Katherine Mansfield

Press, 2 May 1988, Page 18

Katherine Mansfield

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Coral Broadbent

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1888 Born October 14, Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp, at 11 Tinakori Road, Wellington. The daughter of a prominent businessman, Harold Beauchamp, and his wife, Annie Dyer. 1893 Moves with family to “Chesney Wold,” a large house at Karori. 1895 Begins Karori Primary School. 1898 Attends Wellington Girls’ High School. Her first story, “Enna Blake,” published in the “High School Reporter.” 1890 Kathleen and her sisters attend Miss Swainson’s (later Marsden) school. 1894 Family move to 75 Tinakori Road. 1902 Kathleen meets Arnold/Tom Trowell for whom she has an adolescent infatuation. 1903 Beauchamp family visit England. Kathleen and sisters attend Queen’s College, London. Meets Ida Baker (L.M.) who becomes a life-long friend. 1906 Returns to New Zealand with sisters and parents. 1907 Kathleen goes on a camping trip in central North Island. 1908 Persuades her family to let her return to England. Granted an allowance by her father. 1909 Marries G. C. Bowden and immediately leaves him. Goes to live with Garnet Trowell (twin brother of Arnold/Tom). Later that year she has a > miscarriage. Spends some months in Germany. Has a love affair with * Floryan Sobienowski from whom she probably contracted venereal disease. 1910 Uses name of Katherine Mansfield in all publications. Her short stories begin to appear in literary magazines. 1911 Meets John Middleton Murry, editor of the magazine “Rhythm.” 1912 Murry moves in with Katherine. 1913 Friendship with various writers, including D. H. Lawrence and Rupert Brooke. Moves to Paris with Murry. 1914 Murry declared bankrupt. Katherine’s health very poor. 1915 Death of Katherine’s much-loved brother, Leslie, in World War I, helps turn her thoughts to her childhood in New Zealand. Katherine becomes assistant editor of “Rhythm” (name later changed to “The Blue Review”). Love affair with Francis Carco. 1916 Murry and Katherine go to Cornwall to live next door to D. H. Lawrence and Freida. This move was unsuccessful. Katherine meets Virginia Woolf. 1917 Katherine rewrites “The Aloe” to be printed by Leonard and Virginia Woolf as “Prelude.” Katherine diagnosed as having a spot on her lung. 1918 Katherine marries Murry. Begins writing “Je ne parle pas Francais” and “Bliss,” Katherine’s tuberculosis confirmed. 1919 Goes to San Remo, Italy, for her health. 1920 Katherine and Ida Baker move to Villa Isola Bella, Menton, France. Murry later joins them. “Bliss and Other Stories” published by Constable. Completes “The Daughters of the Late Colonel.” 1921 Katherine writing steadily. Moves frequently. Finishes “The Garden Party,” “At the Bay,” “The Doll’s House.” Begins new treatment for tuberculosis. 1922 Seriously ill. Finishes her last story, “The Canary.” Moves from the Continent to England and then back to France. Enters Gurdjieff’s community at Fontainbleau, near Paris. 1923 January 9. Murry visits. Katherine dies later that same evening. Artwork by Al Nisbet