in a letter from the Welch regiment 3rd battalion HQ in Redcar, that he has just finished a poem 'Footsloggers': 'After all, few poets and no man of letters of my standing have been twice out to France actually on service and in the trenches without wangling any sort of job on the Staff, but just sticking it in the Infantry for love of the job.'

Later on, he was writing from Eston near Middlesbrough. Violet joined him, but relations became very strained. On one occasion, she scratched his face so badly that he had to go on sick leave rather than face the regiment. Ford in turn recorded his own feelings about some of these events in his great Parade's End tetralogy, where Violet is portrayed as Sylvia Tietjens. The novels mention Newcastle races, Bamburgh and Redcar sands with familiarity, as well as: 'Great black nights above the purple moors.'

In March 1918, Ford was attached to the staff and went all over the North of England, lecturing on the Ross rifle, and the causes of the war. Stella Bowen, whom Ford had met that spring, came to see him at Redcar in October 1918, and they watched what they thought was the last convoy to France sail out of Tees Bay. Ford's poem on the occasion is rather uninspired. Stella also came to Redcar for his birthday on 17 December for his birthday.

Ford, by now a captain, was gazetted out of the army on 1 January 1919, rather disgruntled and suspicious that he had not been asked to stay on as educational adviser to Northern Command with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. London had become a strange city to him, after his experiences of the war. He mentions that the shouts of the railway porters 'London only!' at Ashford, Exeter and (significantly) Darlington, would no longer apply to him.

Parade's End has a Yorkshire squire as hero, with his manor house at 'Groby'. This is actually Busby Hall, Carlton-in-Cleveland, the residence of Arthur Marwood (1868-1916), who had founded the English Review with Ford in 1908. Marwood was a cousin of Lewis Carroll (q.v.) and, like him, an accomplished mathematician. He appears in various guises in Ford's works (and in Conrad's Arrow of Gold) and is the model for Christopher Tietjens in Parade's End, just as his brother Sir William Marwood (1863-1935) is the model for Mark Tietjens. David Garnett (q.v.) recalled that Ford could waggle one ear on its own. As a boy, Garnett found this 'dreadful but fascinating'.

Myers Literary Guide:	The North-East
FORD MADOX FORD (1873 - 1939) Ford was the grandson of Ford Madox Brown, the painter, and was brought up in Pre-Raphaelite circles. He is one of the 20th century's greatest writers and his The Good Soldier (1915) is considered by many good critics to be the finest novel of modern times. Ignoring the strong opposition of Violet Hunt (q.v.), Ford had enlisted in the army in 1915, despite being over-age at 42, and was commissioned in the Welch Regiment. He had two spells of duty in France but was invalided home for good on 15 March 1917. In early January 1918 he was moved to a training appointment in Redcar. For a time, he seems to have lived in a tent and washed in a bucket, so may have been quartered with troops on Redcar racecourse. On 6 January 1918, Ford says in a letter from the Welch regiment 3rd battalion HQ in Redcar, that he has just finished a poem 'Footsloggers': 'After all, few poets and no man of letters of my standing have been twice out to France actually on service and in the trenches without wangling any sort of job on the Staff, but just sticking it in the Infantry for love of the job.' Later on, he was writing from Eston near Middlesbrough. Violet joined him, but relations became very strained. On one occasion, she scratched his face so badly that he had to go on sick leave rather than face the regiment. Ford in turn recorded his own feelings about some of these events in his great Parade's End tetralogy, where Violet is portrayed as Sylvia Tietjens. The novels mention Newcastle races, Bamburgh and Redcar sands with familiarity, as well as: 'Great black nights above the purple moors.' In March 1918, Ford was attached to the staff and went all over the North of England, lecturing on the Ross rifle, and the causes of the war. Stella Bowen, whom Ford had met that spring, came to see him at Redcar in October 1918, and they watched what they thought was the last convoy to France sail out of Tees Bay. Ford's poem on the occasion is rather uninspired. Stella also came to Redcar for his birthday on 17 December for his birthday. Ford, by now a captain, was gazetted out of the army on 1 January 1919, rather disgruntled and suspicious that he had not been asked to stay on as educational adviser to Northern Command with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. London had become a strange city to him, after his experiences of the war. He mentions that the shouts of the railway porters 'London only!' at Ashford, Exeter and (significantly) Darlington, would no longer apply to him. Parade's End has a Yorkshire squire as hero, with his manor house at 'Groby'. This is actually Busby Hall, Carlton-in-Cleveland, the residence of Arthur Marwood (1868-1916), who had founded the English Review with Ford in 1908. Marwood was a cousin of Lewis Carroll (q.v.) and, like him, an accomplished mathematician. He appears in various guises in Ford's works (and in Conrad's Arrow of Gold) and is the model for Christopher Tietjens in Parade's End, just as his brother Sir William Marwood (1863-1935) is the model for Mark Tietjens. David Garnett (q.v.) recalled that Ford could waggle one ear on its own. As a boy, Garnett found this 'dreadful but fascinating'.
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