Charles Morgan letters to Mrs. Hotson

Collection

Identifier: MSS 0099-F0850

Staff Only

Scope and Content Note

These four holograph letters were written by British author Charles Morgan to an American friend from Maine named Mrs. Hotson. Morgan wrote to thank Mrs. Hotson for parcels of food and necessities sent by her to assist the Morgans with shortages caused by World War II.

Writing in the first two years following World War II, Morgan expressed his gratitude, but also provided his opinions on economic circumstances in Great Britain. Morgan criticized Britain's acceptance of loans from the United States and lamented the limits on travel outside of Great Britain. Morgan also mentioned his son in the Grenadier Guards and provided glimpses of daily life in Britain just after the war.

Dates

Creation: 1945-1946

Creator

Morgan, Charles, 1894-1958 (Person)

Language of Materials

Materials entirely in English.

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, http://library.udel.edu/spec/askspec/

Charles Langbridge Morgan (1984-1958)

British writer Charles Langbridge Morgan wrote several plays, eleven novels, and numerous essays.

Charles Langbridge Morgan was born on January 22, 1894, in Bromley, Kent. He was a cadet in the Royal Navy and later attended naval colleges at Osborne and Dartmouth. From 1911-1913, he served in the Atlantic and China before resigning to pursue a literary career. However, at the outbreak of World War I Morgan volunteered for reenlistment in the Royal Navy, joining the Naval Brigade forces at Antwerp. In the fall of 1914, Morgan was taken prisoner in Holland, where during his internment Morgan began writing his first novel, The Gunroom (1919) in which he was critical of the British Navy. Though critical of the Royal Navy, Morgan again volunteered for service during World War II, and he served in the British Admiralty from 1939-1944.

After studying at Oxford, beginning in 1921, Morgan worked as a drama critic for The Times of London. In 1926 he became the paper’s principal drama critic, a post he held until 1939.

In the 1930s and 1940s, when Morgan’s success as a writer was at its peak, he won three important literary prizes for his novels: the Prix Fémina-Vie Heureuse (1929); the Hawthornden Prize (1932); and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (1940).

Morgan was one of the few foreigners to become an Académicien in the Institut de France. He also received honorary doctorates from St. Andrews University (LL.D., 1947), Université de Caen (1948), and Université de Toulouse (1948). Morgan died in London, on February 6, 1958.

Morgan, Charles.Selected Letters. Ed. Eiluned Lewis. London: Macmillan, 1967. "Charles Morgan."Contemporary Authors Online(reproduced in Biography Resource Center). http://www.galenet.com/servlet/BioRC (accessed November 2009)