A Devonshire dream
Kenneth Lindsay
The Elmhirsts of Darlington: The Creation of an Utopian Community Michael Young (Routledge & Kegan Paul £15)
Whatever the ideals and plans har- boured by Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst, indeed whatever the inevitable Petty differences among the administrators, the stark fact remains that Dartington exists and nothing in that part of Devonshire will ever be the same again. The well-equipped farms: the cattle-breeding centre (with over 5,000 members in Devon and Cornwall); the 2,000 acres of woodlands and forestry planned by the distinguished forester Wilfred Miley and, of course, Leonard; one of the most beautifully landscaped and in- timate gardens in Britain (thanks to Dorothy); the lovingly restored Great Hall, in which concerts and lectures attract thousands every year; the Dartington School (preparatory and senior); the Col- lege of Art and Drama (now recognised by the government); the Dartington Quartet and the Summer School of Music; the local industries of glass and pottery (via Bernard Leach) — these and much else are facts, not Utopia. Put in crude form several millions of American money are for ever invested in a lovely piece of England. Devonshire, unlike any other county, has a genuine cultural centre, not only for teachers, in the Devonshire building. The whole galaxy of resources is open to the public and the Public is encouraged to attend classes and take part in everything from gardening and Pottery to drama and dance. I feel it necessary at the outset to establish the facts of these achievements, which can be multiplied, because I disagree with Michael Young's subsidiary title, which includes the word 'Utopian'. Having made this minor criticism let me add that Michael Young is a distinguished sociologist, author of a seminal book The Rise of the Meritocracy, the originator of Which? and Where? (schools) and of The ki,Pen University. Perhaps he is too near to ve an objective appraisal of the Dar- tington venture; after all he was at the Dar- tIngton school and a favourite son; he has been a Trustee for over 40 years and he recently accepted a Life Peerage bearing the
name of Dartington, though, as he himself records, Leonard gracefully refused the same honour in 1946 from Prime Minister Attlee. But the compensations outweigh the danger of too close an affinity with the leading characters. He has had the in- valuable help of a young historian and the Dartington archivist. Nobody else could have had the goodwill and material resources. The result is a fascinating book, well written and illustrated. In one sense Michael Young is more competent to ex- patiate on the philosophy of Dartington than the Founders, who were always very busy realising their dream, which can never be analysed in 'matter-moulded forms of speech'.
So let me turn to the Founders and first Dorothy whose full name was Dorothy Payne Whitney. She was descended from an ancient and distinguished pilgrim family who settled in Massachusetts from England in 1635. Her father was Secretary of the Navy in the Cleveland government and was talked of as the leading Presidential can- didate. But he went into business and added to the wealth already derived from marriage with the Payne family. Dorothy inherited an immense fortune and the confidence to become a personality in her own right, her mother having died when she was six. 1 met her when I took the first Oxford debating team to the U.S.A. and stayed with her dur- ing the years 1922-23. She then was the widow of an outstanding American, Willard Straight, who died in the influenza epidemic while Secretary to Colonel House at the Versailles Peace Conference. Many of his friends told me that he himself might have become President. One of their sons Sir Whitney Straight became well-known in this country. Before his widely lamented death, Willard and Dorothy founded among other publications a weekly magazine The New Republic. Dorothy in- vited all the senior staff, including Walter Lippmann, to dinner at her beautiful house, built for Willard, every Friday night. I was often privileged to attend and can vouch for the wise contributions made by this reserved but resolute lady to the discus- sions. Dorothy's interests and ideas widen- ed every year especially in the field of
education. I quote now from an essay writ- ten many years later and read at her funeral service in 1969 at South Audley Street: 'We need great artists; but we need also to be artists in our own way — taking time to look at things around us; to listen, to feel, to relate one thing to another; to bring some order out of the chaos around us and to express in some form the unity and har- mony we feel. And this is why it seems essential at Dartington to provide oppor- tunities to develop the life of the imagina- tion and to offer it means of expression through the arts.' Here then was an unusual personality born into the genuine aristocracy of America.
Now Leonard. He was one of nine children of an American `squarson' (part squire and part parson). Two brothers were killed in the First World War and another has become Air Marshal Sir Thomas Elmhirst. After Repton, which he loathed as strongly as Robert Graves hated Charterhouse, he passed through Cam- bridge with only one hero, the philosopher Lowes Dickinson whose influence was not as lasting as that of Rabindranath Tagore whom he met and revered in India. His original visit to India was with the Y.M.C.A. but he became disillusioned with the Church and on advice from Tagore and others attended Cornell Agricultural Col- lege, paying his way through as most American boys do. By a lucky accident he met Dorothy Willard Straight, who was not only a generous benefactor but agreed to build a magnificent Student Union building at Cornell in memory of her previous hus- band.
Michael Young tells the story of their long courtship and finally marriage with great skill and delicacy. Leonard proved himself in her eyes by his devoted work in India with the rural College started by Tagore and financed by Dorothy, though she thought Tagore's philosophy a bit woolly. She was also grateful to Leonard for his devotion to her children, teaching them about ornithology, sailing and other hobbies. Leonard was always the practical man who never lost his love of nature and farming learned on his father's small estate in Yorkshire but he had no money.
The marriage of these two superficially different personalities was a great event, discouraged at first in America by Dorothy's oldest friends, but it worked and two more children were born in England. Ruth, the daughter, and her husband Maurice Ash are now Trustees of Dar- tington. Israel Sieff, of Marks and Spencer, who shared with Leonard the Chairman- ship of P.E.P. (itself founded at Dar- tington) described Dorothy and Leonard as `liberal pioneers in a dark age.' As pioneers in the Twenties and Thirties they were re- jected by local parsons and squires alike, partly because they were both innovators and partly because she was American, rich and radical. Anyway they have helped countless people, including refugees like the Ballet Jooss, and given Dartington an inter- national reputation.
Previous page
