The Storms of War (47 page)

I’ve wanted to write about a family in the Great War since I went on a school trip to the trenches of Flanders, aged ten. I was shocked by how small the trenches were. I struggled to imagine how grown men could have lived and fought there. I thought I’d understand when I was an adult. Even after years of research and writing, I am still amazed by how men fought and survived in those tiny, muddy holes in the ground for years on end.

Ever since then, I’ve been thinking about the human stories of the War. I’m fascinated by the women – like Celia – facing disease and death daily, and the people at home, their possessions destroyed by bombs, waiting for news about their loved ones.

In writing about the War, I’ve had the incredible privilege of reading the letters and diaries of those who were there. There are so many fantastic diaries of the men, the nurses, the drivers and the people at home. Every word they write strikes home – they’re unforgettable. The De Witt family are fiction, but they are based on the spirit and sentiments of those real people who refused to ever give up.

Arguments about who was responsible for the war still rage and politicians call for each other to resign over it. But I know from talking to people all over the country that what they really want to know is – what was it
like
? How did it feel to be there? That is the story that I wanted to tell in
The Storms of War.
If I’ve achieved that at all, it’s because of the words of those men and women who lived through those dark times, and spoke or wrote of their experiences.

While writing on Queen Victoria, I became fascinated by the links between Germany and Britain. If she had been male, she would have ruled Britain and Hanover jointly from her accession
in 1837. But Hanover forbade female monarchs and her uncle Ernst went off to do the job instead. The two countries were bound together by the tightest of social, cultural and indeed blood bonds – and then expected to simply separate and move on. Wars are still fought on the basis of seemingly easy divisions, between countries, ethnic groups and indeed within families. Such separations rarely go well.

On 5th August 1914, a day after the announcement of war, Asquith and the British Government passed the Aliens Restriction Act. Suddenly, thousands of Germans who had lived in the country for years were branded the enemy. They had to register almost immediately (by 17th August) at local registration stations, couldn’t live in ‘prohibited’ areas on the south and east coast and were not allowed to travel more than five miles without a permit. The permit would only be issued for twenty-four hours. They had to give up their cars, motorcycles or cameras.

For years, thousands of Germans had lived happily in Britain. They worked as butchers, barbers, tailors, waiters, music tutors and governesses, surrounded – and welcomed – by the English. They had a reputation for being the best barbers and waiters; sure hands, people thought (and they were known for working for less than their British equivalents). The top London hotels such as the Ritz and Savoy employed nearly exclusively German waiters. The Prime Minister himself had a German governess in his family. Two members of his cabinet had German chauffeurs (they were swiftly naturalised after the announcement of war).

These Germans had married British women and fathered children – and now they were hated. The press was bursting with stories of the evil of the German race. Spies were everywhere and everyone was expected to report them. Formerly, the press had been wildly occupied by the question of Irish home rule, suffragettes and working-class strikers. They were all forgotten in the rush to demonise the Germans. Their British wives were extended no mercy, for they were seen as having taken on the nationality of their husband. Advertisements were displayed in the
press to say that there were no German or Austrian subjects in the
employment of the Savoy, Claridges and Berkeley Hotels, the Strand Palace Hotel, the Frederick Hotels, Messrs J. Lyons and Co, and the Palmerston Restaurant.
In August, the
Daily Mail
suggested
if your waiter says he is Swiss, ask to see his passport. The Times
published headlines about
THE ALIEN PERIL.

Despite the cries of the newspapers, wholesale interning of German citizens was slow to take off – there was nowhere for the government to put them, to start with. Anyone arrested could be released if two British citizens vouched for them. By May 1915, after the terrible sinking of the
Lusitania
, wholesale internment of men between seventeen and fifty-five began in earnest. Many German women were deported, although those who had children between five and fifteen were exempted. In
The Storms of War,
Rudolf is taken away but Verena escapes, partly due to her aristocratic background.

These Germans were crammed into various unsuitable places across the country – in London, Olympia and Crystal Palace were commandeered – and camps were swiftly built. Rudolf is in the most notorious: Knockaloe in the Isle of Man.

I was fascinated by this: what were the lives of these people – these twilight people, half English, half German – really like? Many saw Britain as their homeland but now they were hated and excluded. How did they survive, in their homes and communities, when everybody was on the lookout for spies? Did their neighbours pretend they ‘weren’t like other Germans’ or just revile them? Even Ralph Vaughan Williams, sitting down in Margate to write notes for the
Lark Ascending
, was arrested as a spy by a zealous Boy Scout in early 1914. Everyone was under suspicion.

I’ve based this book on the letters and diaries of our wartime ancestors – and it’s been an incredible privilege to read their words. Stoneythorpe is based on Bramshill House (although in my version, it’s a little smaller than the vast original!), a Jacobean house built in the early seventeenth century by Edward de la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche. It was used as a Red Cross Maternity Hospital in the war and, since 1960, it has been our National Police
Training College. It’s currently on the market for £25 million – a price just outside the budget of the pre-war Rudolf de Witt!

Michael and Tom fight with the 7th Suffolk Regiment, formed at Bury St Edmunds and landing at Boulogne in May 1915, fighting at the Battle of Loos, then Pozières in the Somme in 1916 and remaining in France until after the end of the war. Smithson is with the 13th Hampshire Regiment who fought at Gallipoli and then went to Egypt to defend the Suez Canal in 1916, then spent the rest of the war in Mesopotamia, occupying Baghdad in March 1917 and fighting in Jabal Hamrin in October.

Thank you to the Archivists at the Imperial War Museum, the British Library and the National Army Museum for their assistance – and research gems. Thank you also to Frank McDonogh, Saul David, Roger Moorhouse, Paul Reed and Gary Sheffield for advice on historical accuracy and military matters. Any mistakes are mine, not theirs. Among my favourite books for research has been
War Girls
by Janet Lee and the invaluable research by Richard Van Emden – especially
The Soldier’s War, Meeting the Enemy
and his work with Steve Humphries,
All Quiet on the Home Front.
Max Arthur’s
Forgotten Voices of the Great War
was a great help. I have found invaluable Lyn MacDonald’s work (especially
Somme
and
The Roses of No Man’s Land)
and the innovative work of Panikos Panayi of De Montfort University on Germans – especially
The Enemy Within.
Winifred Smith’s diaries formed the basis for Evadne Price’s
Not so Quiet
– a very moving book. Jeremy Paxman’s
Great Britain’s Great War
is a brilliant piece of work. Max Hasting’s
Catastrophe
is excellent, along with Saul David’s work. Kate Adie has written superbly on the home front and women in her
Fighting on the Home Front.
I recommend them all as fascinating reads.

I’m incredibly grateful to everybody at Orion for their help in the process of telling this story. Jon Wood has been an impossibly amazing editor, full of thrilling inspiration and wonderful ideas, so generous with his time. He’s made this book what it is now and it has been a true and great privilege to work with him. Jemima Forrester has been fantastic – gone above and beyond the call of duty with quite brilliant points and such kindness and patience and splendid attention to the detail – I’m lucky to have access to her talent. I’m so very grateful to them both.

I’m grateful to Susan Lamb for all her imagination, kind support and generosity – and a brilliant point about horses, which would have put me to shame if it had stayed in! Susan has given me and the book so much fantastic guidance and really amazing ideas – I’m so thankful for all her time and care about the book. Thank you to Lisa Milton for everything – and to David Young for his support and kindness. Thanks to everybody else who has given me so much, including Mark Rusher, Gaby Wood and Graeme Williams for fireworks of ideas – and Mark Stay for knowing everything about everything. Sherif Mehmet taught me how to organise our Christmas lunch, and made sure everything about this book ran smoothly. I know there are a plethora of Orion staff, booksellers, reviewers and readers who will make this book come to life, so thank you in advance, and I’m sorry I don’t know you yet. It’s been brilliant to work with Orion.

Thank you to Gillian, Darren, Emily, Sophie and Charlie at Gollancz for making life fun (I’ll put a spaceship in a book one day …). Simon Spanton was instrumental in making this book happen, from the first glimmerings of an idea to the final result. Thank you.

I’m very grateful to my wonderful and very generous agents, Robert Kirby and Ariella Feiner, for everything – they must have felt they were living in the wrong century with all this! They are always there for me and full of ideas, even late at night …

Thank you to my colleagues over at Royal Holloway, Professor Sir Andrew Motion, Professor Jo Shapcott and Susanna Jones. Andrew has read my earliest fiction and has improved it beyond measure – I’m very fortunate.

Thank you so much to Marcus and Persephone for putting up with living in 1914 rather than the twenty-first century!

And, above all, thank you to my readers – especially to all those who write to me. I couldn’t do it without you! The story of the de Witt family will continue next year, following their fortunes from 1918 to 1927. I hope you’ll join them again.

KATE WILLIAMS
is the author of the highly praised novel The
Pleasures of Men
and five acclaimed non-fiction books, including
Becoming Queen
, about the youth of Queen Victoria;
England’s Mistress: The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton
; and
Ambition and Desire: The Dangerous Life of Josephine Bonaparte
. She is also a social historian and broadcaster as well as CNN’s official royal historian. She appears frequently on BBC, and has hosted historical documentaries on TV and radio.

www.kate-williams.com
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“Brilliant—a passionate and poignant story of a glittering family on the precipice of a vanished world. Spellbinding, gripping and beautiful—a must-read.”

Lisa Hilton, author of
Elizabeth: Renaissance Prince

“This terrific saga comes with a fascinating twist… . Williams has a gift for showing how great movements in history affect the lives of people caught up in them.”
The Times
(UK)

“Celia de Witt is the 15-year-old daughter of a German-born industrialist and his aristocratic wife, who live in a magnificent country house; her elder sister is about to have a grand society wedding. What could go wrong? The First World War, that’s what… . Shades of
Downton
, with a dash of
Atonement
.”
Tatler

“A vivid portrait of a perennially fascinating period of history.”

The Observer

“[An] all-encompassing, sweeping epic… . A book to get immersed in for hours at a time… . A wonderful achievement.” Katherine Webb, author of
The Misbegotten
and
A Half Forgotten Song

“A well-paced, truly affecting narrative… . Richly detailed, light of foot. Williams tantalises with loose ends and disturbs with shocking shadows.”

The Independent

“Packed with drama and written with a sensitive warmth and fantastic historical insight.”

Imogen Robertson, author of
Theft of Life
and
The Paris Winter

FICTION:

The Pleasures of Men

NON-FICTION:

England’s Mistress: The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton

Becoming Queen

Young Elizabeth: The Making of Our Queen

Josephine: Desire, Ambition, Napoleon

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Cover image: Getty Images/Trevillion

The Storms of War
Copyright © 2014 by Kate Williams.

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EPUB Edition April 2015 ISBN 9781443438261

Published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

First published in Great Britain in 2014 by Orion Books,
an imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd

FIRST CANADIAN EDITION

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All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

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