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= Edward_Carpenter =
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Introduction
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Edward Carpenter (29 August 1844 – 28 June 1929) was an English
utopian socialist, poet, philosopher, anthologist, an early activist
for gay rights and prison reform whilst advocating vegetarianism and
taking a stance against vivisection. As a philosopher, he was
particularly known for his publication of 'Civilisation: Its Cause and
Cure'. Here, he described civilisation as a form of disease through
which human societies pass.
An early advocate of sexual liberation, he had an influence on both D.
H. Lawrence and Sri Aurobindo, and inspired E. M. Forster's novel
'Maurice'.
Early life
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Born at 45 Brunswick Square, Hove in Sussex, Carpenter was educated at
nearby Brighton College, where his father Charles Carpenter was a
governor. His brothers Charles, George and Alfred also went to school
there. Edward's grandfather was Vice-Admiral James Carpenter (d 1845).
When he was ten, Carpenter displayed a flair for the piano.
His academic ability became evident relatively late in his youth, but
was sufficient to earn him a place at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. At
Trinity Hall, Carpenter came under the influence of Christian
Socialist theologian F. D. Maurice. Whilst there he also began to
explore his feelings for men. One of the most notable examples of this
is his close friendship with Edward Anthony Beck (later Master of
Trinity Hall), which, according to Carpenter, had "a touch of
romance". Beck eventually ended their friendship, causing Carpenter
great emotional heartache. Carpenter graduated as 10th Wrangler in
1868. After university, he was ordained as curate of the Church of
England, "as a convention rather than out of deep Conviction", and
served as curate to Maurice at the parish of St Edward's, Cambridge.
In 1871 Carpenter was invited to become tutor to the royal princes
George Frederick (later King George V) and his elder brother, Prince
Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, but declined the position. His
lifelong friend and fellow Cambridge student John Neale Dalton took
the position. Carpenter continued to visit Dalton while he was tutor.
They were given photographs of the pair, taken by the princes.
In the following years he experienced an increasing sense of
dissatisfaction with his life in the church and university, and became
weary of what he saw as the hypocrisy of Victorian society. He found
great solace in reading poetry, later remarking that his discovery of
the work of Walt Whitman caused "a profound change" in him. Five or
six years later he visited Whitman in Camden, New Jersey, in 1877.
Move to the North of England
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Carpenter was voluntarily released from the Anglican ministry and left
the church in 1874 and moved to Leeds, becoming a lecturer as part of
University Extension Movement, which was formed by academics who
wished to widen access to education in deprived communities. He
lectured in astronomy, the lives of ancient Greek women and music and
had hoped to lecture to the working classes, but found his lectures
were mostly attended by middle class people, many of whom showed
little active interest in the subjects he taught. Disillusioned, he
moved to Chesterfield, but finding that town dull, moved to nearby
Sheffield a year later. Here he came into contact with manual workers,
and he began to write poetry. His sexual preferences were for working
men: "the grimy and oil-besmeared figure of a stoker" or "the
thick-thighed hot coarse-fleshed young bricklayer with a strap around
his waist".
When his father Charles Carpenter died in 1882, Edward inherited the
sum of £6,000 (6000). This enabled Carpenter to quit his lectureship
to seek the simpler life, first on a small holding at Totley near
Sheffield with Albert Ferneyhough, a scythe-maker, and his family in
1880; Albert and Edward became lovers and in 1883 moved to
Millthorpe, Derbyshire together with Albert's family, where Carpenter
built a large new house with outbuildings in 1883 constructed of local
gritstone with a slate roof, in the style of the seventeenth century.
There they had a small market garden and made and sold leather
sandals, based on the design of sandals sent to him from India by
Harold Cox on Carpenter's request.
Carpenter popularised the phrase the "Simple Life" in his essay
'Simplification of Life' in his 'England's Ideal' (1887). Sheffield
architect Raymond Unwin was a frequent visitor to Millthorpe and the
simple revival of vernacular English architecture at Millthorpe and
Carpenter's 'simple life' there were powerful influences on Unwin's
later Garden City architecture and ideals, suggesting as they did a
coherent but radical new lifestyle.
In Sheffield, Carpenter became increasingly radical. Influenced by a
disciple of Engels, Henry Hyndman, he joined the Social Democratic
Federation (SDF) in 1883 and attempted to form a branch in the city.
The group instead chose to remain independent, and became the
Sheffield Socialist Society. While in the city he worked on a number
of projects including highlighting the poor living conditions of
industrial workers. In 1884, he left the SDF with William Morris to
join the Socialist League. From there he stayed with William Harrison
Riley while he was visiting Walt Whitman.
In 1883, Carpenter published the first part of 'Towards Democracy', a
long poem expressing Carpenter's ideas about "spiritual democracy" and
how Carpenter believed humanity could move towards a freer and more
just society. 'Towards Democracy' was heavily influenced by Whitman's
poetry, as well as the Hindu scripture, the 'Bhagavad Gita'. Expanded
editions of 'Towards Democracy' appeared in 1885, 1892, and 1902; the
complete edition of 'Towards Democracy' was published in 1905.
In 1886-87 Carpenter was in a relationship with George Hukin, a razor
grinder. Carpenter lived with Cecil Reddie from 1888 to 1889 and in
1889 helped Reddie found Abbotsholme School in Derbyshire as a notably
progressive alternative to the traditional public school, with the
financial support of Robert Muirhead and William Cassels.
In May 1889, Carpenter wrote a piece in the 'Sheffield Independent'
calling Sheffield the laughing-stock of the civilized world and said
that the giant thick cloud of smog rising out of Sheffield was like
the smoke arising from Judgment Day, and that it was the altar on
which the lives of many thousands would be sacrificed. He said that
100,000 adults and children were struggling to find sunlight and air,
enduring miserable lives, unable to breathe and dying of related
illnesses.
Travel in India
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Drawn increasingly to Hindu philosophy, he travelled to India and
Ceylon in 1890. Following conversations with the guru Ramaswamy
(known as the Gnani) there, he developed the conviction that socialism
would bring about a revolution in human consciousness as well as of
economic conditions. His account of the travel was published in 1892
as 'From Adam's Peak to Elephanta: Sketches in Ceylon and India'.
The book's spiritual explorations would subsequently influence the
Russian author Peter Ouspensky, who discusses it extensively in his
own book, 'Tertium Organum' (1912).
Life with George Merrill
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On his return from India in 1891, he met George Merrill, a
working-class man also from Sheffield, 22 years his junior, and after
the Ferneyhoughs left Millthorpe in 1893 Merrill became Carpenter's
companion. The two remained partners for the rest of their lives,
cohabiting from 1898. Merrill, the son of an engine driver, had been
raised in the slums of Sheffield and had little formal education.
Carpenter remarked in his work 'The Intermediate Sex':
Eros is a great leveller. Perhaps the true Democracy rests, more
firmly than anywhere else, on a sentiment which easily passes the
bounds of class and caste, and unites in the closest affection the
most estranged ranks of society. It is noticeable how often Uranians
of good position and breeding are drawn to rougher types, as of manual
workers, and frequently very permanent alliances grow up in this way,
which although not publicly acknowledged have a decided influence on
social institutions, customs and political tendencies.
Carpenter included among his friends the scholar, author, naturalist,
and founder of the Humanitarian League, Henry S. Salt, and his wife,
Catherine; the critic, essayist and sexologist, Havelock Ellis, and
his wife, Edith; actor and producer Ben Iden Payne; Labour activists
Bruce and Katharine Glasier; writer and scholar, John Addington
Symonds; and the feminist writer, Olive Schreiner.
E. M. Forster was a close friend and visited the couple regularly. He
later recounted that it was a visit to Millthorpe in 1913 that
inspired him to write his gay-themed novel, 'Maurice'. Forster wrote
in his terminal note to the aforementioned novel that Merrill "touched
my backside - gently and just above the buttocks. I believe he touched
most people's. The sensation was unusual and I still remember it, as I
remember the position of a long vanished tooth. He made a profound
impression on me and touched a creative spring."
The relationship between Carpenter and Merrill was an inspiration for
the relationship between Maurice Hall and Alec Scudder, the gamekeeper
in 'Maurice'. The author D. H. Lawrence read the manuscript of
'Maurice', which was published posthumously in 1971. Carpenter's rural
lifestyle and the manuscript influenced Lawrence's 1928 novel 'Lady
Chatterley's Lover' which, though built around a central relationship
between a man and a woman, involves a gamekeeper and a member of the
upper-class.
Later life
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In 1902 Carpenter's anthology of verse and prose, 'Ioläus: An
Anthology of Friendship', was published. The book was published again
in 1906 by William Swan Sonnenschein.
In 1915, he published 'The Healing of Nations and the Hidden Sources
of Their Strife', where he argued that the source of war and
discontent in western society was class-monopoly and social
inequality.
Carpenter became an advocate of the Christ myth theory. His book
'Pagan and Christian Creeds' was published by Harcourt, Brace and Howe
in 1921.
The death of George Hukin in 1917 at the age of 56 seems to have
broken Carpenter's attachment to the North of England. In 1922 he and
Merrill moved to Guildford, Surrey and the two lived at 23 Mountside
Rd. On Carpenter's 80th birthday he was presented an album signed by
every member of the then Labour Government, headed by Ramsay
MacDonald, Prime Minister, who Carpenter had known since his teenage
years.
In January 1928, Merrill died suddenly, having become dependent on
alcohol since moving to Surrey. His death devastated Carpenter; he
sold their joint home and moved in with his carer Ted Inigan. In May
1928, Carpenter suffered a paralytic stroke. He lived another 13
months before he died on 28 June 1929, aged 84. He was interred in the
same grave as Merrill at the Mount Cemetery in Guildford under a
lengthy invocation written by Carpenter.
His obituary in The Times was headed "Edward Carpenter, Author and
Poet", though the text did also refer to his political campaigns.
Influence
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Carpenter was a friend of Rabindranath Tagore, and of Walt Whitman.
Aldous Huxley recommended Carpenter's pamphlet 'Civilization: Its
Cause and Cure' in his book 'Science, Liberty and Peace'. Modernist
art critic Herbert Read credited Carpenter's pamphlet
'Non-Governmental Society' with converting him to anarchism.
Leslie Paul was influenced by Carpenter's work; in turn he passed on
Carpenter's ideas to the scouting group he founded, The Woodcraft
Folk. Algernon Blackwood was another devotee of Carpenter's work;
Blackwood corresponded with Carpenter and included a quotation from
'Civilization: Its Cause and Cure' in his 1911 novel 'The Centaur'.
Fenner Brockway, in a 1929 obituary of Carpenter, acknowledged him as
an influence on Brockway and his associates when young. Brockway
described Carpenter as "the greatest spiritual inspiration of our
lives. 'Towards Democracy' was our Bible." Ansel Adams was an admirer
of Carpenter's writings, especially 'Towards Democracy'. Emma Goldman
cited Carpenter's books as an influence on her thought, and stated
that Carpenter possessed "the wisdom of the sage." Countee Cullen said
that reading Carpenter's book 'Iolaus' "opened up for me soul windows
which had been closed".
Carpenter was sometimes called "the English Tolstoy" and Tolstoy
himself considered him "a worthy heir of Carlyle and Ruskin".
Revival of reputation
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Following his death, Carpenter's written works fell out of print and
were largely forgotten except among devotees of British labour
movement history. However, in the 1970s and 1980s, interest in his
work was revived by historians such as Jeffrey Weeks and Sheila
Rowbotham, and some of Carpenter's works were reprinted by the Gay
Men's Press. Carpenter's opposition to pollution and cruelty to
animals have resulted in some historians arguing Carpenter's ideas
anticipated the modern Green and animal rights movements. Carpenter
was described by Fiona MacCarthy as the "Saint in Sandals", the "Noble
Savage" and, more recently, the "gay godfather of the British left".
Written works
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'The Religious Influence of Art' 1870
'Narcissus and other Poems' 1873
'Moses: A Drama in Five Acts' (later revised as 'The Promised Land',
1911) 1875
'Modern Money-Lending and the Meaning of Dividends: A Tract' 1885
'England's Ideal: And Other Essays on Social Subject' 1887
'Chants of Labour: A Song Book of the People with Music' 1888
'Civilisation: Its Cause and Cure' 1889
'From Adam's Peak to Elephanta: Sketches in Ceylon and India' 1892
'A Visit to Gñani: from Adam's Peak to Elephanta' 1892
'Homogenic Love and Its Place in a Free Society' 1894
'Sex-Love and Its Place in a Free Society' 1894
|'Marriage in Free Society' 1894
'Love's Coming of Age' 1896
'[
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hn3r7g&view=1up&seq=1&skin=2021
An Unknown People]' 1897
|'Angels' Wings: A Series of Essays on Art and its Relation to Life'
1898
'Iolaus: Anthology of Friendship' 1902
|'The Art of Creation' 1904
'Prisons, Police, and Punishment: An Inquiry into the Causes and
Treatment of Crime and Criminals' 1905
|'Towards Democracy' 1905
'Days with Walt Whitman: With Some Notes on His Life and Work' 1906
|'Sketches from Life in Town and Country' 1908
'The Intermediate Sex: A Study of Some Transitional Types of Men and
Women' 1908
|'Non-Governmental Society' 1911
'The Drama of Love and Death: A Study of Human Evolution and
Transfiguration' 1912
'George Merrill, A True History' 1913
'Intermediate Types Among Primitive Folk: A Study in Social
Evolution' 1914
|'The Healing of Nations' 1915
|'My Days and Dreams, Being Autobiographical Notes' 1916
|'The Story of My Books' 1916
'[
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31175035646002&view=1up&seq=1&skin=2021
Never Again!]' 1916
|'Towards Industrial Freedom' 1917
|'Pagan and Christian Creeds: Their Origin and Meaning' 1920
'The Story of Eros and Psyche' 1923
'[
https://www.edwardcarpenterforum.org/index.php/ecf-originals/web-premieres/carpenters-writings/51-some-friends-of-walt-whitman
Some Friends of Walt Whitman: A Study in Sex-Psychology]' 1924
'The Psychology of the Poet Shelley' 1925
'Chants of Labour' was a songbook for socialists, contributions to
which Carpenter had solicited in 'The Commonweal'.
It comprised works by John Glasse, Edith Nesbit, John Bruce Glasier,
Andreas Scheu, William Morris, Jim Connell, Herbert Burrows, and
others.
See also
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*List of Christ myth theory proponents
Further reading
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*
* Beith, Gilbert (ed), 'Edward Carpenter: In Appreciation', George
Allen & Unwin, 1931.
*
* Greig, Noël: 'Dear Love of Comrades': London: Gay Men's Press, 1979.
* Lewis, Edward, 'Edward Carpenter: An Exposition and an
Appreciation', Macmillan, 1915.
* Stanley Pierson, "Edward Carpenter, Prophet of a Socialist
Millennium," 'Victorian Studies,' vol. 13, no. 3 (March 1970), pp.
301-318.
*
*
*
* Tsuzuki, Chushchi, 'Edward Carpenter 1844-1929 Prophet of Human
Fellowship', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980.
* Twigg, Julia [
http://www.ivu.org/history/thesis/index.html 'The
Vegetarian Movement in England 1847-1981'], PhD (LSE) thesis, 1981, in
particular [
http://www.ivu.org/history/thesis/carpenter.html Chapter
Six e, i], as on the International Vegetarian Union website.
External links
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*
*
*
[
https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/libraries-archives/access-archives-local-studies-library/collections/edward-carpenter-collection
Sheffield Archives. Edward Carpenter Collection]
* [
https://www.marxists.org/archive/carpenter/index.htm Edward
Carpenter Archive] at marxists.org
*
[
https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/lgbtq-heritage-project/homes-and-domestic-spaces/millthorpe-and-edward-carpenter/
Millthorpe and Edward Carpenter], Historic England
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Carpenter
