Douglas Goldring
Douglas Goldring (1887-1960) was a British writer and journalist known for his contributions to early twentieth-century literature and his involvement in various literary movements. Born in Greenwich, England, he attended prestigious educational institutions, including Oxford University, where he encountered notable literary figures like W. Somerset Maugham. After leaving university, Goldring worked as an editor and coedited influential publications, including the English Review, before launching his own magazine, The Tramp.
His literary output included poetry, travel writing, and novels, with his first book of poetry published in 1910. Goldring's network included prominent authors such as Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, and D.H. Lawrence, reflecting his deep engagement with the literary circles of his time. During World War I, he briefly served in the army but later became a pacifist. He married Beatrix "Betty" Duncan and became part of the Irish literary scene, producing works focused on Ireland and travel.
Goldring's later career involved promoting socialist ideals through theater and literature and working as an editor for travel publications. He spent significant time in Europe and was involved in preserving architectural heritage in London. His memoirs of the 1940s provide insights into the literary community he was part of, making him a notable figure in the history of British literature.
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Douglas Goldring
Writer
- Born: January 7, 1887
- Birthplace: Greenwich,England
- Died: 1960
- Place of death: Deal, Kent, England
Biography
Douglas Goldring was born on January 7, 1887, in Greenwich, England. His father was an architect and had four older siblings. He attended the Felsted School, an Anglican boarding school, and Magdalen College Preparatory School. From 1906 to 1907, he attended Oxford University, where he met author W. Somerset Maugham. He dropped out of the university and worked in London as an editor at Country Life magazine. He also coedited the English Review with Ford Madox Hueffer (later Ford Madox Ford) before it folded. In 1910, he began his own magazine, The Tramp, which folded after one year, although it published pieces by many of the literati of his time.
The acquaintances Goldring made during his life form a list similar to a Who’s Who of early twentieth century British literature. He published his first book of poetry, A Country Boy, and Other Poems, in 1910 and the first of many travel books, Ways of Escape: A Book of Adventure, a year later. While working at the Max Goschen publishing house, Goldring published Ford Madox Ford’s Collected Poems (1913) and was instrumental in helping Wyndham Lewis launch Blast, the short-lived magazine of the Vorticist movement. The magazine published writing by Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot, as well as Vorticist art that drew on Cubism and Futurism and focused on showing movement in an image.
Goldring served a short time in the British army at the beginning of World War I before receiving a medical discharge; he later became a pacifist. In 1917, he moved to Ireland and married Beatrix “Betty” Duncan, with whom he had two sons. Duncan’s mother was a close friend of poet William Butler Yeats, and Goldring became part of the Irish literati. During this period, he produced two works on Ireland and two collections of travel-related verse, as well as two novels.
In 1919, he and his family returned to London, where Goldring became secretary to a Labor Party politician who became a lifelong friend. Pound helped him to continue publishing, and after meeting novelist Evelyn Waugh, who admired The Fortune: A Romance of Friendship, Goldring’s autobiographical novel with an overt socialist agenda, Waugh’s father’s publishing house, Chapman and Hall, became Goldring’s publisher.
Goldring visited Germany as a representative for Fight the Famine Council, where his novel, The Fortune, was translated into German. Goldring’s play, The Fight for Freedom: A Play in Four Acts, included a preface by French writer, pacifist, and communist Henri Barbusse. In Britain, Goldring found an outlet for his socialism by developing a People’s Theater and joining the London 1917 club, founded the year of the Russian Revolution.
Goldring helped D. H. Lawrence find an American publisher and he dedicated his antiwar novel, The Black Curtain, to Lawrence. He spent the 1920’s in Europe and divorced his wife in 1922. Three years later, he taught at University College of Commerce in Gothenberg, Sweden, for two years. In 1927, he moved to France with his second wife, Marlin Nordstrom.
The novels he wrote during the 1920’s lack heavy-handed political messages and by the end of the decade, Godring’s travel writing began to take precedence. In 1927, he became the editor of the Kitbag Travel Books, published by the firm of George Harrap.
In 1937, he organized the Georgian Group dedicated to preserving in eighteenth century London architecture. Of his final works, the memoirs of the 1940’s, The Nineteen Twenties: A General Survey and Some Personal Memories, South Lodge: Reminiscences of Violet Hunt, Ford Madox Ford, and the English Review Circle, and The Last Pre-Raphaelite: A Record of the Life and Writings of Ford Madox Ford, are most notable because they present a picture of the literati Goldring knew so well. He died in 1960.