Had literary history taken a different course, the carefree childhood visits of Eric Arthur Blair to the Shropshire countryside many years ago would have had little wider significance.
But that youngster was to grow into one of Britain’s literary greats. Writing under the name George Orwell, he wrote classics such as 1984 and Animal Farm, which continue to have influence and resonance today.
Eric & Us is claimed to be the only book to cover Orwell’s Shropshire links.
It was written and compiled by a childhood friend, Jacintha Buddicom. Published in 1974, it has been long out of print, and Jacintha herself died in 1993.
But now it has been republished, complete with extra “now it can be told” material which tells the story behind the story, and gives a strong clue as why two young people who were so close abruptly became increasingly distant, until they were not communicating at all.
The republished book is subtitled “The Postscript Edition” and presents the new material from Jacintha Buddicom’s cousin, writer Dione Venables, who has been given permission by the family to tell the real story.
The central revelation is that during a walk Blair, then 6ft 4ins tall and aged 18, had attempted to force himself on Jacintha, who although aged 20 was under 5ft, in what might be charitably described as a clumsy pass - her skirt was torn and her shoulder and hip were bruised.
The primary evidence for this was a letter found, and destroyed, by Jacintha’s younger sister Guiny after her death, coupled with Guiny’s hazy memory of Jacintha rushing in with a torn skirt and a tear-stained face.
After this event in Rickmansworth in 1921 there was a parting of the ways, and it was not until almost 30 years later that Jacintha discovered that the Eric Blair she had known had become George Orwell the famous author. By then he was in poor health and died soon after.
Part of their developing relationship, and no doubt some of Orwell’s formative experiences, were played out in Shropshire.
Dione Venables says that Eric & Us was, and is, the only first-hand account of the childhood and formative years of George Orwell, and is the only source to illustrate his involvement with Shropshire.
The book includes a number of photos taken at Ticklerton.
“All Housman’s poetry was learned by Eric Blair at Ticklerton. There is still one Buddicom in Shropshire and she is now Lady Brown of Ticklerton,” she said.
Jacintha and Eric lived in Shiplake, Oxfordshire. But Jacintha’s paternal grandfather lived at the partly Elizabethan - albeit built in stone - Ticklerton Court, and the Buddicom children would often visit during holidays for breaks of a week or more.
From 1917 Orwell (as we shall now consistently call him), who was coming up 14, would join them on many occasions, shooting, fishing, and generally enjoying the countryside.
Grandpa Buddicom was an elderly widower, living with his only daughter Lilian, who kept house for him,
A letter from Aunt Lilian Buddicom at Ticklerton Court of August 1917 told how Orwell had shot a rabbit with his second shot, which was considered very good as he had never shot before.
“Eric has a bit of a cough. He says it is chronic,” she remarks.
Despite there being a war on, Jacintha writes that there were no real food shortages in rural Shropshire, as farmers grew their own corn and baked their own bread.
Orwell stayed several times at Ticklerton, and seemed always to particularly enjoy his visits there, she says.
Orwell was particularly intrigued after the discovery of a hidden room in the house, and went round with Jacintha afterwards measuring to find further hidden spaces.
His last visit was in 1927, when after returning to England from years abroad in Burma, he spent a fortnight at Ticklerton. But Jacintha writes “completely unavoidable circumstances” prevented her from joining the party.
Afterwards Orwell completely disappeared from the Buddicoms’ lives, and they lost touch until February 1949 when Jacintha discovered that the Eric Blair she had known was now the famous writer George Orwell.
They exchanged friendly letters, but Orwell was ill with TB, and she made no attempt to visit him. He died in January 1950.
As for Ticklerton Court, Jacintha learned in later life that it had been greatly reduced, with its entire top storey taken off, and other rooms which had been so familiar to her were now missing.
Despite visiting Shropshire several times, she never had the heart to look at the house.
* Eric & Us The Postcript Edition, is published by Finlay and costs £8.50.
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