The Hypocrites Club at Oxford

“One of his [Harold’s] haunts was the notorious Hypocrites down beyond Christ Church, where the presiding spirits were Richard Hughes and Robert Graves… It was a boozing house where shove-halfpenny and dart playing were the fashion, where much beer was drunk…”
– Christopher Hollis in Oxford in the Twenties: Recollections of Five Friends

 

First founded in 1921 by John Davies Knatchbull Lloyd as an intellectual society, the Hypocrites Club (1921-1924) was swiftly transformed by Harold Acton and his friends into a hub of boisterous parties and unapologetic self-expression. The club became a drinking club, known for its party culture and “patently homosexual” behavior, according to Evelyn Waugh. Claud Cockburn, Waugh’s cousin, sums it up: “The Hypocrites Club was ‘a noisy alcohol-soaked rat-warren by the river.” The club’s motto, “Water is best,” taken from the first lines of an Olympian ode by ancient Greek poet Pindar, was meant to be ironic–members famously ignored this advice, embracing instead a culture of excess drinking that earned them their tongue-in-cheek name. However, the club was much more than just a drinking society–the Hypocrites Club also served as an important haven for queer expression at a time when homosexuality was criminalized in Britain. Its end, in fact, was due to a boisterous Victorian dress party, where members dressed as “vermillion-lipsticked choir boys, nuns, and powdered ladies”. For figures like Acton and certain members in his circle like Brian Howard, the club provided both refuge and a stage for unfettered individualism and escape. Though best remembered today for its raucous, fraternity-like energy, the Hypocrites Club also fostered lifelong friendships, artistic and literary connections, and showcases the rebellious spirit captivating the youth of the Roaring Twenties.

In this section of the exhibition, the Hypocrites club is a catalyst for exploring the lives of some of the people closest to Harold Acton, both as individuals and how their relationship with Acton began and evolved throughout their lives. With a specific focus on Robert Byron, Brian Howard, and Evelyn Waugh, this portion of the exhibition highlights the connections that influenced Harold Acton in his life and his writings, both in the Twenties and beyond.

Harold Acton in a group photograph with unidentified students at a party in Oxford, 1926

*Photograph:  ‘Harold Acton in a group photograph with unidentified students at a party in Oxford, 1926, [I.C.12.8.95-123.ov (digital copy)]
While this photo is not of the Hypocrites Club because it was shut down in 1924, it provides a visual of what many of the notorious club’s attendees may have worn and glimpse into what the general atmosphere may have been like. Harold is seen in the bottom row second to right, wearing an elegant black suit […?]. While more outrageous costumes were regularly encouraged, formal wear was common attire worn to events at the club. 

Harold Acton and Robert Byron at Oxford, 1922

*Photograph: Harold Acton and Robert Byron at Oxford, 1922. [I.C.12.8-122] Robert Byron (1905-1941), an English author, best known for his travel book, The Road to Oxiana, recounts his journey to Persia and Afghanistan with his colleague, Christopher Sykes. In Paul Fussell’s book, Abroad, he describes Byron’s book as “what Ulysses is to the novel between the wars, and what The Waste Land is to poetry, The Road to Oxiana is to the travel book.” Robert and Harold met as young boys at Eton College, and both went on to attend Oxford University. Robert enrolled at Merton College, while Harold attended Christ Church.  Harold and his Oxford circle had a reputation for being riotous and loud, however Byron, as described in  James Knox’s biography, was “almost invisible amid a shrieking crowd of vapid “Bright Young Things”, all busy chasing around London in honking vintage cars.” Despite their differring demeanors, Robert and Harold were close friends and exchanged many letters throughout the 1920s and 30s. In 1925, Robert’s signature appears in the Acton family’s guest book at Villa La Pietra. During World War II, he served in the British Navy and was killed when his ship was torpedoed in 1941.

Brian Howard early years at Eton, 1922

*Photograph: Brian Howard, February of 1928. [I.C.15.12.110-53_ov]
Brian Howard (1905-1958) was a British poet and key figure in both Oxford and Eton’s student clubs, as well as in London’s nightlife scene as a part of the designated ‘Bright Young Things’. Because of this, he was involved with many individuals in Harold’s circle, such as Evelyn Waugh and Nancy Mitford. In fact, he–along with Harold–were part of the inspiration behind Waugh’s character, Anthony Blanche, in Brideshead Revisited. Harold  and Brian had a complicated, on-and-off again, relationship throughout their lives. Mark Roberts, in his unpublished notes regarding writers at Villa Pietra (M.R. unpub. mss. 2006), often describes it as an “intense and perfervid rivalry.” They met at Eton College and were both part of the Eton Arts Society and in Oxford they were both members of the Railway Club and the Hypocrites Club. Their rivalry was mostly fostered through their writings. When Acton’s book Aquarium (1923) was released, Harold gloated that “Brian [was] horribly jealous that I should have had my poems published” (M.R. unpub. mss. 2006). As Howard became increasingly involved as a staunch anti-Fascist and anti-Militarist, later in the 1920s, they lost contact. In 1943, he allegedly saw Harold wearing his Royal Air Force uniform at the Ritz and after a confrontation, they had no further contact until October of 1951, when Brian wrote to Harold asking for advice on moving to Italy (M.R. unpub. mss. 2006). They began having guarded conversations, but not long after they started speaking again, Howard took his own life by overdosing after his partner died of accidental asphyxiation.

Howard was one of the several gay men involved with the Hypocrites Club, shown to have experimented with gender presentation and dress (see images in Martin Burgess Green’s Children of the Sun). He struggled with substance abuse, both alcohol and drugs, which is part of what ultimately led to his demise.

Evelyn Waugh at Oxford

*Photograph: Evelyn Waugh, December of 1924. [I.C.15.12.111c-87a_ov (digital copy)]
Harold Acton writing about Evelyn Waugh in Memoirs of an Aesthete says: “Though others assure me that he has changed beyond recognition, I still see him as a prancing faun, thinly disguised by conventional apparel. His wide apart eyes, always ready to be startled under raised eyebrows, the curved sensual lips, the hyacinthine locks of hair, I had seen in marble and bronze at Naples, in the Vatican Museum, and on fountainheads all over Italy.” (pg. 126)
Evelyn Waugh was a British novelist born in London, known for his book The Brideshead Revisited, drew inspiration from Harold and Brian Howard when crafting the main character Anthony Blanche. Waugh met Harold at Oxford, and they were both deeply involved with the Hypocrites Club until its end. According to a mutual friend, James Lord, author of Evelyn Waugh, a Biography (Harper & row, 1974), Acton and Waugh had a very close, possibly romantic, relationship, “the two of them could sometimes be seen rolling on the floor together, locked in a tight embrace.” Evelyn and Harold remained in close contact throughout their lives, often editing and critiquing each other’s work. Several of Waugh’s writings mention Harold. One examble can be found in the dedication for Decline and Fall which states, “To Harold Acton in Homage and Affection [.]” and Acton also appears in some of Waugh’s diary entries. Evelyn Waugh was equally important to Harold–he, along with Robert Byron, were the only two attendees at Waugh’s wedding to his first wife, Evelyn Gardner, and a photo of them remained on Harold’s bedside table up until his death.

– Tech Nix