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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 October 2009
The Devil's Decade is an analogy often drawn to describe the 1930s. A decade that opened in the grip of world economic recession and closed with the democratic nations of Europe fighting a desperate struggle to resist the hegemonic ambitions of the dictators provides the backdrop to observations of one William Collin Brooks, variously financial journalist, editor, novelist and confidante of the Ist Viscount Rothermere. Toiling over his typewriter, typing with two fingers, Brooks (or C.B.) would record for posterity his observations of the journalistic, political, literary and financial sets in which he circulated during the 1930s.
1 C.B. used the phrase himself to title a biographical volume of ‘key’ figures from the 1930s. Devil's Decade: Portraits of the Nineteen-Thirties (MacDonald, 1948).Google Scholar
2 Any reader wishing to derive an overview of the period see Taylor, A.J.P., English History, 1914–1945 (Penguin, 1965)Google Scholar; Pugh, Martin, The Making of Modern British Politics (Blackwells, 2nd edn. 1993)Google Scholar; Addison, P., The Road to 1945: British Politics and the Second World War (Jonathan Cape, 1975)Google Scholar; Parker, R.A.C., Chamberlain and Appeasement (Macmillan, 1993).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3 Howard, Anthony's review, The Sunday Times, 22 03 1998.Google Scholar
4 Taylor, S J., The Great Outsiders: Northcliffe, Rothemere and The Daily Mail (Phoenix, 1996)Google Scholar; Bourne, Richard, Lards of Fleet Street: The Harmsworth Dynasty (Unwin Hyman, 1990)Google Scholar
5 Information on the family history is derived from conversations with Edward and Shelia Brooks and Vivian Brooks, an unpublished manuscript of an autobiography that C.B. was preparing in the years before his death (hereafter referred to as ‘Draft’ Memoirs) as well as the journals.
6 Daughter of Griffith Thomas and Isabella Harrison.
7 ‘Draft’ Memoirs, pp. 13–14.Google Scholar
8 Married Elizabeth Edmundson (1811–72) in 1831.
9 In 1917 Hilda (1891–1964) married the brother of C.B.'s wife, Cyril Marsden.
10 C.B. draws a character sketch of Marshall-Hall in More Tavern Talk (James Barrie, 1952), pp. 70–1Google Scholar. Marshall-Hall was MP for Southport from 1900 to 1906, East Toxteth from January 1910 to 1916.
11 Public Record Office (PRO), William Collin Brooks, war record, WO339/88414.
12 ‘Draft’ Memoirs, p. 111Google Scholar; having consulted the definitive studies on World War One tanks and armoured cars: Fletcher, D., War Cars: British Armoured Cars in the First World War (HMSO, 1987)Google Scholar, and Fletcher, D., Landships: British Tanks in the First World War (HMSO, 1984)Google Scholar it would appear most likely that in naming his tanks C.B. is referring to the type of engine powering the vehicle. Landships, pp. 48–9Google Scholar lists the Daimler 6-cyclinder engine as powering the Marks I–IV heavy tanks, and the Ricardo 6—cylinder engines as powering the Mark V onwards.
13 PRO, William Collin Brooks, war record, WO339/88414.
14 ‘Draft’ Memoirs, pp. 105–19Google Scholar. For further details of the 23rd Battalion's Italian campaign see Sandiman, H.R., The 23rd Division 1914–1919 (Edinburgh, 1925)Google Scholar; Wilks, J. & Wilks, E., The British Army in Italy 1917–1918 (Barnsley: Leo Cooper, 1988).Google Scholar
15 Citation Telegram, Major H.C. Owen, A & O Branch of Staff, 23rd Division to 2nd Lieut. William Collin Brooks, 29 November 1918.
16 Journal: C.B. to Norman Watson 10 June 1934; G.L. Jackson to and from C.B. 4 January–8 January 1933; diary 25 April 1946.
17 ‘Draft’ Memoirs, p. 126.Google Scholar
18 Sybil, and Bolton, Glorney, Two Lines Converge: The Dual Biography (London: Blackie & Son, 1938), pp. 122–3.Google Scholar
19 See Kynaston, David, The Financial Tones: A Centenary History (London: Viking, 1988), pp. 102–29Google Scholar, for more on the troubles of this period and the main personalities on the paper. In addition, Einzig, Paul, At the Centre of Things (Hutchinson, 1960), pp. 63–9, 98–110Google Scholar; Lysaght, C.E., Brendan Bracken (Allen Lane, 1979), pp. 98–102, 119–28Google Scholar; Boyle, A., Poor, Dear Brendan: The Quest for Brendan Bracken (Hutchinson, 1974), pp. 175–6Google Scholar. In neither of these last three volumes does C.B. feature.
20 He was approached initially via R.J. Barret, a member of the Camrose board. The discussions continued with Lord Burnham before finally he met with Camrose. Ultimately the post was given to Leonard Reid, although he died shortly after. Reid actually made an approach to C.B. in 1933 to see if he was willing to become his assistant: Journal: 31 January, 17 February, 5 April 1932, 22 April 1933.
21 Journal: C.B. to Norman Watson, 11 February 1934.
22 Journal: 3 February 1935.
23 Journal: 30 January 1936.
24 In 1930 the Sunday Dispatch had a circulation of 1,197,000; by 1937 this had declined to 741,000. Butler, D. and Freeman, J., British Political Facts (Macmillan, 1968), p. 285.Google Scholar
25 Journal: 30 January 1936.
26 Journal: 15 June 1939.
27 For example, Truth, 27 07, 3 08, 28 09 1938, 27 10 1939, 12 01, 8 03 1940Google Scholar. For a historical perspective on Truth from 1936 to 1940, see Cockett, R., Twilight of Truth; Chamberlain, Appeasement and the Manipulation of the Press (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1989).Google Scholar
28 Hansard, 9 10 1941, vol. 374Google Scholar, col. 1108, when Wedgewood first raised the matter at ministerial question time; and the adjournment debate 15 October 1941, vol. 374, cols. 1454–64; Journal: 9–11 October, 17 October 1941; Daily Express, 17 10 1941Google Scholar; Truth, 17 10 1941.Google Scholar
29 Journal: 15 October, 11 December, 19 December 1941, 11 January, 1 April 1942; Ramsden, J.A., The Age of Churchill and Eden (London: Longman, 1995), p. 30.Google Scholar
30 See appendix E for C.B.'s bibliography.
31 Published by David Nutt and Company with a print run of 500.
32 To gain an impression of the breadth of C.B.'s reading, see Tavern Talk, pp. 52–81Google Scholar, and More Tavern Talk, pp. 24–49.Google Scholar
33 Paid a salary of £500 he retained the position for 18 months.
34 The American Letter or Survey was a weekly (occasionally bi-weekly) report that C.B. prepared in his capacity as London correspondent for The Business Week initially, and then the American Journal of Commerce, 1928–1938Google Scholar. Initially it confined itself purely to economic and financial matters, but from mid-1932 C.B. also began including a ‘survey’ introduction which provided a discursive over-view of the British scene (in domestic and international affairs). C.B.'s carbons of these articles survive and are retained with the journals.
35 Tavern Talk p. 120.Google Scholar
36 BBC Written Archive, Caversham Park: Collin Brooks File 1A 1936–42.
37 Nicholas, Siân, ‘From John Bull to John Citizen: Images of National Identity and Citizenship on the Wartime BBC’, in Weight, R. and Beach, A. (eds), The Right to Belong: Citizenship and National Identity in Britain 1930–1960 (London, IB Tauris, 1998), pp. 36–58.Google Scholar
38 BBC Written Archive: G.R. Barnes to C.B. 29 July 1940, C.B. to Barnes 8 August 1940, Barnes to C.B. 9 August 1940, 12 August 1940, Collin Brooks File 1A 1936–42.
39 The Statist obituary and tributes, 11 April 1959, vol. CLXIX; programme for memorial service, St Bride's Church, Fleet Street, 1 May 1959.
40 Brooks, C., Tavern Talk (Barrie, 1950), p. 12.Google Scholar
41 Barnes, J. and Nicholson, N. (eds), Empire at Bay: The Leo Amery Diaires, 1929–1945 (Hutchinson, 1988), p. 415Google Scholar; 30 April 1936, Amery's entry for his date regarding the Compatriots, refers to Collin's presence and this is one of the very few occasions his name appears in another archival collection or published diary.
42 Journal: 15 October 1940.
43 In its earliest days the Fore Club met at Kettner's. ‘Draft’ Memoirs, pp. 305–6.Google Scholar
44 Journal: 18 December 1941.
45 Journal: 21 January 1932.
46 ‘Draft’ Memoirs, pp. 64, 69, 84–6.Google Scholar
47 Addison, Paul, ‘Patriotism under Pressure: Lord Rothermere and British Foreign Policy’, in Peele, G. and Cook, C. (eds.), The Politics of Reappraisal 1918–1939 (Macmillan, 1975), p. 199Google Scholar; regarding C.B.'s anti-Semitism, his views were not uncommon for the period: see Crowson, N J. ‘The British Conservative Party and the Jews during the Late 1930s’, Patterns of Prejudice, vol. 29, nos. 2–3 (1995), pp. 15–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
48 Journal: C.B. to Norman Watson 10 June 1934.
49 Rothermere was frequently abbreviated to R. in both general conversation and the text of the journals.
50 Journal: 12 February 1935.
51 Journal: 6 March 1935.
52 Journal: 31 December 1936. In addition, C.B.'s writing commitments to the Joseph's Review created £8 per month; Business Week £12 per month; and Saturday Review £25 per week. And since the death of Lil's father in March 1931, she could rely upon a private income of £800 per annum.
53 Journal: 5 August, 19 October 1936.
54 Rothermere had suggested in 1935 that C.B. find a cottage in Norfolk because ‘I can't bear the thought of your children being bombed in London.’ He first proposed the idea of The Mount in March 1937, but nothing was accepted until 9 September whilst both men were in Quebec. The Mount was actually quite a large house. It had two livein servants, one daily maid and a gardener, as well as a chapel (excellent for ping-pong!) attached.
55 With Rothermere's death The Mount proved a point of conflict between C.B. and Esmond Rothermere. Before R had left England he apparently signed the cottage over to C.B., and when his will was published the Mount was left to C.B.: Daily Mail, 28 04 1941Google Scholar. However, Esmond sought Brooks' eviction from the property. Privately C.B. admitted that aside from ‘sentimental attachment, its going will be a blessing, for my diminished income cannot go on paying for its upkeep’. Journal: 22 June 1941.
56 Journal: 20 December 1937.
57 Journal: 18 December 1936.
58 Taylor, S., The Great Outsiders, p. 313.Google Scholar
59 It perhaps should be pointed out that when Rothermere died he left his finances in a considerable mess, and as executor it took Esmond several years to resolve matters (clearly C.B. had a lucky escape in 1939 when Rothermere changed his mind about appointing C.B. as his executor). Esmond is supposed to have claimed that he was obliged to find £36m to cover the losses on his father's estate. Bourne, Lords of Fleet Street, p. 155.Google Scholar
60 Journal: 20 June 1939.
61 See Taylor, S., The Great Outsiders, pp. 302–10Google Scholar; Addison, , ‘Patriotism under Pressure’, pp. 195–7, 207.Google Scholar
62 Sunday Dispatch, 17 02 1935Google Scholar; Daily Mail, 19 02 1935.Google Scholar
63 Journal: 7 May 1935. Parts of the journals have been utilised by three historians prior to this editor. The late Stephen Koss for his magisterial study of the Rise and Fall of the British Political Press: vol. 2 (Hamish Hamilton, 1984)Google Scholar; Kaynaston, David, The Financial Times: A Centenary History (Viking, 1988)Google Scholar; and Paul Addison's seminal Road to 1945 (Cape, 1975)Google Scholar. Addison followed this up with the chapter ‘Patriotism under Pressure’ in Peele and Cook, Politics of Reappraisal
64 Rother-Brooks journal: p. 1 n.d. [June 1935].
65 Some years after Collin's death a decision was taken by the family to return to Rothermere's heirs correspondence and other miscellaneous papers relating to the two men. A statue of the 1st Viscount Rothermere sculpted by K. Troll in 1931 was also returned. Vere Harmsworth promised that these documents would be ‘carefully looked after for the use of future historians’ (Vere Harmsworth to Lilian Brooks, 17 November 1971). The failure of Sally Taylor to mention Collin in her recent biography of Rothermere might suggest an alternative answer.
66 The Hitler—Rothermere transcriptions are included in the appendices.
67 James, R.R. (ed), Chips: The Diaries of Sir Henry Channon (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1968)Google Scholar; Young, K. (ed), The Diaries of Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart (Macmillan, 1973)Google Scholar; Ball, S., The Age of Baldwin and MacDonald: The Diaries of Sir Cuthbert Headlam, 1924–35 (Historians' Press, 1992)Google Scholar; Barnes, J. and Nicholson, D. (eds), The Empire at Bay: The Leo Amery Diaries (Hutchinson, 1988)Google Scholar; Clark, A., Diaries (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1993).Google Scholar
68 Journal: 26 July 1931.
69 Journal: 4 November 1935.
70 Journal: 25 December 1938.
71 Journal: 1 July 1925.
72 Journal: 24 January 1938.
73 Journal: 11 February 1940.
74 Journal: 24 January 1938.
75 In deciding my approach I benefited from discussions with Stuart Ball (editor of The Age of MacDonald and Baldwin: The Headlam Diaries (Historians' Press, 1992Google Scholar)), and Robert Self (editor of The Diary Letters of Austen Chamberlain (RHS, Camden Series, 1995Google Scholar)), and from attending a seminar at the Institute of Historical Research on diary-editing held in December 1991. The transcript of this seminar ‘Editing political diaries’ was subsequently published in Contemporary Record vol. 7, 1 (1993), pp. 103–31Google Scholar. Needless to say any shortcomings in the editorial policy rest with myself.
76 The key bibliographical sources are Who's Who (A & C Black): Who Was Who (A & C Black): Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press): Griffiths, D. (ed.), Encyclopaedia of the British Press (Macmillan, 1992)Google Scholar: Stenton, M. and Lees, S. (eds.), Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, vol. III (Harvester, 1979)Google Scholar; Wearing, J. (ed), The London Stage, 1930–39 vols, I–III (Metuchen, 1990)Google Scholar; Who Was Who in the Theatre, 1912–76 (Pitman, 1978)Google Scholar; Dod's Parliamentary Companion (1932–1940)Google Scholar; Linton, D. (ed.), 20th Century Newspaper Press in Britain (Mansell, 1994)Google Scholar; The Times; The Directory of Directors (1935, 1938, 1940)Google Scholar; Jeremy, D. J. (ed.), Dictionary of Business Biography, vols. 1–5 (Butterworths, 1984–1986)Google Scholar; Craig, F.W.S., British Parliamentary Election Results, 1918–49 (Parliamentary Research Services, 1983)Google Scholar. Additionally, a considerable debt of gratitude is owed to those individuals who have previously edited diaries and in their own notes provided biographical details for characters who appear in this journal.