Re: Amazons Toffs?


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Posted by Jock on August 18, 2007 at 23:14:16 from 87.105.81.146 user Jock.

In Reply to: Amazons Toffs? posted by Mike Dennis on August 17, 2007 at 13:04:10:

The thread... raised the point (Peter H I think) that some people have suggested they were 'toffs'. Well if this is taken to mean 'upper class' then I don't think they are.

I don't think that they are either Mike. In those days accepting children as suitable friends for your own children entailed a degree of socialising with their parents. The ease with which Mrs Blackett accepts the Swallows and the D's as suitable friends for the Amazons is the strongest evidence that I have found that the Blacketts are middle class, not upper class. Yet the GA's visit to Mrs Walker is not a success. Is the GA only aspiring to be upper class or is she actually upper class?

Before I discuss this question I'd like to make a couple of comments about the evidence that you quote - Captain Flint is the main give-away, he has no regular gainful employment, he has travelled the world seemingly for his own interest and enjoyment, owns a houseboat permanently moored in the middle of the lake and has free run of his sister’s house. In addition Mrs Blackett runs a large house with paid help; thinks nothing of calling the doctor and even her teenage daughter tells the local policeman off...

Given that Beckfoot contains his study I'd say that it was a moot point whether James Turner has free run of his sister's house or Mrs Blackett has been given the use of Beckfoot by her brother. When this change is made, please note that all of the CF attributes that you quote could also apply to someone who was upper class. In fact CF and Sir Kenneth Crossley have an extraordinary amount of things in common. See Iain Hobbs's article here. There can be no question that Sir Kenneth was anything other than upper class. So there we have it - the Blacketts are middle class, but have possessions and behaviour traits that could belong to an upper class family. And in fact some of them are actually from a real upper class family that AR could have known socially. (His cousin was the Crossley's doctor.)

So are the GA and (for a brief moment) CF a place mark for Kenneth Crossley? Did Crossley abuse AR for befriending his daughters? (Ruth Crossley would have been 20 when SA was published.) Is AR taking a vengeful swipe?

Or is AR's portrayal of the GA greatly misunderstood? She is someone who has had responsibility suddenly thrust upon her. She brought up Mary and James Turner when their parents died and this could explain why she did not marry. Maybe wielding authority does not come naturally to her. Upper class people would have learnt over generations that the one domestic servant that you NEVER abuse is the cook, otherwise you can never be too sure what could floating in the soup!

I fear that the answer was in the papers that Evgenia destroyed on AR's death.

As for CF. I like the story of his knocking off a policeman helmet on boat race night. An toffish exploit only to be undertaken if you can be fairly sure that the magistrate won't throw the book at you.

[Note to anyone contemplating going to Heathrow this weekend. Don't try emulating CF. Times have changed.]


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