Poems by Francis Brett Young

Collection of typescript poems by Francis Brett Young, presented to Major James Kirkwood in November 1915. Poems are enclosed in an envelope titled 'Nairobi Municipality' with a manuscript note by Major Kirkwood stating 'presented to me by Brett Young with the remark that they might be of value someday'.

Major James Kirkwood (1879-1967) was born in Edinburgh on 11 December 1879. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1902. He was appointed Lieutenant in 1903, Captain in 1906, Major in 1914, and Lieutenant-Colonel in 1922. He married in Singapore in 1906 and was mainly in East Africa during the First World War. He was based in Madras, India during the 1920s. Major Kirkwood was stationed in Nairobi in 1915 where he met Francis Brett Young, the two men sharing a common passion for poetry.

Frances Brett Young (1844-1954) was born in Halesowen. His father was a doctor and his mother also came from a medical family so it was natural that Francis trained at Birmingham University to become a physician. He started practice at Brixham, Devon, in 1907 and married the following year. His wife was a singer and he accompanied her as well as setting poems to music for her. During the First World War he saw service in Africa in the Medical Corps but was invalided out in 1918, no longer able to practice medicine. The couple went to live in Capri until 1929 but travelled widely, including trips to South Africa, the United States and summers in the Lake District of England. They returned to live in England from 1932 and settled at Craycombe House, Fladbury, Worcestershire. At the end of Second World War he moved to South Africa, dying in Cape Town in 1954. His ashes were returned to England and are in Worcester Cathedral.

Published works include:
The black diamond (1921);
Black roses (1929);
Christmas box ;
The city of gold (1939);
Cold harbour (1924);
Dark tower (1914);
Deep sea (1914);
Dr. Bradley remembers (1938);
Far forest (1936);
The house under the water (1932);
The island (1944);
Jim Redlake (1930);
The man about the house (1942);
Marching on Tanga (1918);
Mr. and Mrs. Pennington (1931);
Mr Lucton's freedom ;
My brother Jonathan (1928);
Pilgrim's rest Poems 1916-1918 (1919);
Portrait of a village (1937);
Portrait of Clare (1927);
The red knight (1921);
Sea horses (1925);
They seek a country (1937);
This little world The tragic bride (1920);
White ladies (1935);
Wistanslow Woodsmoke (1924);
The young physician (1919) .

References: Literary Heritage, West Midlands, Francis Brett Young (http://home.freeuk.com/castlegates/young.htm ), accessed May 2002. Information about Major James Kirkwood was supplied by the depositor.

Open, access to all registered researchers.

Presented August 2018

Please see full catalogue for more information.

Description prepared by Mark Eccleston, September 2018, in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997

Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the Director of Special Collections (email: special-collections@contacts.bham.ac.uk). Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. Special Collections will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material

Material given to Major Kirkwood from Francis Brett Young in November 1915. It was then eventually inherited by Major Kirkwood's grandson, Douglas Lennam