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R. C. Sherriff

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Robert Cedric Sherriff,FSA,FRSL(6 June 1896 – 13 November 1975)[1]was anEnglishwriter best known for his playJourney's End,[2]which was based on his experiences as an army officer in the First World War.[3]He wrote several plays, many novels, and multiple screenplays, and was nominated for anAcademy Awardand twoBAFTA awards.[4]

R. C. Sherriff
BornRobert Cedric Sherriff
(1896-06-06)6 June 1896
Hampton Wick,Middlesex,England
Died13 November 1975(1975-11-13)(aged 79)
Kingston upon Thames,England
OccupationPlaywrightandscreenwriter
NationalityBritish
Period1920s to 1960s

Early life

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Sherriff was born inHampton Wick,Middlesex,to insurance clerk Herbert Hankin Sherriff and Constance Winder.[5]He was educated atKingston Grammar SchoolinKingston upon Thamesfrom 1905 to 1913.[n 1]After he left school, Sherriff began working at aninsuranceoffice as a clerk in 1914.

Military service

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Sherriff served as an officer in the 9th battalion of theEast Surrey Regimentin theFirst World War,taking part in the fighting atVimy RidgeandLoos.[7]He was severely wounded atPasschendaelenearYpresin 1917.[8]

Post war period

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After recovering from his wounds, Sherriff worked as an insurance adjuster from 1918 to 1928 atSun Insurance Company,London.[9]

Sherriff read history atNew College, Oxford,from 1931 to 1934.[10][11]He was a fellow of theRoyal Society of Literatureand theSociety of Antiquaries of London.[12]

Career

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Playwright

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Sherriff wrote his first play to helpKingston Rowing Clubraise money to buy a new boat.[13]Sherriff started writing his seventh play,Journey's End,probably his most famous, during the summer of 1927 in one of the railway carriage bungalows atSelsey.[14]It was published in 1929 and was based on his experiences in the war.[3]It was given a single Sunday performance, on 9 December 1928, by theIncorporated Stage Societyat theApollo Theatre,directed byJames Whaleand with the 21-year-oldLaurence Olivierin the lead role.[15]In the audience wasMaurice Brownewho produced it at theSavoy Theatrewhere it was performed for two years from 1929.[16]The play was hugely successful and there was wide press coverage which reveals how audience responses provoked by this play shaped understanding of the First World War in the interwar years.[17]

Novelist

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Sherriff also wrote prose. A novelised version ofJourney's End,co-written withVernon Bartlett,was published in 1930.[18]His 1939 novel,The Hopkins Manuscriptis anH. G. Wells-influenced post-apocalyptic story about an earth devastated because of a collision with the Moon.[19]Its sober language and realistic depiction of an average man coming to terms with a ruined England is said[citation needed]to have been an influence on later science fiction authors such asJohn WyndhamandBrian Aldiss.The Fortnight in September,an earlier novel, published in 1931, is a rather more plausible story about aBognorholiday enjoyed by a lower-middle-class family fromDulwich.[20]It was nominated byKazuo Ishiguroas a book to 'inspire, uplift and offer escape' in a list compiled byThe Guardianduring theCOVID-19 pandemic,describing it as "just about the most uplifting, life-affirming novel I can think of right now".[21]

His 1936 novelGreengatesis a realistic novel about a middle-aged couple, Tom and Edith Baldwin, moving from an established London suburb into the new suburbs ofMetro-land.[22]

Award nominations

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Sherriff was nominated along withEric MaschwitzandClaudine Westfor anAcademy award for writing an adapted screenplayforGoodbye, Mr. Chipswhich was released in 1939.[23]His 1955 screenplays,The Dam BustersandThe Night My Number Came Upwere nominated for best British screenplayBAFTA awards.[24]

Work

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Plays

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Film scripts

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Books

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  • Journey's End: A Novel (withVernon Bartlett).London: Gollancz. 1930.OCLC4072239.
  • The Fortnight in September.1931.OCLC246884057.(Reprinted in 2006 byPersephone Books);2021 pbk reprint.Scribner. 7 September 2021.ISBN978-1-9821-8478-0.
  • Greengates.Victor Gollancz. 1936.OCLC2228475.(Reprinted in 2015 byPersephone Books)
  • The Hopkins Manuscript.Victor Gollancz. 1939.OCLC2212270.(Revised and reissued as a Pan Paperback in 1958 under the titleThe Cataclysm;Reprinted in 2005 byPersephone Booksunder its original title.)
  • Chedworth: A Novel.1944.LCCN44008653.OCLC761913.
  • Another Year: A Novel.1948.LCCN48006451.OCLC1455916.
  • King John's Treasure.1954.OCLC31122994.
  • Sherriff, Robert Cedric (1962).The Wells of St. Mary's.Hutchinson Library Services.ISBN0091174406.OCLC7185868.
  • Sherriff, Robert Cedric (1973).The Siege of Swayne Castle.Gollancz.ISBN0-575-01722-8.
  • No Leading Lady: An Autobiography.London: Victor Gollancz Ltd. 1968.ISBN0-575-00155-0.

Notes and references

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Notes

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  1. ^Sherriff maintained close links with the school for the rest of his life. He sent a copy ofJourney's Endto the headmaster after the play was first performed in 1928, and was a generous benefactor to the school until his death, paying particularly close attention to the school rowing club, whose supporters' club now bears his name. He financed a number of boats named after his plays (Journey's End,White Carnation,Home at Seven,Long SunsetandBadger's Green). He also purchased a piece of land at the end of Aragon Avenue inThames Dittonfor the purpose of building a school boathouse,[6]which was completed in 1980.

References

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  1. ^"Robert Cedric Sherriff".The Antiquaries Journal.Oxford University Press: 363. 1976.
  2. ^Stevens, Christopher (2010).Born Brilliant: The Life of Kenneth Williams.John Murray. p. 264.ISBN978-1-84854-195-5.
  3. ^abR.C. Sherriffat theEncyclopædia Britannica
  4. ^"R. C. Sherriff (1896-1975), Dramatist and Novelist: Correspondence and Papers".Jisc Archives Hub.
  5. ^UK Public Records Office, BDM Certificates[page needed]
  6. ^"Boathouse history".KGS Sherriff Club. Archived fromthe originalon 27 February 2018.
  7. ^Clinton, Jane (17 July 2011)."Sadness that forever lies at Journey's End".Daily Express.
  8. ^Sherriff, R. C. (1968).No Leading Lady: An Autobiography.London: Gollancz. pp. 14, 22.ISBN0-575-00155-0.
  9. ^"R. C. Sherriff".Twickenham Museum.
  10. ^Trewin, J. C. "Sherriff, Robert Cedric".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/31678.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
  11. ^"RC Sherriff (1896 - 1975)".Exploring Surrey's Past.
  12. ^"R. C. Sherriff".Hampton Wick Remembers.
  13. ^"The road to Journey's End...A Hitch in the Proceedings and other early plays by R C Sherriff".Exploring Surrey's Past.21 November 2014.
  14. ^Wales, Roland (2016).From Journey's End to the Dam Busters: The life of R.C. Sherriff, Playwright of the Trenches.Barnsley: Pen & Sword. p. 79.ISBN978-1-47386-069-8.
  15. ^"Journey's End - Apollo Theatre 1928 Production".Theatricalia.
  16. ^"Journey's End - Savoy Theatre 1928/9 Production".Theatricalia.
  17. ^Purkis, Charlotte (2016) 'The Mediation of Constructions of Pacifism in Journey's End and The Searcher, two Contrasting Dramatic Memorials from the Late 1920s'https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1461670X.2015.1135753
  18. ^Catalog of Copyright Entries. New Series: 1930.Copyright Office, Library of Congress. 1931. p.1.
  19. ^FitzHerbert, Claudia (5 September 2009)."Endpaper".The Daily Telegraph.
  20. ^"The Fortnight in September".Persephone Books.
  21. ^"Novelists pick books to inspire, uplift, and offer escape".The Guardian.5 May 2020.Retrieved4 October2020.
  22. ^"Greengates by R. C. Sherriff".Book Snob.3 December 2016.
  23. ^"R.C. Sherriff - Movie and Film Awards".AllMovie.
  24. ^Glancy, H. M. (2008)."Writers and Production Artists: R. C. Sherriff".film reference.

Further reading

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  • Wales, Roland (2016).From Journey's End to the Dam Busters: The life of R.C. Sherriff, Playwright of the Trenches.Barnsley: Pen & Sword.ISBN978-1473860698.
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