New Book - Five Love Affairs and a Friendship: The Paris Life of Nancy Cunard, Icon of the Jazz Age by Anne de Courcy (Pages 1 - 56)

 

First Published: April 28, 2022

This book is about the life of Nancy Cunard, who I have to say I had never heard of before. Nancy Clara Cunard was a British writer, heiress and political activist. She was born into the British upper class, and devoted much of her life to fighting racism and fascism. 

Nancy's parents were Sir Bache Cunard and Maud Alice Burke. Maud Alice, Lady Cunard (née Burke; 3 August 1872 – 10 July 1948), later known as Emerald, was an American-born, London-based society hostess. She was married to Sir Bache Cunard, 3rd Baronet, the grandson of the Cunard shipping line founder, Sir Samuel Cunard. 

hey lived at Nevill Holt. Nevill Holt Hall is a Grade I listed building, constructed before 1300. The Cunard shipping family owned the estate from 1876 to 1912 and Nancy Cunard (1896–1965), writer, anti-racism and anti-fascism activist, publisher and society hostess, was born here.

George Moore, who was Lady Maud's lover and a frequent visitor, was Nancy's friend all her life. George Augustus Moore (24 February 1852 – 21 January 1933) was an Irish novelist, short-story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist and dramatist. 

Nancy read the erotic novel Three Weeks by Elinor Glyn, which caused outrage in her mother but George Moore stood up for her. Elinor Glyn (née Sutherland; 17 October 1864 – 23 September 1943) was a British novelist and scriptwriter who specialised in romantic fiction, which was considered scandalous for its time, although her works are relatively tame by modern standards.

In 1911 Maud left Sir Bache because she had fallen in love with conductor Thomas Beecham and she and Nancy mmoved to London. Sir Thomas Beecham (29 April 1879 – 8 March 1961) was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. In 1909 or early 1910, Beecham began an affair with Maud Alice (known as Emerald), Lady Cunard. Although they never lived together, it continued, despite other relationships on his part, until his remarriage in 1943.

Nancy was sent to a school in London and befriended Iris Tree, who would become her greates friend. ris Tree (27 January 1897 – 13 April 1968) was an English poet, actress, and art model, described as a bohemian, an eccentric, a wit, and an adventurer.

Another of her friends was Diana Manners. Diana Cooper (née Lady Diana Olivia Winifred Maud Manners; 29 August 1892 – 16 June 1986) was an English silent film actress and aristocrat who was a well-known social figure in London and Paris.

Nancy and Iris led a life of excess and debaucheries. During the First World War, Nancy me Sydney Fairbarn, a young officer who was home on leave after being wounded at Gallipolli. Nancy and Sydney became engaged at Trent park and they married on 15 November 1916. Sydney George Fairbairn (13 October 1892 – 19 January 1943) was an English cricketer and British Army officer. The marriage did not last long. 

When Sydney was at the front, Nancy had a visitor, Peter Broughton Adderley, Sydney's fellow officer, and they fell in love. Nancy claimed that he was the love of her life, but he was killed shorly before the end of the war, leaving Nancy devastated.

Nancy caught the Spanish flu, and she and Sydney separated around this time. 

In 1919 Nancy rented a house in the countryside, Turks Croff in Sussex. St John Huchinson, a barrister, was a constant friend and companion for her. St John Hutchinson (8 April 1884 – 24 October 1942) was a British barrister and Liberal Party politician.

She had a brief love affair with Robert Nichols. Robert Malise Bowyer Nichols (6 September 1893 – 17 December 1944) was an English writer, known as a war poet of the First World War, and a playwright.