View
1
Download
0
Category
Preview:
Citation preview
Du Maurier’s study © Jamaica Inn
Daphne du Maurier 1907 - 1989
If you were asked to think of an author who has written books with storylines based in Cornwall then Daphne du Maurier is the name most likely to spring to mind.
Daphne seized every opportunity to spend time at
Ferryside and it was here in 1931 that she wrote The
Loving Spirit, her first novel. This book, whilst not leading
to literary fame, led to her marrying the then Major
Tommy ‘Boy’ Browning who was so taken by the book
that in 1932 he sailed his motor boat to Fowey where he
met du Maurier, wooed her and married her three months
later in Lanteglos Church.
Browning had a stellar army career which at the end
of it saw him Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Arthur
Montague ‘Boy’ Browning, GCVO, KBE, CB, DSO. Early
in 1948 he became Comptroller and Treasurer to HRH
Princess Elizabeth and after she became Queen in 1952 he
became treasurer in the Office of the Duke of Edinburgh.
He retired in 1959 having suffered a nervous breakdown a
couple of years earlier and died at Menabilly in 1965.
The du Maurier family had holidayed in Cornwall throughout Daphne’s childhood and in 1926 her parents Sir Gerald and Lady Muriel du Maurier bought Ferryside, a house on the Bodinnick side of the river Fowey on the south coast of Cornwall.
Daphne Du Maurier
24
BEST OF CORNWALL 2020
In 1936 Daphne du Maurier joined her husband in
Alexandria where he had been posted and where by all
accounts she spent an unhappy 4 years. She returned to
England in 1940 and stayed with friends in Hertfordshire
where, in 1941, she wrote Frenchman’s Creek a tale of a
love affair between an English lady and a French pirate.
Frenchman’s Creek is a real creek on the Helford River which
is one of the most beautiful rivers in the country and well
worth a visit. (Boat hire available from Sailaway St Anthony
01326 231357).
On her return to Cornwall she rented a cottage at
Readymoney Cove in Fowey before, in 1943, moving two
miles to the west of Fowey to the magnificent Menabilly
on the Rashleigh estate which has been the inspiration
for Rebecca with the opening line ‘Last night I dreamt I
went to Manderley again.”. It was here that she wrote
The King’s General, My Cousin Rachel, The Apple Tree and
The Scapegoat. Daphne du Maurier lived at Menabilly until
1969 when she moved down the coast to Kilmarth which
was another house owned by the Rashleighs and where
she lived until her death in 1989. In a similar way that
Manderlay in Rebecca was based on Menabilly, the history
of Kilmarth was reflected in House on the Strand.
The book that established du Maurier as an author
was Jamaica Inn which was published in 1936. The tale
set high on Bodmin Moor was made into a film by Alfred
Hitchcock in 1938 since when there have been radio, stage
and television adaptations, the most recent being in 2014
when BBC One ran a prime time three-parter starring Jessica
Brown Findlay, Matthew McNulty and Sean Harris.
Daphne du Maurier’s novels with their romance, crime,
psychological intrigue and, in the case of The Birds, horror
have been much loved by filmmakers who to date have
adapted them into works for the cinema or television
screens well in excess of fifty times.
Jamaica Inn still exists and is situated literally just a
stone’s throw off the A30 at Bolventor (PL15 7TS). The Inn
was the inspiration for the novel when in 1930 Daphne du
Maurier stayed the night and went riding with a friend the
following day only to get lost when mist descended in the
late afternoon. Luckily their horses led them back to Jamaica
Inn where du Maurier stayed for a few more nights and
learned of the inn’s smuggling history which proved the
inspiration for her novel, Jamaica Inn.
In Jamaica Inn’s Daphne du Maurier Museum there are
many of the author’s personal items including her desk,
typewriter and several recently acquired letters written to
du Maurier or her husband by Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip,
Prince Charles and Field Marshall Montgomery. If you are
interested in the life and work of du Maurier then a stop at
Jamaica Inn is highly recommended.
The complete list of du Maurier novels is:
1931 The Loving Spirit
1932 I’ll Never be Young Again
1933 Julius
1936 Jamaica Inn
1938 Rebecca
1941 Frenchman’s Creek
1943 Hungry Hill
1946 The King’s General
1949 The Parasites
1951 My Cousin Rachel
1954 Mary Anne
1957 The Scapegoat
1962 Castle Dor
1963 The Glass Blowers
1965 The Flight of the Falcon
1969 The House on the Strand
1972 Rule Britannia
Jamaica Inn
Part of a letter from HM Queen Elizabeth II to du Maurier’s husband Tommy ‘Boy’ Browning © Jamaica Inn
25
BEST OF CORNWALL 2020
Recommended