Queer Places:
Netherby Hall, Drury Ln, Carlisle CA6 5PR, Regno Unito
Barford House, 17 Wellesbourne Rd, Barford, Warwick CV35 8DR, Regno Unito
University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 3PA
Plas-Y-Wern Lodge, Gilfachrheda, New Quay SA45 9ST, Regno Unito
Rock St, New Quay SA45 9PL, Regno Unito
Alastair Hugh Graham (27 June 1904 - 1982) was an honorary attaché in
Athens and Cairo, an Oxford friend of
Evelyn Waugh and,
according to Waugh's letters, one of his "romances".[1]
He is, together with Hugh Lygon,
considered the main inspiration for Sebastian Flyte in Brideshead Revisited.
He was a member of the Hypocrites'
Club. Alastair Hugh Graham followed Richard Pares as Waugh's friend of heart. Waugh called him Hamish Lennox in his writings, and said that "[he] had no repugnance to the bottle and we drank deep together. At times he was as gay as any Hypocrite, but there were always hints of the spirit that in later years has made him a recluse." Graham sent Waugh a naked photo of himself, leaning against a rock face, with arms outstretched, buttocks in full view, and with the text explaining the best way to drink wine: "You must tab a peach and peel it, and put it in a finger bowl, and pour the Burgundy over. The flavour is exquisite. With love from Alastair and his poor dead heart."[11]
Alastair Hugh Graham was born on 27 June 1904. His mother was a cotton
heiress from Savannah, Georgia, Jessie Low,[2][3]
while his father, Hugh Graham (1860-1921), was a British landed aristocrat of
the Graham baronets, the younger son of Sir Frederick Ulric Graham, of
Netherby, 3d Baronet (1820–1888) and Lady Jane Hermione Seymour (1832–1909),
daughter of Edward Seymour, 12th Duke of Somerset.[1]
Jessie Graham would later appear as Lady Circumference in Decline and Fall
and as Mrs. Kent-Cumberland in Winner Takes All both by Evelyn Waugh.[2]
Alastair Hugh Graham attended Wellington College, Wellington, Berkshire,
and then went to Brasenose College, Oxford University,[2][3]
where he met Evelyn Waugh around Christmas 1923 or slightly before.[4]
At Oxford Graham was part of the Hypocrites' Club with Waugh.[5]
Graham sent Waugh the photo of a naked man near a waterfall, asking Waugh to
"Come and drink with me somewhere".[1]
Netherby Hall was the Grahams official residence, but Alastair Hugh Graham and
his family lived in an early 19th century country house, Barford House,
Barford, Warwickshire, between Warwick and Stratford-upon Avon,[2]
and it's here that he had as a guest Evelyn Waugh. Graham was Waugh's closest
friend from 1924 to 1929.[6]
In Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh makes Charles Ryder remembering
"I had been there before, first with Sebastian more than twenty years ago on a
cloudless day in June...". According to Philip Eade and others,[2]
here Waugh is remembering his own love affair with Alastair Graham, started at
Graham's family home, Barford House, in 1923 when Graham was 19 years old.[1]
The same Waugh stated in his memories that Graham was the inspiration of Lord
Sebastian Flyte even more than Hugh Lygon. Moreover sometime the name Alistair
occurs in place of Sebastian in the manuscript of Brideshead Revisited.[7][2]
In Waugh's autobiography, A Little Learning... an autobiography (1964),
Graham appears under the name of Hamish Lennox,[2]
and Waugh said of him he was "the friend of my heart".[6][4]
When Waugh left Oxford one term short of the degree requirements in August
1924, he went to live with Graham in a caravan in a field near Beckley and
from there they went to Ireland for a vacation.[7][2]
It was after this travel that Graham converted to Roman Catholic Church.[2]
When Graham went to visit his sister and her husband in Kenya in mid-September
1924, the friendship between Graham and Waugh took a step back,[2]
but in August 1926, Graham, his mother and Waugh went to Scotland and upon
their return, Graham and Waugh went to France together with Richard Plunket
Greene. Around this time, Graham, who owned a small printing press and was
then apprenticed at the Shakespeare Head Press, printed Waugh's essay
P.R.B.: An Essay on the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood 1847-54.[4][2]
Alastair Hugh Graham was an honorary attaché in Athens, Greece, between
1927 and 1929,[3]
where Waugh visited him for the Christmas holidays.[4]
In Greece Graham lived with another attaché,
Mark
Ogilvie-Grant.[7]
In 1929 he was transferred in Cairo, Egypt, with Ogilvie-Grant and
Vivian Cornelius, and remained until 1933.[8][6][3]
From 1933 he lived as a recluse on the Welsh Coast, at Plas-Y-Wern Lodge,
Gilfachrheda.[6]
During World War II, Graham was attached to the US Navy.[6]
He died in 1982.[9]
My published books:
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- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alastair_Hugh_Graham