[Miscellaneous Ephemera and manuscript material] A Kipling Family Archive:

Rudyard Kipling’s sister ‘Trix’ and the Macdonald family, 1890-1987The archive, which derives from the Macdonald family, is described below in 45 entries, under six headings. It contains of material relating to the Kipling, Burne-Jones, Poynter and Baldwin families.A. Miscellaneous itemsB. Kipling’s sister ‘Trix’: Alice Macdonald Fleming (1868-1948)C. The Kiplings’ cousin Julius Frederick MacdonaldD. Miscellaneous correspondenceE. Miscellaneous ephemeraF. Family ScrapbooksIn good overall condition, lightly aged and worn.A. Miscellaneous items1. [Caroline Kipling’s will.] Typed copy of the ‘Last Will and Testament’ of ‘CAROLINE KIPLING of Bateman’s Burwash in the County of Sussex Widow’. 6 December 1938. 4pp., foolscap 8vo.2. [Kipling’s will.] Typed copy of the ‘Last Will and Testament’ of ‘RUDYARD KIPLING of Bateman’s Burwash in the County of Sussex’. 9 January 1936. 4pp., foolscap 8vo.3. Copy of card by the Kipling Society, ‘In Memoriam R.K. 18th Jan. 1936’. Containing a photograph and illustration of Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey, and a photograph of Kipling’s inscription there.4. C. W. Parish. Printed booklet titled ‘Mrs. Fleming’s Visit’. Printed by The Medici Society Ltd., London. Dated ‘Christmas, 1945 | Bateman’s | Burwash, Sussex.’ 8pp., landscape 12mo. Stitched. In brown printed wraps. Note inside front cover: ‘The following little article was written for the Kipling Society’s Journal and is here printed by courtesy of its Editor.’5. Copy of The Saturday Review of Literature (New York), 25 January 1936. Cover article by Henry Seidel Canby, ‘Kipling – the Great Colonial’.6. Basil M. Bazley, Hon. Editor, The Kipling Society. Typed Letter Signed (‘Basil M. Bazley’) to Mrs A. M. Fleming. On letterhead of the Kipling Society, London. 14 November 1938. 2pp., 4to. In envelope. He encourages her to write an article on Kipling’s ancestry for the Society’s journal. ‘No; I have not seen "British Social Life in India," nor have I ever heard of the author. But I have heard, from time to time, of silly remarks about Negro (in India!) ancestry, and being on the outer fringe of Simla society; whenever I have asked for details I have been put off iwht veague [sic] generalities. A woman who used to live near us here (now dead) said to me once that R. K. had touch [sic] of the tar-brush; I explained that that meant negro, i.e. African, origin, and asked how that has happened in India; she didn’t know, of course, and when I pressed for further "proofs" she relapsed into nonsense.’ He gives what he regards as ‘the real reason’ for ‘some people’s antagonism’ to Kipling, as well as two reasons given by Beresford why ‘a certain type of journalist attacked your brother’. ‘I have often been asked why your brother never came into the limelight like Shaw; I have always said, "Thank Heaven that he didn’t – it’s cheap." As our Journal has a world-wide, if small, circulation, it might be advisable to nail this lie once and for all.’ After personal news and thanks he concludes by telling her that there has been ‘a suggestion to found a Kipling Masonic Lodge’.7. Imperial Service College Chronicle. ‘Kipling Memorial Supplement’. April 1936. 24pp., 12mo. In brown printed wraps bearing the ownership inscription of ‘W. H. Young’. Containing eight articles laid down: obituary of George C. Beresford from the Kipling Journal; article by Desmond MacCarthy, ‘Rudyard Kipling, his place among English writers’ [Sunday Times, 19 January 1936]; Times obituary, 19 January 1936; offprint article (‘A Kipling Memorial’), Times, 26 June 1937; John Masefield’s poem ‘To Rudyard Kipling’ [Times, 23 January 1936]; letter by J. A. R. Marriott to editor, and poem by Dunsany, ‘To Rudyard Kipling’, Times, 21 January 1936; report, with photograph, of Kipling’s burial in Westminster Abbey [Times, 24 January 1936];review (‘Kipling at school’) of Beresford’s ‘Schooldays with Kipling’, Times, 16 June 1936.8. Carbon typescript of article by Mary Benson titled ‘Reminiscences of the Kipling Family’ 8pp., 4to. A version was published in Sunday Magazine, vol.35, pp.822-826.9. Typescript of untitled poem by ‘Rudyard Kipling. | Simla – June 2nd, 1885.’ 1p, 4to.Apparently unpublished. The first of the poem’s three stanzas reads: ‘As one who throws Earth’s gold away in scorn, | Holding Tomorrow shall refill his purse, | So he who spurned his brain’s light offspring, born | In prose or verse.’10. Two small black and white photographic images of a white-haired Kipling in cloth cap and his wife in a street. On one card, with ‘MOVIE SNAPS’ on reverse.11. Black and white photographic portrait by H. C. Messer of Salisbury on postcard. Inscribed on reverse: ‘To Mr. & Mrs. Kipling with love from Edward & Pamela Tennant. Jan. 1906.’ 12. Facsimile of letter by RK, dated from Naulahka, Waite, Vermont, 10 June 1896. 2pp., 8vo. On grey paper.13. Large black and white photograph of ‘"The Elms." Rottingdean.’ Mounted in 4to card bifolium with ‘A Home of Kipling’ in manuscript on front.14. Two small black and white photographs of a country estate. Captioned in pencil on reverse: ‘Entrance gate House 300 yds up’ and ‘Old Sundial’.15. Small black and white photograph (of ‘The Elms’?).16. Black and white reproduction of detail of Sir Philip Burne-Jones’s portrait of RK, mounted on brown card with stamp on reverse: ‘Photograph by W. H. Grove & Son, 73, Earls Court Rd, Kensington, W8.’17. Two small reproductions of a photograph of ‘R. Kipling on board the Walmer Castle outward bound for the Cape Jany. 1904’, talking to a group of children on deck. One apparently a plate removed from a book, the other on tracing paper. With typewritten matter attached.B. Kipling’s sister ‘Trix’: Alice Macdonald Fleming (1868-1948)18. Small autograph notebook by AMF. 23pp, 64mo (8 x 7cm). Grey printed cloth. Ownership inscription inside front cover: ‘Alice Fleming | Anglo Americano | Firenze. | Feb 28th. 1901.’ In pencil and ink. Mainly comprising original poems, including a sequence (titled ‘1933’) of fourteen numbered ones, the eleventh reading: ‘Grey smoke & fog & man-made mirk, | All build the City’s tomb: | But glorious Resurrections lurk | One inch beyond that gloom.’ A present are a few pages of addresses, and drafts of a business letter.19. Holograph poem by AMF, signed ‘A. M. F.’, titled ‘A Biography | 1865-1936’. 3pp., 8vo. Written on the model of her brother’s ‘St Helena Lullaby’, and consisting of nine four-line stanzas, each relating to a period of her brother’s life, and each of the first eight with a heading: ‘1865-1871. Bombay’, ‘1872-1877 Southsea’, ‘1878-1882 Westward Ho’, ‘1883-1888 Lahore’, ‘1889 – London’, ‘1899 – America’, ‘Burwash’ and ‘1936’. With pencil emendations. The second and third stanzas are revealing: ‘"How far is Poet’s Corner from a lonely bullied child?" | "A certain kind of wisdom is given when you weep: | And though the fog is round you – your Star is undefiled – | (How bitter is a stranger’s bread – a stranger’s stairs how steep!)’ and ‘"How far is Poet’s Corner from a clever boy at school?" | "So much to see, so much to learn, its very far to go: | But put your back in all you do, & cease to play the fool," | (When you’re done with Westward Ho, its Eastward Ho!)’20. Duplicated typescript of poem by AMF, titled ‘If’, written on the model of her brother’s celebrated poem. 1p., foolscap 8vo. With motto and subtitle: ‘"O God, why ain’t it a man?" – R.K. | (To a young C.O. now enjoying complete exemption)’. Typed note at end ‘(With due apologies to my brother, who wrote the original "IF," and who did not love shirkers.) | Alice Macdonald Fleming.’ Arranged in four eight-line stanzas, the first reading: ‘If you can keep your job when all about you | Are losing their’, [sic] because they’re soldiers now; | If no Tribunal for C.O.’s can flout you, | Or tilt the self-set halo from your brow; | If you hold forth, demand your soul’s pre-emption, | And play up conscience more than it is worth, | You’ll win your case, enjoy "complete exemption," | And – at the usual price – possess the earth.’21. [AMF’s will.] Typed copy of will of ‘MRS. ALICE MACDONALD FLEMING, wife of and residing with Lieutenant Colonel John Murchison Fleming, at Six West Coates, Edinburgh’. Made out by Murray, Beith & Murray, W.S., Edinburgh. Will of 9 July 1941, with codicils of 8 February 1943 and 5 November 1945; copy dated 1948. 5pp., foolscap 8vo, with covering page. Containing a reference to her cousin Angela Thirkell and her son’. With one pencil emendation. Together with a typed copy of ‘Informal Writings of Mrs. Alice Macdonald Fleming leaving Specific Bequests.’ Made out by Murray, Beith & Murray, W.S., Edinburgh. Addressed to ‘My dear Executrix and Executors’ and dated from 6 West Coates, Edinburgh, on 18 September 1947. 3pp., foolscap 8vo. Giving a good indication of her character. She begins by asking that when she is buried an inscription be put on ‘the little marble slab’ stating that she is the ‘ONLY DAUGHTER OF JOHN LOCKWOOD KIPLING, C.I.E.’, adding that ‘My husband often said he would like "the dear old man’s name on his Tombstone["]’. She asks that ‘Crossing the Bar’ be sung at her funeral: ‘the choir boys sing it so beautifully - | (I should like to give the boys, and the singing men (if they like) a copy of one of my brother’s books – prose or verse, as they choose – The 6/- edition is strong and well printed’. Regarding her ‘two faithful maids’ she writes: ‘My Husband suggested long ago that if Wilhelmina Calman and Mary Ann Sinclair were with us to the end, he would like to give them all the furniture of their own bedrooms, beds etc. – and also anything out of the kitchen they liked - | The Wedgwood dessert service – much mended – is the only china worth keeping. The other china and glass is to be divided between Mina and Mary – The house linen has run very low and I think it should go to Mary who has mended it so long. [...] To Colin McKenness [sic] the crayon drawing of a girl’s head by his great-grandfather, Burne-Jones, and the Persian enamel tray in drawingroom about 16th century which my father found in a pickle shop in Lahore Bazaar – a real curio.’22. Autograph copy by Julius Frederick Macdonald of a letter to Messrs Murray, Beith & Murray, W.S., Edinburgh. From 4 West Kensington Court, London W14; 30 November 1948. 1p., 8vo. Regarding ‘Mrs Fleming’s Executry’ and accompanying an autograph ‘Inventory of moveable or personal estate and effects’ and ‘Debts due by the Deceased’ (both 1p., 8vo)23. [AMF’s husband’s will.] Typed copy of will of ‘JOHN MURCHISON FLEMING late a Lietenant-Colonel in the Indian Army residing at Six West Coates, Edinburgh’. Made out by Murray, Beith & Murray, W.S., Edinburgh. Dated 16 October 1935. 2pp., foolscap 8vo. ‘I have nominated the said Rudyard Kipling as a Trustee and Executor as I thought my wife might be glad that he should act at least during her lifetime’. With typed copy of ‘Memorandum by Lieutenant Colonel John Murchison Fleming regarding Disposal of Specific Articles’ (‘Memorandum alluded to in my Will’). Made out by Murray, Beith & Murray, W.S., Edinburgh. Dated 1942. 3pp., foolscap 8vo. Giving instructions regarding the disposal of fifteen of his personal effects.24. Issue of Longman’s Magazine (London), December 1901, carrying on pp.158-159 the poem ‘Spion Kop’ by AMS (‘Mrs. J. M. Fleming’). Subtitled ‘(January 24, 1900.)’25. Two issues of Chambers’s Journal (London), carrying articles by AMF: ‘Some Childhood Memories of Rudyard Kipling’ (March 1939, pp.168-173) and ‘More Childhood Memories of Rudyard Kipling’ (July 1939, pp.506-511), both ‘By HIS SISTER (MRS. A. M. FLEMING). Both with ownership inscriptions of ‘Macdonald | 4 Belgrade Road | Hampton’.26. Two newspaper cuttings, the first (Times, 27 October 1948) a notice of the death of ‘ALICE MACDONALD, widow of LT.-COL. JOHN MURCHISON FLEMING and daughter of the late John Lockwood Kipling, C.I.E.’ (‘No flowers, no mourning.’) The second reports that ‘Mrs. Alice Macdonald Fleming, of Edinburgh, sister of Rudyard Kipling, left personal estate in England and Scotladn of £2,735.’27. Photographic plate (from book?) in black and white, a portrait of ‘Alice Macdonald Kipling ("Trixie") 1872 | "Judy-Baba."’C. The Kiplings’ cousin Julius Frederick Macdonald28. Twelve Typed Letters Signed and one Typed Note Signed to JFM from Donald B. Sinclair of Murray, Beith & Murray, W.S., Edinburgh. On the firm’s letterheads. Between 9 November and 30 December 1948. Totalling 14pp., 4to; 3pp., small 4to; 1p, landscape 12mo. All addressed to JMF at 4 West Kensington Court, London W14. The correspondence concerns ‘Mrs. A. M. Fleming’s Executry’ (the administration of his cousin’s will) and ‘Lieut. Colonel J. M. Fleming’s Trust’ (the sale of his cousin’s husband’s house, 6 West Coates, Edinburgh). Some items annotated by JMF. The second letter (11 November 1948) gives much information regarding the shop ‘Gifts & Gratitude’, 41 Roxburgh Street, Edinburgh, owned by AMF and managed by Miss Braidwood. The last letter concerns a bequest of copies of Kipling’s books to the ‘six men and sixteen boys in the Choir at the Funeral Service’ The reverse carries a ‘List of Kipling Books available’.29. Cutting from unattributed newspaper of death notice of ‘Rev. Frederick William Macdonald (Wesleyan Minister); aged 87 years. President of the Wesleyan Conference in 1899.’D. Miscellaneous correspondence30. 17 items of miscellaneous correspondence, addressed to members of the Macdonald family, 1890-1987. Totalling 32pp., 12mo; 7pp., 8vo; 1p., 4to. Authors: RK’s daughter Elsie Bambridge (transcribing her account of her father’s reaction to her marriage from Carrington’s biography); Monica Baldwin (describing the State Opening of Parliament, 1934); Sally Baldwin (Countess Baldwin of Bewdly); J. H. C. Brooking; Philip Burne-Jones (regarding Donald Macdonald’s application for the ‘Secretaryship of the Art Union of London’); Katharine Gossley; Lionel Hale; Reginald Harbord; Edith Macdonald; Florence Macdonald; Ambrose Poynter (two, one from 1890 and the other from 1919, the first including a pen ‘portrait of my too susceptible heart’); Sir Edward J. Poynter (two); Margaret A. Sinclair; Lance Thirkell; ‘Dorothy’.Florence Macdonald writes to an unnamed recipient, 14 March 1934: ‘I suppose Rudyard & Carrie are still at Cannes. I hope it will do them both good. Rud was very funny in a letter lately sympathizing with me in being dieted. It is quite true that the nicest things are forbidden.’ One of only two typed letter in the collection, from Lance Thirkell to ‘Betty’, 21 May 1985, contains this reference to RK: ‘My Mother destroyed the bitterest letter he ever wrote, and I think rightly. Ruddy’s son was killed in the War [...]. My Mother’s brother, Dennis Mackail, was one of GODS REJECTED, i.e. not physically fit to serve in the First World War. My Grandmother wrote a letter to Ruddy about the death of his son and received the bitter reply. "Yours is the greater loss". I think my Mother was right to destroy this letter.’Also present is are the 1935 autograph diary of Margaret E. Macdonald of Hampton, Middlesex, and an envelope addressed to ‘Miss F. Macdonald’ by Stanley Baldwin, with his initials in one corner, postmarked 19 June 1933.E. Miscellaneous ephemera31. Menu for ‘Rev. F. W. Macdonald’s Friends to meet The Right Honourable Joseph Chamberlain, M.P.’ Princes’ Restaurant, 4 July 1900. 3pp., 12mo. Card bifolium. Printed, with the American and British flags, in red, blue and gold.32. Printed order of service for the ‘Memorial Service for the late Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Bart.’, at Westminster Abbey. 22 June 1898. 1p., 12mo.33. Printed order of service for the Burial of Sir Edward John Poynter, Bart., G.V.C.O.’ At St Paul’s Cathedral, London, 30 July 1919. 7pp., 12mo. Stapled. Containing two loose cutting relating to members of the Poynter family.34. Ticket to the ‘Memorial Service for the Right Hon. Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, K.G.’, on 14 January 1948. On blue card with green stripe. In manuscript in top right-hand corner: ‘Family’.35. Printed order of service ‘In Memory of the Right Honourable the Earl Baldwin of Bewdley’, at Westminster Abbey, 14 January 1948. 8pp., 8vo.36. Booklet titled ‘Lord Baldwin. A Memoir’. (London: The Times Publishing Company, Limited, Printing House Square, EC4. 1947). 22pp., stapled.37. Invitation card to the Kipling Society Annual Luncheon, 25 October 1967. Signed by Kipling’s daughter Elsie Bambridge, and the guest of honour Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, and his wife Elspeth.38. Typed copy of 1911 accounts of the ‘ESTATE of the late JOHN LOCKWOOD KIPLING’, including ‘DIVISION OF THE NET ESTATE BETWEEN NEXT-of-KIN’. 1p., folio. Typed on reverse ‘Colonel Fleming’.39. Autograph family tree by Monica Baldwin on letterhead of Manor Cottage, Selsey, Sussex, with her signature at the end of the tree. Dated 24 February 1954. With note: ‘With all good wishes from your "Connexion By Marriage’.40. Unattributed drawing of a carved wooden bench, with dimensions. 1p., 12mo.41. ‘Lockwood Family Tree’ in a modern hand. 1p., 8vo. Note at foot: ‘Ruth Merry married William Lockwood, her daughter Frances married Joseph Kipling – their son John Lockwood Kipling married our Great Aunt Alice Macdonald. Their son Joseph Rudyard Kipling was therefore our first cousin, once removed.’42. Modern typed transcription of a letter ‘written jointly by Georgina Macdonald and Edward (Burne-) Jones to her brother Frderick’. 8pp., 8vo, with anonymous notes on an attached page.F. Family Scrapbooks43. Green 4to ‘Album’, containing 21pp. of cuttings relating to the Kipling, Macdonald and Baldwin families. Beginning with an article titled ‘The Funeral of Sir Edward Burne-Jones’, dated June 1898. Several cuttings relate to the deaths of Sir Edward Poynter (in 1919) and the Rev. Frederick William Macdonald (in 1928).44. Red 4to ‘Scrap Book’ containing 41pp. of cuttings, many concerning to RK’s illness and death in 1936. Other subjects include the Rev. F. W. Macdonald and the Burne-Jones and Baldwin families. Also included are typed family trees of the Cork, Kipling, Burne-Jones, Poynter and Baldwin families.45. Modern red 4to ‘Photo Album’, containing 20pp. of cuttings, many concerning the Baldwin family. Also present are the bookplate of Louisa Baldwin, dated 1922, and a 4to photograph of Florence Macdonald, on a page from a magazine, captioned ‘Beauty Abroad, in Nature and Art, Disclosed in Lectures full of Charm.’ Also present are: a small circular photographic portrait of an Edwardian lady; postcard from ‘Ronald’ to J. F. Macdonald, dated from Shanklin, 14 July 1946; the calling card of ‘Mr. Julian Ridsdale’; an OUP publicity flier for Angela Thirkell’s ‘Three Houses’. Loosely inserted are: two black and white photographs of Stanley Baldwin (captioned on the back ‘Earl Baldwin at Garter Service’ and ‘Earl Baldwin confers Degrees’); a black and white photograph of a memorial plaque to members of the Macdonald family, including RK’s mother; and six more cuttings and a cartoon of Kipling as ‘The Singer of Empire’ from Punch, 26 June 1935.