Where would you go?

Is 2022 that different from 1922? Imagine you wanted to escape England today, where would you go? Of course, it all depends on why you wanted to escape. If it was to get away from the political and economic situation – and it feels as bad as it has ever been at the moment – America or New Zealand could be possibilities. But if it was to get away from the English-speaking world, from appalling reviews and vitriol for an unacclaimed book? Perhaps France or Spain…

One hundred years ago this month, the bodies of a man and woman were found in a field in New Brunswick, New Jersey, laid out, side-by-side, with their feet pointing towards an apple tree. The calling card of the man, Rev Edward Hall, was placed at his feet. Torn up love letters between him and the woman, Mrs Eleanor Mills, were scattered around them. Both had been shot in the head with a .32-caliber pistol, the priest once and the member of his choir three times.

For some the story of Hall-M…

When I first started researching the life of Jolie Buck – the inspiration for Julie in Simon Called Peter – for my book, Utterly Immoral, I was asked if I knew of the cursed ring that was said to have bought misfortune to all those who wore it. It was suggested to me that Jolie, who died young; her mother, who committed suicide; and her grandmother who also died young, could all have suffered from the curse. As far as I can tell the story of the curse began with the murder of five o…

In my book Utterly Immoral I write about Robert Keable’s time in Zanzibar before the First World War. Keable’s first job after he was ordained a priest was to join the Universities Mission to Central Africa. While at Cambridge, and as a curate in Bradford, Keable had worked hard to raise both the profile of, and money for, the mission. At the end of 1911, aged 24 he travelled out to Zanzibar having been appointed as a mission priest as well as a tutor and Vice Principal of St. Andre…

Last week I went to see the Chichester version of the musical South Pacific, currently playing at Sadler’s Wells. It was a fantastic performance which I hugely enjoyed. Afterwards  I realised there were some clear similarities between the plot of South Pacific and Robert Keable’s life. Watching the play made me think about the reaction of his family and friends to his behaviour in Tahiti.

South Pacific

South Pacific is centred on a love affair between Nellie Forbush &ndas…

I explain in my book Utterly Immoral why Robert Keable’s novel Simon Called Peter was never made into a Hollywood movie and how Warner Brothers bought the rights to the sequel Recompense. It was the director Harry Beaumont who decided to cast Marie Prevost as Julie in the silent movie.

Julie was the nurse in both Simon Called Peter and Recompense who has an on-off-on-off affair with the priest. The inspiration for the character was Robert Keable’s girlfriend, and later common-la…

Robert Keable, who I write about in my book Utterly Immoral, was not known as a campaigning or political writer. However, he did write a couple of essays very critical of the government of his day and I have no doubt if he had lived longer, he would have spent more time campaigning on issues he felt strongly about.

His most political essay Slave, Serf, Citizen – And The Way Back was published in Blackfriars magazine in December 1920 soon after Keable had given up the priesthood. The es…

Although Utterly Immoral is finally published in November 2022 I have been researching the life and times of Robert Keable for a number of years. Back in 2017 I wrote an article for Your Genealogy Today magazine explaining some of the research that I had done. Below is an edited version of the article.

Robert Keable

Robert Keable was a priest and notorious novelist. He was also my grandfather. His bestselling novel Simon Called Peter, written in 1921, was banned in Boston and mentioned in…

In my book Utterly Immoral I write about Robert Keable’s experiences during the First World War working as a chaplain for the South African Native Labour Contingent. Almost 100,000 black labourers volunteered to serve with the SANLC in France with the first unit of 1,479 labourers arriving Le Havre in November 1916. Robert Keable, as a parish priest then working in Leribe in Basutoland, (now Lesotho), helped recruit men for the SANLC before volunteering himself.

As I explain in my book…

In Utterly Immoral I cover Robert Keable’s time in France during the First World War with the South African Native Labour Contingent. He only spent only one Christmas in France during the War. He was based in Le Havre with the SALNC who were kept in a closed compound, which they were usually banned from leaving except for work. Robert wrote about the experience in his book Standing By. He begins by describing, with undisguised bitterness, how Christmas was celebrated in France:

For thr…

Well, that was interesting. Three weeks ago (see Relatives of Robert Keable, Part 1, July 13^th, 2022) I detailed my plan to track down relatives of Robert Keable. Although most of my ancestors seem to have changed their surnames (lots of daughters taking their husband’s name) I decided to begin with everyone called Keable. From the BT website I found the addresses of fifty living in England and on Facebook there were another fifty. So I contacted 100 Keables out of the blue, either via Fa…