Looking back and looking ahead
A reunion, a research expedition to London, a residential event... and thinking about what next
A very warm welcome to the latest post In Search of Adela Curtis, a Modern Mystic. It is almost a year now since my research into Adela Curtis, the founder of the first community that lived here in Dorset, took me to the States for a month that included some wonderful encounters with people and exciting new finds. This blog started on Substack then because I really wanted to keep a record of my journey and whilst I was there, it was a way of feeling connected with those back home who were following my adventures.
This post is mainly to bring you up to date with some of the places I have been and people I have met this year which I haven’t yet written about here, as I continue my search for Adela Curtis and her life and work. At the end I mention briefly what I will be doing next. If any of you would like a reminder about the subject of my research, there is a link to a post I wrote Who was Adela Marion Curtis?, which gives a brief overview of her life. I have also included some links to other earlier posts in the text below, in case anyone wants to go into more detail about some of the people and topics I’m touching on this time.
Reunion with Pat Hames this summer
Those of you who followed my journey across the States last October may remember that I began in New England, staying with Pat Hames in Niantic, Connecticut. It was so good to meet up with Pat once again a few weeks ago, when she and her sister came to Othona, for the first of our summer holiday weeks (which happened to be co-facilitated by my son Andy!). I’m very grateful to Pat for her hospitality last year, at the start of my trip, when there were such a lot of new things to adjust to in a new continent.
Exploring Kensington
I went on a trip to London in the Spring, as I was keen to see places connected in some way with Adela Curtis, particularly the bookshop, ‘At the Sign of the Sibyl’ and the properties associated with the School of Silence. Both of these were joint ventures with her greatest friend, Lily Cancellor. (Do have a look at this post Spotlight on Lily Davison Cancellor which explores Lily’s life in more detail, if you are interested.)
‘At the Sign of the Sibyl’
The first photo below is of the Royal Palace Hotel within which Adela and Lily had their bookshop, ‘At the Sign of the Sibyl’ from around 1900 to 1908. The hotel was knocked down years ago and another built in its place, so I was delighted to discover that Kensington Central Library, in their Local Studies and Archives section, held this photo of the building that Adela would have known well. The hotel itself was well situated, right next to Kensington Gardens and the bookshop, at 4 Kensington High St, would have been in one of the porticos on the groundfloor.
When Adela began her School of Silence, the bookshop was moved into smaller (and probably much cheaper) premises in Church St, just a few minutes walk away. These premises are still standing, as shown in this photo, taken earlier in the year. The actual address is 11a Church St and it would seem that the bookshop, by then advertised as a circulating library, would have been on the first floor, above another shop.
The School of Silence
Adela Curtis first started The School of Silence in her home, which was a former artist’s studio in Pembroke Walk, Kensington in 1907. This is a very small street, further away from the main thoroughfares.
Then in 1910 she took on 10 Scarsdale Villas, a much bigger, semi-detached, four storey property, three minutes walk from High St Kensington tube station. This was to be her home as well as the centre for the School of Silence. It was also just around the corner from the Higher Thought Centre (a similarly sized property) in Cheniston Gardens, which was another New Thought base that flourished for a number of years in the early 20th century.
There is more detail about this venture in an earlier post called Turning an Ambitious Vision into Reality - the School of Silence. That post also goes on to tell how Adela established a settlement in the country at Cold Ash in Berkshire. This part of her story was also the focus of an afternoon during the residential weekend we held at Othona in June entitled, not surprisingly, In Search of Adela Curtis, a Modern Mystic!
Residential Weekend at Othona
We spent a long weekend together at Othona and I was delighted with the event - it was so helpful for me to put material together and receive feedback from the participants. In the four main sessions, I focussed on i/ Adela’s early life and fractured family; ii/ the good news that she experienced through New Thought; iii/ a couple of exciting discoveries on my trip to the States (I’m keeping details of those for another blog!); and iv/ her life and letters during WWII.
As already mentioned above, one of the afternoon sessions over the weekend included a more detailed exploration of the residential settlement which Adela established for the School and Order of Silence in Berkshire at Cold Ash in the 1910s. I was so pleased that three people - Russ Kent, Yvonne Jarzebowska and Jane Caiger-Smith - all of whom had connections with Cold Ash, were able to join us and share their stories with the group.
Russ Kent
Russ had got in touch with Othona two years ago, as he had been researching his grandfather Fred Kent and had discovered that Fred was the Builder’s Manager when Adela Curtis and Lily Cancellor had the Order of Silence buildings erected in Cold Ash during 1914-17. Fred was in his early 30s, employed by E H Burgess Ltd and this was the biggest project yet that he was assigned.
Adela and Lily were evidently pleased with the buildings because they presented Fred with a silver cup in recognition of the quality of his work. Actually the cup, which is shown below, was given on completion of the main house, the first part of the project. However, Fred stayed on overseeing the other buildings on the site and he didn’t finally leave until June 1917.
The cup is engraved with the following wording:
Presented to Frederick C. Kent by the Wardens and Ministrants as a token of gratitude for his work in the building of the House of the Order of Silence at Coldash. 1914 -1915.
Yvonne Jarzebowska
Yvonne had also contacted us, initially over three years ago, to let us know that her mother had been a pupil at the school for children which had been established at the Cold Ash Settlement. I went to meet Yvonne back in March and the post entitled A Trip to Bath included a section about that visit. Her mother, Irma Black, loved being at the school and she had kept a small album of photos from her time there.
The photograph above shows Irma and Veronica wearing the clothes and shoes they had made for themselves whilst at the school. Yvonne had never been to Othona before, so it was a good opportunity to show her around the place where Adela had eventually established another community.
Jane Caiger-Smith
Until December 2023, Jane had been archivist at Downe House School. It was the founder of that school, Olive Willis, who had bought the Cold Ash site when Adela had had to sell up in the early 1920s. The school is still based on this site and has kept all of the original Order of Silence properties that were built by Fred Kent and his team, except for the water tower, which was taken down about 10 years ago. I visited almost two years ago and met Jane for the first time then, when she generously showed me round the site and shared much of the archive she had collected which was related to Adela’s time there.
The central building in the photo above was known as The Cloisters in Adela Curtis’ time and it was for the completion of this building that Fred Kent received his silver cup from Adela, Lily and the members of the Order of Silence.
Looking Ahead
OK, what do I intend to do next? This whole venture has come about because I want to do justice to Adela Curtis in the book I am writing about her. I’ve been feeling that I need to have some dedicated space and time for that writing and so next month I will be staying for a while at Sarum College, a theological college in Salisbury. I shan’t be attending any of their programmes, but I intend to concentrate on writing the book! I have stayed there before and like its atmosphere. It is also beautifully situated, in the Cathedral Close, just a short walk from the Cathedral itself.
So, not a trip to the States this October! But I am looking forward to having the focussed time just to work on the first draft of the book. Thank you for your encouragement and support over the last 12 months - I have really appreciated your presence, your comments and the motivation you have given me to keep going!
Until the next time…
The amount of research and work that you have put into these blogs is impressive Liz! It is very interesting and I have found the story captivating! I am sure your book will be a great success.
Elizabeth