Leaving one’s home and going to college is a moment of self discovery, an adventure in which we come to recognize our future self. Harold Acton writes in his Memoirs of an Aesthete, “Oxford set me free [. . .] In many respects I was an un-English production but in one I was singularly English: I was adaptable […] and gradually entered a circle of lifelong friends.” (p.29)
Sir Harold’s intimate sitting room with its objects, photos and books leads into his bedchamber and private bathroom, a fitting location to display some of his personal effects from his college days. Considering the room’s location within the house, characterized by its southern exposure to the garden and its direct access to the children’s day nursery, it is likely that this was formerly the bedroom of the Acton boys. At the end of his life, Harold spent his final days here surrounded by his memories and mementos.
On display one can see a selection of Sir Harold’s personal effects. On the right side of his four poster bed, is a framed photo on the wall of the young Evelyn Waugh and his first wife, Evelyn Gardner. In addition, eight selected photographs show a young Harold Acton with three of his best mates from Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford University – Robert Byron, Brian Howard and Evelyn Waugh.
Harold, known for proclaiming verses from T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land (1922) with a megaphone on the balcony of his Oxford room, was strongly influenced by literary modernists like Gertrude Stein and T.S. Eliot, as well as being inspired by contemporary artists like Pedro Pruna and Picasso. Indeed his younger brother William, also at Oxford during this time, began to experiment with Cubist style in his painting, as seen in his Still Life published in The Eton Candle (1922). Harold’s copy of Aquarium (1923), sits nearby. It was his first book of poetry published by Duckworth and has a smartly rendered cover with a geometric Art Deco pattern. Two poems from Aquarium – “Fox-Trot (Dapper Dan)” (p. 39) and “My Home” (p. 36) – are on display. The first poem captures the syncopated and sometimes awkward movements of a dancer in the midst of dancing the Fox-Trot . The narrator’s body responds to the quick moving, upbeat sounds of the band. “My Home,“ both evocative and nostalgic, gives the reader the opportunity to see Harold’s childhood home through his mind’s eye. As he remembers these familiar spaces, the reader catches a fleeting glimpse of the Villa both indoors and out.
Resting on a small side table and on his favourite blue velvet wing back armchair, one can see Sir Harold’s formal attire with black patent lace up Oxfords, top hat, two types of bow ties, suspenders, walking stick and cutaway formal tailcoat. One can contrast this formal wear with Harold’s role in the popularization of what was known as “Oxford Bags.” In a photo of Harold with his classmate, and friend, Robert Byron, we see the two young Oxonians show off their wide leg trousers, bowler hats, and walking sticks. In 1924 Oxford had banned young scholars from wearing knickers, called “plus-fours” and the students rebelled by adopting trousers with wide legs and high waists. Some sources attribute the inspiration for this style to the pants worn by the Oxford Oarsmen rowing on the Thames. The wide leg pants permitted the athletes to wear their rowing shorts beneath. Others say the students wanted to conceal their knickers beneath the pants. Harold was always one for cutting a fine figure and at the forefront of this sartorial trend.
– Lisa Cesarani
