Jack Haines (Edward Thomas) manuscripts

Papers, [1903]-[1922], of Jack Haines relating to his friend, the writer and poet Edward Thomas, comprising manuscript and typescript poems and drafts of poems, 1914-[1916]; a book review, [1903]; and letters from Edward Thomas, 1915, and Helen Thomas, [1922].

Edward Thomas (1878-1917), poet and writer, was born Philip Edward Thomas in Lambeth to Welsh-born parents on 3 March 1878. He was educated at St Paul's School, London and Lincoln College, Oxford. Having left St Paul's, Thomas studied for the civil service examination, a move which expressed parental ambition rather than his own as he had reacted against the wordly views of his father, who worked for the Board of Trade and was prominent in Liberal politics. He was encouraged in his early literary ambitions by the critic James Ashcroft Noble and Thomas's first book, The Woodland Life, inspired by his love of the natural world, appeared as early as 1897. Thomas married Noble's daughter Helen (1877-1967) in 1899 and, having graduated from Lincoln College in 1900, made a precarious living as a literary reviewer for the Daily Chronicle whilst also writing essays, anthologies, guidebooks and folk-tales. He also published further books, including The Heart of England (1906), as well as biographical writings, most notably those on Richard Jefferies (1909), Maurice Maeterlinck (1911), Algernon Charles Swinburne (1912) and Walter Pater (1913). This period also produced his autobiographical works The Happy-Go-Lucky Morgans (1913), The Icknield Way (1913) and In Pursuit of Spring (1914). Possibly from an overwhelming feeling that his creativity was shackled and frustrated, Thomas at this time suffered recurrent physical and psychological breakdowns which once took him to the brink of suicide. It was not until 1914 that he wrote his first 'real' poem, entitled 'Up in the Wind'. The wartime collapse of the literary market at last afforded Thomas more time to write poetry; over a space of two years, he was to write over one hundred and forty poems. In 1915 Thomas joined the Artists' Rifles; he was commissioned second lieutenant in 1916 and volunteered for service overseas. In April 1917 he was killed during the first hour of the battle of Arras in northern France and buried the following day on the outskirts of the town; he therefore did not live to see the publication of his Poems (1917) (under his pseudonym Edward Eastaway), nor the subsequent Last Poems (1918) and Collected Poems (1920). His wife Helen wrote of their time together in As It Was (1926) and World Without End (1931). Thomas numbered amongst his poetical and literary influences Robert Frost, Thomas Hardy, W. B. Yeats, D. H. Lawrence, Walter de la Mare, and W. H. Davies.

John Wilton (Jack) Haines (1875-1960) was a Gloucester based solicitor, amateur botanist, poet and bibliophile. He was associated with the group of poets living in the vicinity of Dymock, Gloucestershire, during the Edwardian period, becoming a close friend of Edward Thomas and Robert Frost; it was Haines who later coined the phrase 'Dymock Poets' to describe the group. His own poetry was published in John Haines, Poems (London, 1921). He married Alice Dorothy Mary Woodroffe (1881-1956) in 1911 and they had one son John Robert (Robin) Haines (1913-1988), also a solicitor. Jack Haines died on 24 April 1960 in Gloucester.

Arranged according to NLW MSS reference numbers: NLW MSS 24122-24123.

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NLW MS 24122B: Bonhams; London; Purchased at auction, lot 290; 20 June 2018; 99884263502419.
NLW MS 24123D: Bonhams; London; Purchased at auction, lots 289, 291-294; 20 June 2018; 99884263502419.

Edward Thomas (1878-1917), poet and writer, was born Philip Edward Thomas in Lambeth to Welsh-born parents on 3 March 1878. He was educated at St Paul's School, London and Lincoln College, Oxford. Having left St Paul's, Thomas studied for the civil service examination, a move which expressed parental ambition rather than his own as he had reacted against the wordly views of his father, who worked for the Board of Trade and was prominent in Liberal politics. He was encouraged in his early literary ambitions by the critic James Ashcroft Noble and Thomas's first book, The Woodland Life, inspired by his love of the natural world, appeared as early as 1897. Thomas married Noble's daughter Helen (1877-1967) in 1899 and, having graduated from Lincoln College in 1900, made a precarious living as a literary reviewer for the Daily Chronicle whilst also writing essays, anthologies, guidebooks and folk-tales. He also published further books, including The Heart of England (1906), as well as biographical writings, most notably those on Richard Jefferies (1909), Maurice Maeterlinck (1911), Algernon Charles Swinburne (1912) and Walter Pater (1913). This period also produced his autobiographical works The Happy-Go-Lucky Morgans (1913), The Icknield Way (1913) and In Pursuit of Spring (1914). Possibly from an overwhelming feeling that his creativity was shackled and frustrated, Thomas at this time suffered recurrent physical and psychological breakdowns which once took him to the brink of suicide. It was not until 1914 that he wrote his first 'real' poem, entitled 'Up in the Wind'. The wartime collapse of the literary market at last afforded Thomas more time to write poetry; over a space of two years, he was to write over one hundred and forty poems. In 1915 Thomas joined the Artists' Rifles; he was commissioned second lieutenant in 1916 and volunteered for service overseas. In April 1917 he was killed during the first hour of the battle of Arras in northern France and buried the following day on the outskirts of the town; he therefore did not live to see the publication of his Poems (1917) (under his pseudonym Edward Eastaway), nor the subsequent Last Poems (1918) and Collected Poems (1920). His wife Helen wrote of their time together in As It Was (1926) and World Without End (1931). Thomas numbered amongst his poetical and literary influences Robert Frost, Thomas Hardy, W. B. Yeats, D. H. Lawrence, Walter de la Mare, and W. H. Davies.

John Wilton (Jack) Haines (1875-1960) was a Gloucester based solicitor, amateur botanist, poet and bibliophile. He was associated with the group of poets living in the vicinity of Dymock, Gloucestershire, during the Edwardian period, becoming a close friend of Edward Thomas and Robert Frost; it was Haines who later coined the phrase 'Dymock Poets' to describe the group. His own poetry was published in John Haines, Poems (London, 1921). He married Alice Dorothy Mary Woodroffe (1881-1956) in 1911 and they had one son John Robert (Robin) Haines (1913-1988), also a solicitor. Jack Haines died on 24 April 1960 in Gloucester.

The following sources were used in the compilation of this description: Gloucestershire Archives Online Catalogue <http://ww3.gloucestershire.gov.uk/CalmView/> [accessed 21 August 2018]; Ancestry WWW site <https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/> [accessed 21 August 2018>; John Haines, Poems (London, 1921).

Purchased with financial assistance from The Friends of the National Libraries.

Title based on contents of fonds.

August 2018.

Description compiled by Rhys M. Jones.

Usual copyright laws apply. Information regarding Edward Thomas and Helen Thomas copyright can be found at http://tyler.hrc.utexas.edu/ (viewed August 2018).

The papers remained in the possession of the Haines family until the 2018 Bonhams auction.

For further papers relating to Edward Thomas see NLW, Edward and Helen Thomas Manuscripts.

Published

Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru = The National Library of Wales