Gluck (or Hannah Gluckstein) Steyning's Famous Painter. Feminist and Most Original Thinker

Gluck got furious if her name wasn't pronounced to rhyme with "duck."

Gluck, born Hannah Gluckstein, (1895-1978) was the daughter of an opera singer.

She was an unusual, free-thinking person. Her biography, by Diana Souhami, recounts how Gluck always dressed in men's clothes, opened doors for ladies and pulled wine corks like a man.

One of Gluck's most famous works of art is a profile-portrait of herself with her lover at that time, Nesta Obermer. This appeared on a Virago publication of the famous lesbian autobiographical novel The Well of Loneliness by Marguerite Radclyffe Hall published in 1928.

Following Whistler's Example - Feminist Gluck Eschews Gender

Gluck received a private income which permitted her to indulge her energy in her work. Acclaimed for her floral paintings as well as her portraits, she had a strong sense of self. Gluck (rhyming with duck) hated it if anyone prefixed her name with "Miss." In her view, the paintings were important, not the gender of the painter. Diana Souhami describes what happened when Gluck was set to be included on an art society's letterhead: "A graphic designer... stuck in an ameliorating "Miss" and so Gluck instantly resigned, insisting that her name was "inked out."

On another occasion, she tried to sue a publisher who produced a novel with a protagonist called "Gluck." There was nothing self-effacing about this gifted painter.

Gluck and Nesta Obermer - YOUWE

Gluck moved to Steyning, a village not far from Brighton, in 1944 where she lived with Edith Shackleton Heald and her sister, Nora, at the Chantry House. But there was a problem. Edith's disapproving sister, Nora, made life difficult for the lovers and they were an awkward threesome.

A further complication was that Gluck was still in love with Nesta Obermer, the former lover whose picture appeared with Gluck on the Marguerite Radclyffe Hall novel. Gluck had met Nesta in 1936 while at Mozart's opera Don Giovanni at Glyndebourne and afterwards Gluck referred to this part of her life as YOUWE.

Gluck had always regarded Nesta as her "wife" although her lover was actually married to a considerably older man, an American called Seymour Obermer. Obermer helped to finance Nesta's lavish lifestyle. According to Nesta, she was madly in love with Gluck, but she was not prepared for the scandal, social annihilation and the reduction in income which would be precipitated by a split from Seymour. This might seem cold and calculating, but divorce in the 1930s was far different from how it is today.

Gluck never fully recovered from this intense but unsatisfactory love affair.

Nora is Scandalised by Gluck and Edith

Gluck had been longing for a real home, and when Edith and Nora invited her to live with them, she agreed immediately. Edith had been a special correspondence for theLondon Evening Standard and she also worked for the Express, Sunday Express and Daily Sketch. Previously Edith had a love affair with the poet William Butler Yeats, who had stayed at the Chantry House. Yeats had been dead for five years when Gluck moved in with the two sisters.

Nora was scandalised by the relationship between her sister and Gluck and so friction ensued. There were nasty, petty arguments, insults, jealousy and tears. Nora's friends supported her against Gluck, but Edith refused to give up her lover. As a result, Nora always retired to bed immediately after supper and refused to rise until lunchtime. She visited friends just to get out of the house. Gluck and Edith carried on just as before, visiting the theatre to see the latest plays, for example Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan. Edith had a special affectionate name for her lover, "Darling Grub."

Disgusted by Gluck and Edith, Nora Moves Out

Nora said the two women were "disgusting people," and eventually she moved out when Gluck paid her off with half the value of the house from her own "Trust." Nora took up residence at Wykeham Terrace in Steyning. Moving day was 14 February, 1948 and at that time, Nora was sixty-five years old. Later, Gluck expressed her sorrow that Nora felt she had to leave her own home. Nora was a journalist and editor and she worked for the magazine The Lady until she retired in 1954.

Gluck's final work was called "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" (after the Dylan Thomas poem) and consisted of a decomposing fish head lying on a beach.

Edith died on 4 November, 1976 and Gluck's death followed fourteen months later on 10 January, 1978, aged eighty-two. But Nesta had the last laugh. She outlived Gluck and was asked if she wanted anything of Gluck's for a keepsake.

"Oh, a few of her fine-haired brushes," she said airily.

Sources:

• Souhami, Diana, Gluck, her Biography, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2000.
• Adapted from: Cameron, Janet, LGBT Brighton & Hove, Amberley Publishing, 2010.

Horrid horrid Hove! No place for a feminist writer!

Horrid horrid Hove - Copyright Janet Cameron

Ivy Compton-Burnett was born in Pinner in Middlesex in 1884, the daughter of a doctor. Young Ivy had twelve brothers and sisters, and in 1891, their father decided to move his large family to Hove, because he'd been told that the Brighton air was good for the children. Their first address was 30 First Avenue, a road that runs from the main Western Road down to the seafront, but in 1897, there was another move to the slightly more prestigious address of 20, The Drive.

Horrid, Horrid Hove!

The early life of the young Ivy Compton-Burnett was traumatic; first of all, her brother became ill and died, and then another brother met his death in the First World War. Two tragic younger sisters committed suicide together. The death of four loved siblings naturally had an appalling effect on Compton-Burnett.

Perhaps the tragedy in her life prejudiced Compton-Burnett against Hove. She was unimpressed by neighbouring Brighton too. In the biography she wrote about the writer, Hilary Spurling says: "Ivy detested Hove to the end of her life and steadfastly refused to visit friends who lived in Brighton." Compton-Burnett always insisted, "It's a horrid,horrid place!"

Ivy Meets her Soulmate

In 1914, Ivy Compton-Burnett moved to London and five years later, the now middle-aged writer met another writer, Margaret Jourdain. Hilary Spurling describes Margaret as belonging to: "the genre of New Woman... a small but growing band of unattached, self-assured, purposeful spinsters accustomed to make their own way in the world." Margaret Jourdain wrote what Ivy liked to describe as "serious books." Spurling's biography gives an account offered by a new acquaintance, James Lee-Milne in 1942. "Margaret Jourdain is patently jealous of Ivy Compton-Burnett," he said, "whom she keeps unapproachable, except through herself, and even when approached, guards with anxious care."

The two women remained together until Margaret's death in 1951.

Novels with a Homosexual Theme

The accusations of amorality were due to the twenty novels written by Compton-Burnett, some of which contained an underlying homosexual theme. It's claimed in Spurling's Appendix Two, that the author drew heavily on characters from real life. She didn't bother to disguise them, but simply transferred them from fact to fiction.

In 1955, Compton-Burnett received the James Tait black Memorial Prize for her novel,Mother and Son, awarded annually by the University of Edinburgh, and she became a Companion of the Royal Society of Literature and was awarded the DBE in 1967.

Other notable novels written by Compton-Burnett were Pastors and Masters, 1925, andManservant and Maidservant, 1947.

Sources:

·      Ivy, The Life of I. Compton-Burnett , Hilary Spurling, Richard Cohen Books, 1995.

·      Local Knowledge.

·      Adapted from LGBT Brighton and Hove, Janet Cameron, Amberley Publishing, 2010.

Shocking Hallowe'en Dance of the Brighton and Hove Witches

by Janet Cameron

Lucky Stones may Protect Against the Trials of Hallowe'en

The ancient magic of witchcraft is celebrated at Hallowe'en, reaffirming the life force and ensuring the old powers will never be lost. 

One dark night at Hallowe'en, a gathering of thirty witches, all members of a coven known as the Order of Artemis and led by the High Priest of Hove, prepared themselves to perform naked in special Hallowe'en rites. Artemis, for whom the coven is named, is one of the most venerated of ancient Greek Goddesses and the equivalent to the Roman Diana. She is the daughter of Zeus and Leto and sister of Apollo and her special role is Goddess of the Hunt.

The purpose of the ceremony held by the Order of Artemis was to communicate with the dead and to invite them to return to earth with special messages for friends and relatives.

Herne, the High Priest, Explains the Power of the Coven

"One might be my father or grandfather - unless they have been reincarnated, of course," said Herne, the High Priest, who was, at that time, a fifty-three year old businessman and a father-of-two. Herne declined to reveal his real name because there is still a lot of prejudice against witches. "My neighbours don't know I am one. We shall be raising power by means which will include dancing and sex."

Herne was anxious to convince anyone who would listen that, although the ceremony included sex, it would be "properly controlled."

"It's always used at the Great Sabbath to summon up power, but it's a small part of the ceremony and not a wild orgy. Witches always work naked," said Herne. However, it should be pointed out that while this may have been true for Herne's coven, in general, adherents of the Wicca do not include nudity and sexual activity within their rites and celebrations.

The Coven Members - Pillars of the Community

The coven consisted of policemen, housewives and civil servants, all of whom regarded the secret Hallowe'en ceremony as a reaffirmation of the life force. They had faith in spells, and sometimes they created specific spells to help others, for example, sick or unhappy people. They would find jobs for the unemployed and reconcile married couples about to get a divorce. Herne said the people they helped did not know about the spells and that no spell was ever cast to the advantage of the coven.

The High Priest preferred to describe his craft not as witchcraft, but "wisecraft" or "The Wicca" and stressed it was nothing to do with black magic or Satanism. He said, "We are a nature religion and worship the old gods." The Order of Artemis had twenty-six members including a chef, an author, lawyers and a computer scientist. That Hallowe'en night they were joined by four people from another coven, including Herne's wife Athene, making a grand total of thirty.

Farmers Seeking Witches

Rites were normally held outdoors. The coven preferred traditional sacred places, stone circles, especially those at the junctions of ley lines and other places that carry mystic power. Farmers actively pursued the coven to perform on their land because it increased fertility. One farmer's lamb yield rose from nine to sixty after the coven had performed their secret rites on his farm, while another travelled thirty-five miles to persuade the witches to use his land.

Wiccan Gods and Goddesses Worshipped Since Medieval Times

Today, many Wiccans, as followers of the religion "Wicca" are called, worship both a Horned God, associated with nature, wilderness, sexuality and hunting, and a Triple Goddess who embodies maiden, mother and crone. The God is sometimes symbolised as the sun and the Goddess as the moon. The God is also sometimes depicted as The Green Man. Some covens focus only on the Goddess, whom they see as complete in herself.

The Horned God and the Great Mother Goddess have been worshipped in the British Isles since early medieval times.

Adapted from Paranormal Brighton & Hove, Janet Cameron, Amberley Publishing, Gloucestershire, 2009.

The Brighton and Hove Gazette, 31.10.1980.