Charles Snow - Last Things

The only end, maybe, was in the obituary notices: that might be an end for those who read them, but not for oneself, who didn’t know.

Whether one liked it or not, one was propelled by a process of renewal, or hope, or will, that wasn’t in the strictest sense one’s own. That was as true, so far as I could judge first-hand, for the old as well as the young. It was as true of me as it was for Charles. Whether it was true of extreme old age I couldn’t tell: but my guess was, that this particular repository of self, this ‘I’ which felt and spoke for each of us, lived in a dimension of its own.

Whether this was a consolatory thought, I couldn’t answer to myself. It was, I thought, more humbling than otherwise. It took the edge off some kinds of suffering. It took the edge also off some kinds of conceit. But yet one had to think it – and this perhaps was a consolation or even a fighting shout – because one was alive.

Through the cloud-shielded afternoon, I began to walk back the way which we had come. It was a familiar way home, the last mile in each air journey, as it had been for Margaret and me, returning from holiday, the week before her father’s attempt to kill himself. Bridge over the Serpentine, trees dense beyond: I was walking, not thinking to myself, not acting like a camera, in something like the image-drifting stupor which came before one went to sleep. I wasn’t thinking of other homecomings to that house: or to any others (some forgotten, one didn’t remember in biographical terms) to which, once known as home, I had returned.

From the park I could see our windows, no lights inside, no sun to burnish them. There was no one at home. I didn’t feel any of the anxiety that had afflicted Margaret and me at other homecomings: and which I had been possessed by, without understanding, as a child running home along the road from the parish church. For that evening, all was peace.

It was certain that, in days soon to come, I should go home, those feelings flooding back, as alive as ever in the past, as I thought of cables or telephone calls. As alive as ever in the past. That was the price of the ‘I’ which would not die.

But I had lived with that so long. I had lived with much else too, and now I could recognise it. This wasn’t an end: though, if I had thought so, looking at the house, I should have needed to propitiate fate, remembering so many others’ luck, Francis Getliffe’s and the rest, and the comparison with mine. I had lived with much else that I would have had, and begged to have again. That night would be a happy one. This wasn’t an end.

(Who would dare to look in the mirror of his future?)

There would be other nights when I should go to sleep, looking forward to tomorrow.

1964–8

(From The Times (London), unless otherwise stated)

ELIOTOn June 14, 1964, Herbert Edward Eliot, father of Lewis and Martin, aged 89. [1] Local paper.

OSBALDISTONOn March 16, 1965, Mary, beloved wife of Douglas Osbaldiston. No flowers, no letters.

Death of English residentGeorge Passant of England died yesterday, July 26 (1965), at the house of Froken Jenssen, 15 Bromsagatan, aged 65. [2] Translated from Viborg local paper: the only mention of George Passant’s death.

GEARYOn August 7, 1965, Denis Alexander, beloved husband of Alison and dearly loved father of Jeremy and Nicolette, aged 51. [3] Time Magazine.

DAVIDSONOn January 20, 1966, Austin Sedgwick Davidson, Litt D, FBA, dearly loved father of Helen and Margaret, aged 77. Cremation private.

EDGEWORTHOn June 22, 1966, in University College Hospital, after much suffering gallantly borne, Algernon Frederick Gascoyne St John Seymour (Sammikins), 14th Earl of Edgeworth, DSO, MC, much loved brother of Caroline, aged 45. Funeral St James’s Church, Houghton, 2.00 p.m. June 26. Memorial Service, Guards Chapel, July 10, noon.

ROYCEOn February 7, 1967, at the Crescent Nursing Home, Hove, Lady Muriel Royce, widow of Dr Vernon Royce, mother of Joan Marshall, aged 86.

SCHIFFOn September 15, 1967, victim of an accident, David, beloved and adored son of his heartbroken parents, Azik and Rosalind, Lord and Lady Schiff, aged 12 years 11 months. Funeral, Central Synagogue, 11.00 a.m. September 18.

COOKEOn May 22, 1968, suddenly, Gilbert Alexander, CMG, husband of Elizabeth, aged 59.

GETLIFFEOn May 27, 1968, after a long illness, at his home in Cambridge, Francis Ernest, Lord Getliffe, FRS, adored husband of Katherine and dearly loved father of Leonard, Ruth, Peter, and Penelope, aged 64. Funeral private.

Died [4] New York Times , June 7, 1966 Lord (Francis) Getliffe, 64. British physicist, who was one of his country’s leading figures in radar and operational research in World War II: of lung cancer. US Medal of Merit. Adopted controversial stance over atomic warfare. Temporary difficulty (McCarthy era) over US passport, roused protests from leading US scientists. Was due to receive honorary degree, Yale commencement, on day of death.

ELIOT–CALVERTOn 12 July, 1964, at St Peter’s, Eaton Square, Lewis Gregory (Pat) Eliot, son of Dr and Mrs M F Eliot, to Muriel, daughter of Mrs Azik Schiff and the late Roy Clement Edward Calvert.

ROSE–SIMPSONOn November 12, 1964, in London, Sir Hector Rose, GCB, KBE, to Jane Barbara Simpson.

OSBALDISTON-HARDISTYOn December 6, 1965, Sir Douglas Osbaldiston, KCB, to Stella Hardisty, daughter of Mr and Mrs Ernest Hardisty, 526 Upper Richmond Road, Putney.

MRS PENELOPE ALTSCHULER to wed DR HIMMELFARB [5] Local paper Mrs Penelope Altschuler, daughter of Lord and Lady Getliffe, of Cambridge (England), announces her engagement to Dr David Ascoli Himmelfarb, son of Dr Isaac Himmelfarb and the late Rachael Himmelfarb, of Cleveland, Ohio. Both Mrs Altschuler and Dr Himmelfarb have had previous marriages.

ELIOT–SHAWOn January 4, 1967, quietly, Pat Eliot to Victoria Shaw.

HOLLIS-DOBSON [6] The Times of 29, 1968 In London, at St Mary-the-Virgin, Bayswater, Maurice Austin Hollis, to Diana, daughter of Mr and Mrs Thomas Dobson, of 16 Inkerman Road, Salford.

GETLIFFE-MACDONELLOn February 17, 1968, in Trinity College Chapel, Professor the Hon. Leonard Horace Getliffe, FRS, elder son of Professor Lord Getliffe, FRS, and Lady Getliffe, and Pauline, daughter of Professor and Mrs Macdonell, of 66 Madingly Road, Cambridge.

MR G S F GRESHAM and MISS N R ELIOT [7] Local paper The engagement is announced between Guy Stephen Falconbridge Gresham, only son of Colonel and Mrs Stephen Gresham, of Whissentdine Hall, Rutland, and 29 Halkin Street, and Nina Rosemary Eliot, daughter of Dr and Mrs Martin Eliot, The Tutor’s House, — College, Cambridge.

MANSEL–MARCHOn July 7, 1968, at St Cuthbert’s, Philbeach Gardens, Laurence Massinger Mansel, son of Mr Christopher Mansel, FRCS, and the late Mrs Mansel, of 16 Poulton Square, Chelsea, and Vera March, elder daughter of Dr and Mrs Charles March, of 27 Warwick Gardens, Kensington.

ELIOTOn January 28, 1965, at 81 Eaton Square, to Muriel (née Calvert) and Lewis Gregory (Pat) Eliot – a son (Roy Joseph).

GAYOn November 17, 1965, at Bury St Edmunds General Hospital, to Joyce (née Crawford) and George Harvey Laurence Gay – a son [8] The great-grandson of M H L Gay (Harold Harvey Laurence).