 |
| Alan Courtney Tytheridge Reproduced by kind permission of Jenny Stroud |
Introduction
This is the fascinating life story of Alan Courtney Tytheridge. He was a remarkable man who was a scholar, an author, a musician and a linguist. He lived in four different continents during his life time and lived through an earthquake and internment by the Japanese in World War 2.
Although I have researched Alan’s life for many years much of the research presented here must be credited to Jenny Stroud whose research into the life of Alan and the background information is amazing. Thank you to Jenny for giving me permission to use her research and images. Jenny is Alan’s second cousin twice removed, related to him via his mother, Lucy Winterbottom. I would also like to thank Graeme Bell and Jenny’s Japanese researchers (Miyo and Mizuyo) for the assistance they have given Jenny.
Family Life in England 1889 -1895
Alan’s grandfather was William Henry Walter Tytheridge. William moved from Portsmouth to London. He had inherited money and property from his maternal uncle and the family were well-off and well-educated. Alan’s father Walter Robert Tytheridge was sent to St Paul’s public school and then went to medical school and qualified as a doctor and surgeon.
Walter was 35 when he married Lucy Anne Winterbottom on 21 January 1885 at St Johns Church, Nottinghill. Lucy also came from a wealthy family; her mother owned several properties and her when her father died he had left quite a bit of money. Lucy’s father, Henry, had been a bandmaster in the Royal Marines and was a talented musician, a talent that was to be handed down to Alan.
Walter and Lucy’s first child, Nora, was born in Epsom Surrey in 1887, but she died just 10 months old.
On 15 June 1889 Alan Courtney Tytheridge was born and baptised on 22 July at Christ Church, Epsom. On the 1891 census the family and their servant were living at The Chestnuts, Church Street, Epsom, a very grand sounding address.
Alan's family tree can be found at this link .
Life in New Zealand
On 3 October 1895 Walter, Lucy and 6-year-old Alan emigrated to New Zealand sailing for Wellington on the ship “Ionic”. They settled at Marton, near Wellington, where Walter set up a doctor’s practice in Grey Street. During this period Alan learnt to play the piano. From 1901 newspaper articles show he passed piano exams, including when 14 years old being the only person to secure a distinction in the Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music exams. It is obvious he had inherited the musical talents of his mother’s family.
In June 1904 the family moved to Opawa, a suburb of Chistchurch. Here Alan attended Christs College, Christchurch an independent school. Six months later he won his first school prize for Divinity. Alan quickly showed that he was a very gifted student in the arts, literature and languages. In 1905 he won school prizes for History, Latin, French and English. In 1906 he won prizes for Greek, English Literature, Latin, French and History. He was Head Boy at Christ's College.
In 1906 Alan’s s cousin, Dorothy May Tytheridge, visited the family in New Zealand. On her return to England she remained in written contact with Alan, and it is one of Alan’s letters to Dorothy that will tell us something of his life in Japan.
Alan was lucky enough to grow up in a family where the arts and music played an important role. His father, Walter, was involved in the cultural side of Christchurch life and is listed as a member of the Canterbury Society of Arts in 1914. From 1906 onwards, there are reports in the newspapers of Alan doing well in music competitions and reports of his performance at concerts and recitals. In 1912 there is reference to a YMCA concert where Alan performed with Eric Bell. Eric was to become his life time friend and their lives followed a very similar path. For many years Eric managed and conducted the Christchurch Salon Orchestra and Alan played in this orchestra. Alan was a superb pianist and a press story later referred to him “as a shining light in Christchurch musical circles”.
In 1907 Alan started at Canterbury College, in Christchurch which was one of the colleges of the University of New Zealand. Again, Alan excelled passing his first year German with credit and receiving an award for German in 1909. In 1910 he was awarded a B. A. first section and won awards for French, German, Latin and Greek. He was awarded the final section of the B. A. in April 1911, again, with an award for German. In April 1912 he was awarded an M. A. First Class honours in French and German. He was a true scholar.
In April 1912 Alan began his training as a journalist and went to work on the literary staff of the Christchurch newspaper “The Press”. He was paid £2 10s a week. His role was to assist the sub editorial staff, write on current topics and do some reporting.
Life in Fiji and USA 1914 - 1916
In July 1914 Alan was awarded an editorship on the Fiji Times based in Suva, the capital of Fiji. He sailed on the Marama on 1 August 1914 travelling First Class. It was while he was in Fiji that his mother Lucy died on 23 January 1915. In her will she left money in a trust to pay Alan an annual income.
Alan stayed in Fiji for a just over a year before heading to Honolulu. He sailed on the Makura which left Sydney on the 30th September 1915 and picked him up in Fiji on the way through. He arrived in Honolulu in Hawaii on 15 October 1915. His arrival on American soil was recorded by the immigration authorities and from the records we learn that he was 26 years old, 5ft 10 inches, with grey eyes, brown hair and weighed 148 lbs. He spent some time in Hawaii securing articles for his paper before going to San Francisco to attend The Panama–Pacific International Exposition. This was a world fair held in San Francisco to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but it was also to show San Francisco’s recovery from the 1906 earthquake
Alan liked San Francisco and ended up staying there for a year and twenty years later made several return visits. San Francisco has always had a large gay community and the city has been described as "the original 'gay-friendly city".
His departure from San Francisco is recorded in an article in the New Zealand newspapers which reads
Evening Star, 25 September 1916
“Mr Alan C. Tytheridge, who was for some time on the literary staff of "The Press," and afterwards editor of the "Fiji Times," but who has been in America for about eighteen months, was recently appointed pianist and accompanist to a noted Portuguese cellist and violinist, and they are to tour Japan. Mr Tytheridge's headquarters will be Yokohama till the conclusion of his contract, which is for three years. Among the pianists who applied for the post was Mr Walter Handel Thorley, who is well known in Christchurch musical circles.”
This period was during World War 1 in Europe. At home in New Zealand they had failed to find enough volunteers to fill the army. Conscription was publicly debated in New Zealand during 1915. Laws were passed restricting the movements and activities of military-aged men, who from November 1915 were banned from leaving the country without the government’s permission. In August 1916, the Military Service Act empowered the government to call up any man aged between 20 and 45 for military service. Perhaps these facts could have influenced Alan’s decision not to return to New Zealand?
Sunday, 21 July 2019
Alan Courtney Tytheridge - Part 2 Life in Japan 1916 – 1939
By Ann Titheradge and Jenny Stroud
Move to Japan
As stated in the newspaper article in the previous blog, it was Alan’s love of music and ability as a pianist that gave him the opportunity to go to Japan. He arrived in Japan in late 1916 or early 1917 and fell in love with Japan. It became his home for the next 47 years. No record has been found of this concert tour of Japan with the noted cellist but for some reason the tour was cut short or did not occur.
Alan had settled in Yokohama and his address in 1918 was Higashi Kaigan, Chigaski-machi, Kanagawa-ken, Yokohama. Alan established himself as a journalist in Tokyo and by May 1918 was on the editorial staff of "The New East", an English publication run by Mr J. W. Robertson Scott. The paper ceased production in 1918.
On 17 September 1918 Alan’s father died in New Zealand leaving all his money “in Trust” to Alan. In July 1920 Alan invested £2000 in a business venture, becoming the joint owner of a newly formed company in New Zealand called “Oriental Arts Ltd”. The co-owner was Harold Lightband. The company was selling works of art, antique furniture, leather goods etc. from eastern craftsmen to the New Zealand public. The publicity for the company says “We have our own resident representative in the east, (presumably Alan), a man of profound artistic judgment, who lives and moves with the people of the Orient, thus enabling him to secure rare specimens of damascene, enamel, lacquer work, ivory and other products”. The business was managed by Eric Bell, Alan’s old friend from his days in Christchurch. The business did not run for long and closed in 1922 with all the stock being sold by auction in July 1922. In 1922 Eric Bell left New Zealand and joined Alan in Japan. Eric found work as an English Language teacher.
Alan decided to go into teaching and in June 1921 New Zealand newspapers reported that Alan had recently been appointed as professor of English at the Tokyo College of Commerce, which was a Japanese University. This later became part of Hitosubashi one of the most prestigious universities in Japan.
At some point both Alan and Eric taught at Seijo School, Tokyo, but the dates of this employment are unclear.
Reports in an American Newspaper “Madera Tribune” published in September 1921 show that Alan was invited to Germany to a conference held in Berlin called “International Sex Congress”. This was to discuss a variety of topics around the subject including divorce, birth control and homosexuality. Among the speakers was Dr Magnus Hirschfeld. Hirschfeld had opened the Institute of Sexual Science in Berlin in 1919, the library and archives of which were later destroyed by Nazi demonstrators in 1933. Alan visited the Institute and later when Hirschfield visited Japan he stayed with Alan in a Japanese fishing village. In 1922 Alan published an article, or maybe a book, in German “Beobachtungen uber Homosexualitat in Japan 1922”. (translation is Observations on Homosexuality in Japan 1922).
Alan and Eric were in Japan when an earthquake struck. On 1 September 1923 at noon the Great Kanto Earthquake struck the Kanto Plain on the Japanese main island of Honshuat. It had a magnitude of 7.9 and at the time was considered to be the worst natural disaster ever to strike Japan. Varied accounts indicate the duration of the earthquake was between four and ten minutes. The initial quake was followed a few minutes later by a 40-foot-high tsunami which swept away thousands of people. This was followed by fires, roaring through the wooden houses of Yokohama and Tokyo. The death toll was about 140,000. This earthquake devastated Tokyo, the port city of Yokohama, and the surrounding areas. This must have been a terrifying experience for Alan and Eric and they were lucky to survive.
Alan established himself as a Professor of English and became an author of books and articles. In 1924 Alan wrote an article “An Uncrowned Lord of Language” about a British born author of West Indian descent, called M.P Shiel. Shiel is remembered mostly for supernatural horror stories and scientific romances. In the essay Alan discusses Shiel's early novels, heroes, and views of God. He also admired Shiel's mastery of the English language and how Shiel played with sound in his writing. Alan loved Sheil's writing although it would appear their interests were very different, perhaps the common ground was that Sheil did write about Japanese culture.
Alan’s linguistic ability meant he learnt to speak Japanese. In 1928 Alan co-authored a book with T. Sagara, “Colloquial English Conversations in Practical and Applied Forms”. The book is an English language guide for Japanese tourists / students who would be travelling to the USA or Britain in the 1920s. It is extraordinary in its detail, it's humour and invention. Alan's job was to translate the Japanese to English and add his knowledge of the English-speaking world at that time. I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to see this book and it is quite remarkable in its detail of every situation the traveller might encounter. The preface of the copy has been added by Alan in his own handwriting. It is transcribed below.
This new book by Mr Saghara should prove a god-send to all students of English who seek acquaintance, not only with the literary language taught in schools, but also with (the often very different!) colloquial idiom in common use today throughout the English-speaking world.
How many thousands of Japanese there are who can read literature with ease and yet who find themselves utterly “at sea” when on their travels abroad they find themselves confronted with the thousand and one perplexities of an unfamiliar social life! How few students of Japanese universities, after years of study have any notion of how to give and acknowledge greetings, perform introductions, accept or declined invitations, or do any of the other of the countless little things which formed the ABC of social intercourse in Western lands. Their vocabulary of long literary words and stilted archaic phrases may be immense, but “English as she is spoke” is for the most part a terra incognita to them. My own experience of students has convinced me that in general they do not care to trouble themselves about Practical English, regarding it as an unnecessary, or very minor part of their equipment.
All those, however, whose business is to be with Real Life and not merely with Books, who intend to travel or otherwise come into close contact with English or American people, need to become thoroughly conversant with the actual living language in daily usage in England or America and for them Mr Saghara’s book will be an invaluable vade mecum.
Alan Tytheridge
Tokyo March 1928
In 1934, 45-year-old Alan took a holiday to America. He left Yokohama, Japan on 25 July 1934 and returned to Honolulu, Hawaii. He travelled on the “Taiyo Maru” arriving nine days later. The Honolulu Advertiser dated the 5 August, reported the arrival of the ship and passengers including "A C Tytheridge Professor of University of Commerce Tokyo on route and on vacation". He returned to Japan on 22nd August sailing from Honolulu on the same vessel.
Two years later Alan returned to America for another holiday sailing from Yokohama to Los Angeles aboard the ship “Asama Maru”. He left Yokohama on 10 July 1936 and arrived in Los Angeles 16 days later. He planned to visit San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle. He stayed in America for a month, departing on 28th August.
His third visit to America came in 1939 departing Yokohama on 6 July 1939 on “Tatu ta Maru” arriving after 14 days. This time he planned to visit San Francisco, Seattle and New York. His visa lasted 60 days so he left some time before September. The ship’s manifest shows he was going to visit N R Hunter of 7 Patchin Place, New York. This should read M R Hunter who was a New Zealand poet, playwright and fiction writer but best known as a journalist in America. Rex had worked on the The Press in New Zealand and had also worked in Fiji and San Francisco, but it is not clear how Rex and Alan knew each other. Rex was part of the Greenwich Village literary circle and was a lead writer for one of the New York papers..
There was conflict developing in Europe and on 3 September 1939 Britain declared war on Germany and World War 2 began. This would have been about the time Alan arrived back in Japan and returned to his teaching post. He could not envisage the effect this declaration would have on his life.
To be continued in next blog ……
 |
| Front Page of Alan Tytheridge's book for Japanese travellers Published by kind permission of Jenny Stroud |
Alan had settled in Yokohama and his address in 1918 was Higashi Kaigan, Chigaski-machi, Kanagawa-ken, Yokohama. Alan established himself as a journalist in Tokyo and by May 1918 was on the editorial staff of "The New East", an English publication run by Mr J. W. Robertson Scott. The paper ceased production in 1918.
On 17 September 1918 Alan’s father died in New Zealand leaving all his money “in Trust” to Alan. In July 1920 Alan invested £2000 in a business venture, becoming the joint owner of a newly formed company in New Zealand called “Oriental Arts Ltd”. The co-owner was Harold Lightband. The company was selling works of art, antique furniture, leather goods etc. from eastern craftsmen to the New Zealand public. The publicity for the company says “We have our own resident representative in the east, (presumably Alan), a man of profound artistic judgment, who lives and moves with the people of the Orient, thus enabling him to secure rare specimens of damascene, enamel, lacquer work, ivory and other products”. The business was managed by Eric Bell, Alan’s old friend from his days in Christchurch. The business did not run for long and closed in 1922 with all the stock being sold by auction in July 1922. In 1922 Eric Bell left New Zealand and joined Alan in Japan. Eric found work as an English Language teacher.
Alan decided to go into teaching and in June 1921 New Zealand newspapers reported that Alan had recently been appointed as professor of English at the Tokyo College of Commerce, which was a Japanese University. This later became part of Hitosubashi one of the most prestigious universities in Japan.
At some point both Alan and Eric taught at Seijo School, Tokyo, but the dates of this employment are unclear.
Reports in an American Newspaper “Madera Tribune” published in September 1921 show that Alan was invited to Germany to a conference held in Berlin called “International Sex Congress”. This was to discuss a variety of topics around the subject including divorce, birth control and homosexuality. Among the speakers was Dr Magnus Hirschfeld. Hirschfeld had opened the Institute of Sexual Science in Berlin in 1919, the library and archives of which were later destroyed by Nazi demonstrators in 1933. Alan visited the Institute and later when Hirschfield visited Japan he stayed with Alan in a Japanese fishing village. In 1922 Alan published an article, or maybe a book, in German “Beobachtungen uber Homosexualitat in Japan 1922”. (translation is Observations on Homosexuality in Japan 1922).
Alan and Eric were in Japan when an earthquake struck. On 1 September 1923 at noon the Great Kanto Earthquake struck the Kanto Plain on the Japanese main island of Honshuat. It had a magnitude of 7.9 and at the time was considered to be the worst natural disaster ever to strike Japan. Varied accounts indicate the duration of the earthquake was between four and ten minutes. The initial quake was followed a few minutes later by a 40-foot-high tsunami which swept away thousands of people. This was followed by fires, roaring through the wooden houses of Yokohama and Tokyo. The death toll was about 140,000. This earthquake devastated Tokyo, the port city of Yokohama, and the surrounding areas. This must have been a terrifying experience for Alan and Eric and they were lucky to survive.
Alan the Author 1924 – 1928
 |
| Cover from Sagara and Tytheridge's book Published by kind permission of Jenny Stroud |
Alan’s linguistic ability meant he learnt to speak Japanese. In 1928 Alan co-authored a book with T. Sagara, “Colloquial English Conversations in Practical and Applied Forms”. The book is an English language guide for Japanese tourists / students who would be travelling to the USA or Britain in the 1920s. It is extraordinary in its detail, it's humour and invention. Alan's job was to translate the Japanese to English and add his knowledge of the English-speaking world at that time. I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to see this book and it is quite remarkable in its detail of every situation the traveller might encounter. The preface of the copy has been added by Alan in his own handwriting. It is transcribed below.
Pre-face to “Colloquial English Conversations in Practical and Applied Forms”
 |
| Alan's Hand Written Preface to Sagara and Tytheridge's book Published by kind permission of Jenny Stroud |
This new book by Mr Saghara should prove a god-send to all students of English who seek acquaintance, not only with the literary language taught in schools, but also with (the often very different!) colloquial idiom in common use today throughout the English-speaking world.
How many thousands of Japanese there are who can read literature with ease and yet who find themselves utterly “at sea” when on their travels abroad they find themselves confronted with the thousand and one perplexities of an unfamiliar social life! How few students of Japanese universities, after years of study have any notion of how to give and acknowledge greetings, perform introductions, accept or declined invitations, or do any of the other of the countless little things which formed the ABC of social intercourse in Western lands. Their vocabulary of long literary words and stilted archaic phrases may be immense, but “English as she is spoke” is for the most part a terra incognita to them. My own experience of students has convinced me that in general they do not care to trouble themselves about Practical English, regarding it as an unnecessary, or very minor part of their equipment.
All those, however, whose business is to be with Real Life and not merely with Books, who intend to travel or otherwise come into close contact with English or American people, need to become thoroughly conversant with the actual living language in daily usage in England or America and for them Mr Saghara’s book will be an invaluable vade mecum.
Alan Tytheridge
Tokyo March 1928
Visits to America 1934 – 1939
In 1934, 45-year-old Alan took a holiday to America. He left Yokohama, Japan on 25 July 1934 and returned to Honolulu, Hawaii. He travelled on the “Taiyo Maru” arriving nine days later. The Honolulu Advertiser dated the 5 August, reported the arrival of the ship and passengers including "A C Tytheridge Professor of University of Commerce Tokyo on route and on vacation". He returned to Japan on 22nd August sailing from Honolulu on the same vessel.
Two years later Alan returned to America for another holiday sailing from Yokohama to Los Angeles aboard the ship “Asama Maru”. He left Yokohama on 10 July 1936 and arrived in Los Angeles 16 days later. He planned to visit San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle. He stayed in America for a month, departing on 28th August.
His third visit to America came in 1939 departing Yokohama on 6 July 1939 on “Tatu ta Maru” arriving after 14 days. This time he planned to visit San Francisco, Seattle and New York. His visa lasted 60 days so he left some time before September. The ship’s manifest shows he was going to visit N R Hunter of 7 Patchin Place, New York. This should read M R Hunter who was a New Zealand poet, playwright and fiction writer but best known as a journalist in America. Rex had worked on the The Press in New Zealand and had also worked in Fiji and San Francisco, but it is not clear how Rex and Alan knew each other. Rex was part of the Greenwich Village literary circle and was a lead writer for one of the New York papers..
There was conflict developing in Europe and on 3 September 1939 Britain declared war on Germany and World War 2 began. This would have been about the time Alan arrived back in Japan and returned to his teaching post. He could not envisage the effect this declaration would have on his life.
To be continued in next blog ……