Have u ever read one of the fragment of Sappho? this one "“someone will remember us/ I say even in another time”. Could you create smt based off that feeling? Thanks, adore ur stuff btw
A letter between Gilbert Bradley and Gordon Bowsher, written during WWII (via)
(via)
E. M. Forster, Selected Letters of E. M. Forster: 1879-1920
Sappho, translated by Anne Carson, from If Not, Winter
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all our letters could be published in the future in a more enlightened time. Then all the world could see how in love we are.
Gordon Bowsher
in a love letter to Gilbert Bradley
(circa 1940s)
Alta / James Baldwin / Gilbert Bradley / Arthur Conan Doyle / E. M. Forster / Sappho / Black Sails / Richard Siken / Regina Spektor
[Image descriptions:
“My history books lied to me. They told me I didn’t exist.” - Alta
“History, as nearly no one seems to know, is not merely something to be read. And it does not refer merely, or even principally, to the past. On the contrary, the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do. It could scarcely be otherwise, since it is to history that we owe our frames of reference, our identities, and our aspirations.” - James Baldwin
“Wouldn't it be wonderful if all our letters could be published in the future in a more enlightened time. Then all the world could see how in love we are.” - Gilbert Bradley
“‘Well, well, MacKinnon is a good fellow,’ said Holmes with a tolerant smile. ‘You can file it in our archives, Watson. Some day the true story may be told.’” - The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle
“When I am with him, smoking or talking quietly ahead, or whatever it may be, I see, beyond my own happiness and intimacy, occasional glimpses of the happiness of 1000s of others whose names I shall never hear, and know that there is a great unrecorded history.” - Selected Letters of E. M. Forster I: 1879–1920, E. M. Forster
“someone will remember us I say even in another time” - Sappho
“This is how they survive. You must know this. You're too smart not to know this. They paint the world full of shadows and then tell their children to stay close to the light. Their light. Their reasons, their judgements. Because in the darkness, there be dragons. But it isn't true. We can prove that it isn't true. In the dark, there is discovery, there is possibility, there is freedom in the dark once someone has illuminated it. And who has been so close to doing it as we are right now? All this will be for nothing. We will have been for nothing. Defined by their histories, distorted to fit into their narrative, until all that is left of us are the monsters in the stories they tell their children.” - Black Sails
“History repeats itself. Somebody says this.
History throws its shadow over the beginning, over the desktop,
over the sock drawer with its socks, its hidden letters.
History is a little man in a brown suit
trying to define a room he is outside of.
I know history. There are many names in history
but none of them are ours.” - ‘Little Beast’, Richard Siken
“And history books forgot about us and the bible didn't mention us
And the bible didn't mention us, not even once” - ‘Samson’, Regina Spektor]
The various articles and links about the letters between Gilbert Bradley and Gordon Bowsher only include a photo of Gilbert. I was curious about Gordon so I spent an afternoon searching for news about him. Unfortunately I didn’t find a picture of him. I did learn he became a well-known horse trainer. I also found evidence of his life before and after Gilbert.
1913 - born in Devon, England (this would have made him 25 when he met Gilbert)
1957 - registered to vote in London
1957 - arrived in USA
1964 - naturalized citizen of USA
1968 - he may have employed Sirhan Sirhan in his stables prior to the assassination of Robert Kennedy.
Note: An article In the Long Beach Independent Press-Telegram mentions that Bowsher co-owned a horse with Eric Micklewood. They are described “as English as fish and chips”. Micklewood was an actor in films and television. Perhaps he and Bowsher were lovers as well. It would be nice to know if he found happiness with another man.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all our letters could be published in the future in a more enlightened time. Then all the world could see how in love we are.
More than 300 letters written between two same-sex lovers in WWII were discovered and may be made into a movie.
February 12 1940, Park Grange
My own darling boy,
There is nothing more than I desire in life but to have you with me constantly...
...I can see or I imagine I can see, what your mother and father's reaction would be... the rest of the world have no conception of what our love is - they do not know that it is love...
“The rest of the world has no conception of what our love is.”
Gilbert Bradley and Gordon Bowsher met while on houseboat vacation ("on holiday" as it’s known to Brits). The year was 1938. They fell in love. Gordon was in the army and if discovered he would be subject to a court martial.
Gay sex had been illegal in England since 1885 when the "gross indecency" law was passed by Parliament. Well-known figures such as Oscar Wilde and Alan Turing were prosecuted under the law. Curiously, the law did not apply to women.
Finally in 1967, the Sexual Offences Act decriminalized sex between consenting men over the age of 21. But "out" gays, man or woman, still could not serve in the military until 2000.
When WWII broke out in 1939, Gilbert was drafted and assigned to training as an airplane gunner. Gordon got orders to join a unit in Europe. But they stayed in touch with letters, lots and lots of love letters.
The letters described their love for each other, and hopes for the future, as well as anxiety about surviving the war. Here’s an example from 1940:
February 12 1940, Park Grange
My own darling boy,
There is nothing more that I desire in life but to have you with me constantly... I can see or I imagine I can see what your mother and father's reaction would be... The rest of the world has no conception of what our love is. They do not know that it is love."
They both dreamed of a time when they could love each other without hiding
“Wouldn't it be wonderful if all our letters could be published in the future in a more enlightened time.”
“I feel that all our happiness and all our unhappiness should be shared”.
But as a safety precaution, they each signed their letters with just “G”.
By the end of the war, separated and alone, Gilbert and Gordon drifted apart. But Gilbert saved Gordon’s letters. They were discovered in a box after he died in 2008.
Eventually the box found its way to an auction were it was bought by a collector of military ephemera. Initially he thought the letters were between a soldier and his fiancé -- until he realized “G” stood for Gordon. He searched for more and his collection of Gilbert's & Gordon’s letters reached nearly 600. The collection is on loan to and displayed at the Oswestry Town Museum (190 miles northwest of London).
No photos of Gilbert & Gordon are available. Below is my wishful thinking.
