Claud W. Sykes: A Man of Many Parts
Part 1 of 2
Claud Walter Sykes met James Joyce in Zurich during 1917 and the two formed a friendship that endured. Sykes typed manuscripts for several episodes of Ulysses and was stage director and artistic manager of Joyce's theater company in Switzerland: The English Players.
Sykes, like Henry Blackwood-Price, was born into an establishment family. The marriage of Claud's parents was a melding of aristocrats (Wellesley) and industrialists (Sykes). Claud Sykes was a stage actor and director, author of fiction and non-fiction, town gentleman, translator of German and French books, and spy.
n/ The Sykes-Wellesley bonds were strengthened in 1903 when 38-year-old widower Captain Harold Platt Sykes, Claud's first-cousin, retired from the army and married Claud's aunt, Winifred Charlotte Wellesley, age 32. Harold Sykes served in the 2nd Dragoon Guards along with his cousin Percy Molesworth Sykes. Hart's Annual Army List, 1902; London Gazette, April 21, 1903; Fox-Davies' Armorial Families, 1910.
Family
Claud Walter Sykes was born on October 21, 1883 in Ipswich, the first child of Walter Harry Sykes and Cecilia Louisa Jane Wellesley. His father, a career army officer with the Royal Engineers, was of a wealthy, industrial family from Cheshire. His French-born mother was a granddaughter of the Duke of Wellington's brother, Rev. Gerald Valerian Wellesley. Claud Sykes' paternal lineage is of the Sykes of Cheadle that traces back to Edmund Sykes of Wakefield, Yorkshire. His maternal lineage traces to Sir Henry Colley of Castle Carbury, Co. Kildare. The 1st Duke of Wellington was a seventh-generation descendant of Sir Henry.
n/ Burke's Landed Gentry, 1925, s.v. "Sykes of Brookfield;" Burke's Peerage, 1912, s.v. "Wellington."
One of Sykes' great-grandfathers was William Sykes of Wakefield, Yorkshire. William was of a rich, cloth merchant family. In 1792, he bought land in Stockport, Cheshire and founded the Sykes Bleaching Company. The company flourished from bleaching cotton fabric manufactured in Manchester and other Lancashire cities. Sykes Bleaching was later incorporated as Sykes & Co., Ltd. and the initial shareholders were two of Claud's uncles and aunts. In 1900, Sykes & Co. merged with 46 other firms to form the Bleachers' Association, one of the UK's largest textile finishing companies. At the time of amalgamation, the Bleachers' Association had £282,982 cash on hand and among the shareholders were three of Claud's first-cousins: Frank Sykes, Sir Alan John Sykes, and Herbert Rushton Sykes.
n/ William Astle, ed., Stockport Advertiser Centenary History of Stockport (Stockport, UK: Swain, 1922); Report of the Congressional Industrial Commission on Combinations in Europe (Washington, DC: GPO, 1901), 58-74; Manchester Courier and General Advertiser, August 31, 1901.
Claud's first-cousins included a renowned authority on Persia (Brig.-Gen. Sir Percy Molesworth Sykes, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society), a wealthy MP (Sir Alan John Sykes), and a non-fiction author (Ella Constance Sykes, Member of the RGS). Of his seven, male, English first-cousins on his father's side, two had M.A.s from Oxford. Two of his female first-cousins, Ella and Ethel, would have had Oxford degrees, but the university did not award women degrees until 1920. Ella Sykes was a noted travel writer and lecturer and accompanied her brother on three research expeditions in Central Asia. Her books include Through Persia on a Side-Saddle (1898), Persia and Its People (1910), A Home-Help in Canada (1912), and Through Deserts and Oases of Central Asia (1920) which was co-authored with Sir Percy. She was a founding member of the Royal Central Asian Society, served as its secretary, and contributed many articles to its journal.
n/ For more on Percy Sykes see Antony Wynn, Persia in the Great Game: Sir Percy Sykes (London: Murray, 2003). C.E.A.W. Oldham, "Obituary Notice: Ella Constance Sykes," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (July 1939): 508-09.
Surprisingly, only four of Claud's nineteen male first-cousins on his mother's side were career officers of the armed forces. A further two; however, held commissions in the part-time auxiliary forces. Claud's maternal grandparents had twelve children, his paternal grandparents had nine children, so Claud had "cousins by the dozens."
One of Claud's uncles, Richard Sykes, purchased large tracts of land in North Dakota upon which he founded five towns. He also purchased land in Saskatchewan, Canada (20,000 acres), Iowa, Oregon, and California. Richard Sykes was notable in the development of the football game "rugby" in Great Britain and introduced it to the United States. He spent most of his time in Manchester and in 1904, aged 65, married Fanny Eliza Walton, daughter of a Manchester grocer; she was 40 years his junior. Shortly thereafter they emigrated, settling in the wealthy, seaside community of Montecito in Santa Barbara, California. They had two children: Richard, Jr. and Edward.
n/ California birth registration of Edward Christopher Sykes, born August 22, 1907; Household Return, United States Census, 1920; James Walton Household Return, Census of England & Wales, 1901; Marriage Registration, 2nd Quarter 1904, Salford; Nigel Trueman, "Historical Rugby Milestones, 1850s," RugbyFootballHistory.com; M. Cabana, M. Hryniuk, F. Korvemaker, "Richard Sykes," Bell Barn Society website, www.bellbarn.ca; Will of Richard Sykes, Filed July 28, 1923, Superior Court, Santa Barbara, CA.
Lt.-Col. Walter Harry Sykes, R.E.
The Sykes family had several career military officers, including three of Claud's first-cousins (cavalry and intelligence) and one of his uncles (an Anglican chaplain). Claud's father was also a martial Sykes.
Walter Harry Sykes was born 1848 in Stockport, and spent his childhood in the Sykes' family home, Edgeley House. After his secondary education at the Rugby School, Walter entered the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and in 1870 was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers. In 1880, he married 20-year-old Cecilia Louisa Jane Wellesley of the noted aristocratic, Anglo-Irish family. His uncle, an army chaplain, officiated. Upon Cecilia's marriage, the Wellesleys established a trust for her benefit, remainder to her children in such manner as she should provide.
n/ Trust information from Cecilia's will, admitted to probate on March 15, 1945.
The newlyweds lived in Manchester as at the time, that's where Sykes was stationed. The Sykes' household census return for 1881 shows they employed a lady's maid, a general maid, and a cook. Note that in 1878, Sykes inherited a substantial amount of money from his father (£20,000-£25,000) and an additional sum in 1888 from his mother (£3,000-£5,000). Walter Sykes retired voluntarily in 1891 with the rank of major which he had attained in 1888. His pension was £200 per annum. During his career, he had served in Ireland, Great Britain, Halifax (Canada), and Bermuda. He never experienced combat or served in a war zone.
n/ Notices of Probate, Probate Register of England & Wales - December 18, 1876, November 24, 1887; London Gazette, May 8, 1891; Hart's Army List - various years.
Walter Harry Sykes, c. 1900
Upon leaving the army, Major Sykes and his family moved to Southsea, a suburb of the navy town of Portsmouth. In June 1893, two years into retirement, he began part-time soldiering as commanding officer of the recently formed 1st Hampshire Engineer Volunteers. The War Office gave Sykes a Volunteer commission for him to replace the previous commandant who had recently retired. The 1st Hants. Engineers drill hall was in Portsmouth and most of its enlisted men worked at the Royal Dockyard. At the time of Sykes appointment, the 1st Hants. numbered 298, all ranks. As commanding officer, Sykes received the honorary rank of lieutenant-colonel. Sykes commanded the 1st Hants. Engineers for four years.
n/ At the end of 1896, the battalion had 406 enlisted men which was 9 over authorized strength. Army and Navy Gazette, December 12, 1896.
In August 1894, Mrs. Sykes gave birth to twin boys. That gave the Sykes family five children and four years later they moved into a large house in Guildford, Surrey (population 15,000). The new family home was Hill House, a large structure that included four reception rooms, a billiard room, ten bedrooms, and a tennis court. During the First World War, it was one of the army's 3,000 auxiliary hospitals, staffed mostly with Red Cross volunteers.
n/ Weymouth Telegram, July 2, 1895; Morning Post, June 11, 1897; List of Auxiliary Hospitals in the UK During the First World War, British Red Cross, vad.redcross.org.uk; Ian Nicholls, "Men and Women of Charlotteville and the 1914-1918 War," Charlotteville War Memorial, users.waitrose.com/ ~iannicholls/index.html.
Hill House, Guildford *
© 2023 Google.
* Hill House on Harvey Road is now part of Mount Alvernia Hospital.
In April 1900, the War Office recalled Sykes for the duration of the Boer War. Major Sykes was stationed at Colchester until October 1902. During his Boer War service, he worked on military construction projects. Upon reversion to retired status, the War Office promoted Sykes to lieutenant-colonel.
n/ Service Record, Walter Harry Sykes. UK National Archives WO 25/3914; Hart's Annual Army List, various years.
In 1898, Walter Sykes purchased six acres of land east of Guildford and just west of Merrow, on which he built a large house he named "Firfield." It was completed in 1899. Merrow, a village with 1,300 inhabitants, was the seat of the Earls of Onslow. Their 560 acre residential estate, Clandon Park, was just east of the village. Firfield was the Sykes' family residence until about 1931. Merrow would be incorporated into Guildford in 1933.
n/ Sales Brochure, Knight Friank; Household Return, Census of England & Wales, 1901.
Location of Sykes' Firfield House
Source: Ordnance Survey, 6" Map, 2nd Edition.
Firfield House, 2022
Colonel Sykes lived the remainder of his life as a typical country gentleman. He was an avid golfer and served as honorary secretary of the Guildford Golf Club. He was also a member of the Merrow Rifle Club. Sykes was a Guildford Rural District Councillor for fifteen years and as such served ex officio on the Guildford Poor Law Union's Board of Guardians. At one time, he was chairman of the Merrow Downs Board of Conservators. Sykes was prominent in church affairs (St. John the Evangelist, Church of England) and served on the Parish Council for thirteen years. He also held membership in the Surrey Archaeological Society and at one time was somewhat active in the Conservative Party. Note that in 1923, he began to receive £300 annually under the will of his brother, Richard.
Shortly after the UK's entrance into the First World War, Col. Sykes signed up as an unpaid, Guildford area recruiter for the "Sportsman's Battalions" forming within the Royal (London) Fusiliers.* He was area senior recruiting officer October through December 1914. In January 1916, Parliament imposed compulsory military service and the Guildford Rural Council appointed Sykes to its Military Service Tribunal. He remained a member of that body through at least November 1916. These local tribunals were the "courts" of first instance for service exemption requests by obligated men and employers.
Walter Sykes died on November 12, 1932 after ailing for several months. His funeral was well-attended. Sykes likely had lost most of his fortune as probate records show his estate valued at £35,000. This was still a substantial amount (£2.6 million in 2021); however, even with his pension and legacy, such amount could not have provided the Sykes family with the high standard of living to which they were accustomed.
As evidenced by classified advertisements, about a year before Colonel Sykes died, his wife and son Philip left Firfield and moved to Farley Green. Mrs. Sykes last advertised for domestic help at Firfield in May 1929. The next time she offered domestic employment was in October 1931, when she sought a housekeeper for a family of two (both working) at Edgeley Egg Farm, Farley Green. Mrs. Sykes probably named the farm after her husband's family home in Stockport: Edgeley House. Two months earlier, Philip Sykes, one of Claud's twin brothers, was convicted of driving under the influence of drink and at trial stated he was "taking eggs to market" the day of his arrest. It's not known why Cecilia and Philip Sykes left Firfield. In that Col. Sykes was then in poor health, his physician may have recommended he be disturbed as little as possible.
* The Sportsman's Battalions were to recruit nation-wide, amateur and professional scullers, footballers, boxers, runners, etc. who desired to train and serve abroad with other athletes. In these battalions "every grade of life was represented, from peer to peasant." Fred W. Ward, The 23rd (Service) Battalion Royal Fusiliers - First Sportsman's (London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1920), 17-30.
n/ West Surrey Times, December 7, 1907; Surrey Advertiser - April 22, 1918, October 13, 1923, November 19, 1932; Surrey Archaeological Collections 18 (1933); Surrey Advertiser - March 6, 1916, November 13, 1916; Will of Richard Sykes filed July 28, 1923, Superior Court, Santa Barbara, CA; Probate Register of England & Wales, 1933; Bank of England Inflation Calculator.At the time of Walter Sykes' death, the family consisted of himself, his wife, his son Philip, and Philip's wife Violet. His total annual income would have been about £1,800 (£1,300 interest and dividends, £200 army pension, £300 testamentary annuity from his brother Richard).Surrey Advertiser, May 18, 1929; Surrey Mirror, October 2, 1931; Surrey Mirror, August 28, 1931.
Claud's Siblings
Claud had two sisters, Esme Cecilia and Doreen Evelyn, and a pair of twin brothers, Philip Hector and Edmond Arthur. Walter Sykes intended the twins to enter the army as he enrolled them in the United Services College, St. Marks, Windsor. The school was founded in 1873 by military and naval officers as a prep school for the service academies at Sandhurst and Woolwich. The first class entered in 1874. The school was located originally in Westward Ho!, Devon, but when the Sykes twins attended, it was in Windsor, Berkshire. There, it had merged with St. Mark's School. In late 1911, United Services College, St. Marks was renamed the Imperial Services College. Kelly's Directory describes it as "a public school of a practical type." (For a colorized photograph of the school click here. It will open from this website in a popup window.)
n/ School Return, Census of England & Wales, 1901; E.G.A. Beckwith, Imperial Service College (Windsor: Beckwith, [1933]), 1-11; Kelly's Directory of Berkshire, Bucks and Oxon, 1911.
During the First World War, both sisters served as Red Cross Volunteers working in the Royal Surrey County Hospital, Guildford. In 1915, Esme married Francis Sneade Pardoe of the Hampshire gentry. He was an Oxford graduate who at the time, was an officer of the 36th (Ulster) Division's trenchworks battalion, 16/Royal Irish Rifles. Later, Esme, Francis, and their four children would emigrate to South Africa. In 1922, Doreen married Philip E. Beavis, son of a prosperous, London hardware merchant. During the First World War, Beavis was an artillery officer in France and for such service was awarded an O.B.E. Beavis would later work as an insurance broker.
n/ Voluntary Aid Detachment service records, British Red Cross; Burke's Landed Gentry, 1898, s.v. "Pardoe of Nash Court;" Household Return, Census of England & Wales, 1901; Marriage and Death Registration, South Africa; London Gazette, February 7, 1922; Edinburgh Gazette, Suppl. June 5, 1919; Notice of Probate for Estate of Ernest James Beavis, Philip Ernest Beavis, executor, Probate Registrations, United Kingdom, 1934.
East Surrey & West Sussex, 1920
Edmund Arthur Sykes
After Edmund left the Imperial Services College in 1911, he lived at Firfield as a gentleman's son. On September 16, 1914, he enlisted for wartime service in the Royal Fusiliers, a London regiment with its depot at Hounslow. He chose to serve in the regiment's newly formed 20th Battalion. Note that the 18th through 21st battalions of the Royal Fusiliers were known as "Public School" battalions as they were to recruit such school graduates nationwide to serve in the enlisted ranks. The 20th Battalion trained at Clipstone Camp, Nottinghamshire, and while stationed there, the Royal Welsh Fusilier's accepted his application for a reserve commission. The War Office discharged Private Sykes from the Royal Fusiliers and on June 6, 1915, commissioned him a probationary second-lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion (Special Reserve), Royal Welsh Fusiliers. The army then sent him to Liverpool for officer training.
On August 19, 1916, Lt. Sykes married 24-year-old Frances Mary Sweet, daughter of a Regular Army enlisted man who had been commissioned from the ranks.* (For more on Frances, click on the link for this site's webpage "Frances Mary Sweet, Claud Sykes, and Ulysses.") The marriage took place in Brighton and was not announced publicly. The newlyweds established a residence at The Park, Wisborough Green, Sussex and shortly thereafter, the War Office sent Edmund to the 2nd Battalion/Royal Welsh Fusiliers, then on the River Somme Front. He soon developed Sciatica and Rheumatism and on September 11, 1916, was invalided back to England from France. The War Office placed Edmund on medical leave and he returned to his home at Wisborough Green. There, he was under the care of a civilian doctor through October 30th.
In November 1916, Edmund went on limited service duty with HQ, Western Command. On June 2, 1917, while he was in Reading on a training course, an army medical board found him fit for general service. In September 1917, the War Office sent Edmund to his regiment's 11th Battalion, then in Greece on the Balkan Front. Three months later he came down with Malaria and was hospitalized. On March 13, 1918, he again was invalided home. Upon recovery, a medical board found Edmund fit for home service only and the War Office sent him to his own battalion, the 3rd (Special Reserve), then stationed in Ireland. The War Office demobilized Lt. Edmund Sykes on January 31, 1919, at which time he relinquished his reserve commission. Edmund then took up poultry farming at Merrow with Philip Beavis (his soon to be brother-in-law), and Edward Paul. They did business as Wingate's Poultry Farm.
* In 1904, the War Office commissioned Sergeant-Major William Henry Sweet as quartermaster for the 1st Battalion, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, with honorary combatant rank of first-lieutenant. At the time, Sweet had 24-years' service in the ranks. Sweet died in 1910 while serving with his battalion at Gravesend, Kent. At the time, he was aged 48. Service Record, UK National Archives WO 76/42.
n/ Walter Sykes Household Return, Census of England & Wales, 1911; Service Record, UK National Archives WO 339/57132; London Gazette, June 4, 1915; Monthly Army List, October 1916.
In September 1920, Edmund sued his wife Frances for divorce naming two co-respondents: Philip Sykes (his twin brother) and William A.T. Stapley. Edmund claimed that Philip and Frances, from November 1918 through March 1920, had frequent, sexual liaisons; Stapley and Frances in February and March 1920. At the time, the couple had one child, three-year-old Nora, and Frances was pregnant. Frances and Philip denied the adultery allegation; Stapley did not answer the complaint. Frances and Philip did not appear at trial and on May 4, 1921, the judge issued a divorce decree. The marriage was dissolved six months later by operation of law. Edmund's business partnership was dissolved in January 1922.
On February 23, 1922, Edmund, who had disgraced the family by airing its dirty linen in court, sailed from London for Cape Town, South Africa where he intended to reside for at least a year. As he travelled 3rd Class, it's likely his father had cut him off financially. In the ensuing six years, Edmund visited Guildford twice. On December 28, 1928, he sailed 3rd Class from London for Sydney, Australia. He never remarried and lived out his life in obscurity as a laborer. He died aged 71 in Port Augusta, South Australia.
n/ In early 1920, before the divorce decree was issued, Frances gave birth to a boy, Philip Richard. Edmund never claimed paternity and it's likely either Philip or Stapley was the father. UK Birth Registrations (Petworth, Sussex) 1st Quarter 1921; Divorce Petition, UK National Archives J 77/1704/3045; Household Return, Census of England & Wales, 1921; London Gazette, February 7, 1922; Passenger Manifests - SS Benalla, February 1922, SS Berrima. September 1925, SS Jervis Bay, December, 1928; Electoral Rolls, South Australia - 1939, 1943; Death Registrations, South Australia.
Philip Hector Sykes
After he left school, Philip, like his brother, lived at Firfield as a gentleman's son. On October 22, 1914, he enlisted as a private in a newly created Territorial Force formation that would replace 5th/Queen's Royal West Surrey. That unit, with its HQ and principal drill hall in Guildford, had volunteered for overseas service and would shortly leave for India. (For more on the 5th/Queen's and Surrey's part-time soldiers, click on the link for the webpage "Citizen-Soldiers of Guildford and Surrey" on this website.) In March 1915, the War Office commissioned Philip a second-lieutenant in the Denbighshire Hussars, a Territorial Force cavalry unit. A first-cousin, former Regular Army officer Harold Platt Sykes, at the time was a Lieutenant-Colonel of that regiment. (For a photograph of Lt. Philip Sykes and an image of his medal card, click here and a pdf from this website will open in a popup window.) Philip remained in the UK until March 1916 when the War Office sent him to Egypt. There, he served with E Company, Heavy Section (Tanks) of the Machine Gun Corps. He was wounded in May 1916 and invallded home the following month. Phillip was released from hospital in November 1916 and then took several training courses. At the end of 1917, a medical board found him fit for general service and in January 1918, the War Office assigned Philip to the 7th Tank Battalion, then on the Western Front. On August 21, 1918, he was again wounded and eight days later, invalided home. After release from hospital, Lt. Philip Sykes returned to the Denbighshire Hussars which was demobilized on May 2, 1919.
After leaving the army, Philip lived at Firfield as a gentleman. In June 1921, he resided in Wisborough Green with Edmund's estranged wife and her two children. Frances left Philip shortly thereafter as in 1922, she married William Stapley, the other co-respondent in Edmund's divorce petition. Philip then relocated to Horsham, Sussex. In 1927, Philip married Violet Helen Siddons, daughter of a Northamptonshire land surveyor. Later, he worked for his mother who by 1931, was in the wholesale egg business (see above).
n/ Household Return, Census of England & Wales, 1911; Medal Card, UK National Archives WO 372/19/135129; London Gazette, June 4, 1915; Surrey Mirror, September 18, 1914; Service Record, UK National Archives WO 374/66767; Household Return, Census of England & Wales, 1921;Marriage Registrations, Chorlton District, 2nd Quarter 1922; Death Registrations, Surrey Southwestern District, 2nd Quarter 1956; Northampton Mercury, July 3, 1942; Probate Records, UK.
In a 1.3 MB kb pdf on this website. Click on the above link and the file will open in a new browser window.
Early Life
As a youngster, Claud lived with his family at first in Ipswich, Suffolk, then in Southsea, Portsmouth. In Southsea, his parents employed five, live-in servants. Later, he lived at Hill House in Guildford. He apparently received his primary schooling from governesses and tutors.
n/ Household Return, Census of England & Wales, 1891.
Skyes Home 1891, 14 St. Andrews Road, Southsea, Hampshire
© 2021 Google Imagery, Geomapping plc, Infoterra Ltd., Maxar Technologies.
In September 1897, at age 14, Sykes entered the Rugby School, his father's alma mater. He resided at School Field House, one of the two school-owned residence halls. Thirty years earlier, his father lived there. For a contemporary photo click here and the image will open from this website in a popup window.
n/ Rugby School Register, 4th Ed. (1874-1904). The official school boarding houses, both owned and licensed, were known by the resident housemaster's name. At the time Claud was at School Field House, its housemaster was Walter Parker Brooke; during his father's time Rev. Charles Thomas Arnold.
Rugby School, c. 1900
Colorized postcard.
At Rugby, Sykes did not distinguish himself academically, athletically, or in extra-curricula activities. He left in 1901, at age 18, and for a few months lived with his family at Firfield. Where he went then is not of public record. In early 1902, he was not living in Firfield as in February his mother sought a parlor maid for a family of six. The Sykes family had five children indicating 19-year-old Claud was not at home. In 1903, as noted in the Rugby School Register, "he was in business at Frankfort-on-Main." Sykes' business in Germany was most likely theatrical.
n/ During his time at Rugby he received no mention in the school's monthly journal. The Meteor (September 1897 - June 1901); Rugby School Register, 3rd Ed. (1874-1904).In September 1901, he and his sister Esme participated in a fundraiser for the Surrey Convalescent Home for Men. West Surrey times, September 21, 1901.
Acting Career and Marriages
After leaving Firfield, Sykes likely enrolled in a German university (his uncle Richard Sykes, an Old Rugbean, had attended Heidelberg University). After a year or two, he apparently abandoned his studies for an acting career. Note that after the First World War, he told people that as a youth, he studied in Germany. In September 1908, he wrote to the theatrical trade paper, The Era, to comment on its article "The Psychology of 'Faust'." The Era published his letter, in which he claims to have acted on the German stage and had taken part in Faust productions at the Frankfurt Theatre. Sykes must have received his acting training in Germany as Rugby did not have a student dramatic society.
n/ Beds. & Herts. Pictorial, May 31, 1963; The Era, September 12, 1908. To read the letter, click here. It will open as a pdf file in a new browser window. Faust was performed in early 1905 at the Schauspielhaus, Frankfurt's municipal theater. Heidelberger Zeitung, January 28, 1905. A postcard picture of the Schauspielhaus is included in the letter file.In 1908, an Old Rugbean wrote to the school's journal complaining that the school did not have a dramatic society. The Meteor (April 1908). A "Staff Dramatic Society" would be formed in 1930. The Meteor (November 1931).
Claud likely returned to the UK in the Spring of 1906 as in May, he and his sister Esme sent their cousin Valerie Olivia Wellesley a good-luck bracelet as a wedding gift. Valerie married Reginald Dashwood-Tandy on May 9, 1906 and Claud's sister Doreen was a bridesmaid. He was definitely back in the UK in May 1907, as that month he appeared in Daudet's Sapho at Her Majesty's Theatre, Dundee, Scotland. The next documented event in his life was marriage to Catherine Barbara Turner, an actress, in the third quarter of 1907. The marriage took place in York.
n/ Wellington Journal and Shrewsbury News, May 12, 1906; Dundee Courier, May 31, 1907; Marriage Registrations, York, 3rd Quarter, 1907.
Sykes did not announce his marriage and apparently, kept it secret from his family. Shortly thereafter, he was engaged by the Leigh Lovel repertory company. His first appearance with that company was during the last week of November 1907 in Hastings, Sussex. He portrayed George Tesman in Ibsen's Hedda Gabler. It's likely this employment resulted from his translation of the German-language play, Magda, which Lovel staged in December 1907 at the Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne. Sykes probably translated Sudermann's Magda while he was in Frankfurt where he undoubtedly mastered the German language. In Magda, Sykes had the minor part of Max, Marie's lover. The Stage praised his translation noting "he has kept strictly to the original; while his language is always terse and devoid of diffuseness."
The week that Lovel presented Magda, he also offered at the same theater Ibsen's A Doll's House and Hedda Gabler. Sykes had the minor part of the porter in A Doll's House but the major role of George Tesman in Hedda Gabler. The Eastbourne Gazette's critic said the following of Sykes:
"Mr. Claude [sic.] Sykes was the George Tesman that Ibsen drew. No higher praise of a delineation of the learned ninny could be given. I am not aware that I have either seen or heard of Mr. Sykes before; but if he always interprets his characters as well as this I hope I shall see him many more times."
The theater critic bemoaned the fact that the actors played to near empty houses.
n/ Hastings and St. Leonards Observer, November 30, 1907; Bayard Quincy Morgan, "A Bibliography of German Literature in English Translation," Univ. of Wisconsin Studies in Language and Literature 16 (1922); The Era, December 14, 1907; Eastbourne Chronicle, December 14, 1917; Eastbourne Gazette, December 11, 1907; The Stage, December 19, 1907.
In March 1908, the Lovel company presented an "Ibsen Week" at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin: The Master Builder, A Doll's House, and Hedda Gabler . As in Eastbourne, the audience was sparse. The press notices don't mention Sykes and its not known whether he went with Lovel to Dublin. As Sykes had been with the company for less than three months, it's understandable if Lovel didn't use him in this major engagement.
While Sykes usually received favorable reviews, there is at least one notable exception. In late-1908, The Manchester Guardian found Sykes' performance of his signature role, George Tesman in Hedda Gabler, over-done. "He had the right idea, but his control of his means was so insufficient that he over-accentuated Tesman's mannerisms and awkwardnesses, and the result was the sort of caricature of a university professor that one looks for in a farcical comedy."
n/ Irina Ruppo Malone, Ibsen and the Irish Revival (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), 80-82; Irish Times, May 12, 13, 14, 1908; Manchester Guardian, December 16, 1908.
Sykes was employed by Leigh Lovel's company through the Spring of 1914. Lovel directed its productions and the leading lady was his wife, Octavia Kenmore. The company performed primarily artistic works and specialized in the Ibsen repertoire. Sykes toured with the Lovell company throughout Great Britain and among the plays in which he appeared are Hedda Gabler, A Doll's House, Masks and Faces, Rosmersholm, The Master Builder, Magda, Captain Brassbound's Conversion, The Link, and The Wild Duck. His only London appearances were at the "bijou hall in Hanover Square" known as Clavier Hall. It was primarily a lecture and musical recital venue. Through 1910, when not on tour, Sykes lived at Firfield, his residence of record.
n/ Miriam Alice Franc, Ibsen in England (Boston: Four Seasons, 1919); numerous general and trade publications; The Stage, November 7, 1912; Stage Yearbook for 1914; The Era, May 10, 1913; Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, October 14, 1910.
In addition to acting, Sykes sometimes lectured for the British Socialist Party, the Independent Labour Party, and the Men's Political Union, a pro-women's suffrage organization. Two of his lectures for the labor organizations were entitled "Ibsen's Plays" and "Socialism and the Drama."
n/ Labour Leader, February 2, 1912; Justice, October 12, 1912; The Suffragette, January 3, 1913; Daily Herald, February 8, 1913.
In 1910, Sykes attained minor notoriety as "The Actor Who Forgot He Was Married." In October of that year, Sykes' wife, Catherine, sought a court order to "restore her conjugal rights" as a condition precedent to divorce. In a letter to her, Claud stated "I am not going to provide any allowance for you, and I am not going to, as you put it, give you any protection or proper recognition of your married state. I intend to live my life in my own way. I have resumed my old bachelor habits, and forgotten that I was ever married." In court documents, Catherine claimed that after their marriage, she and Claud briefly lived apart then took up residence in London. After three weeks he left London to fulfil a theatrical engagement and never returned. Sykes did not respond to the petition and accordingly, the court issued the decree sought by Catherine. Claud Sykes never complied with the court order. When the process-server presented him with the court papers Sykes told him that "nothing would induce him to go back to his wife; he had been living a Bohemian life for many years now and he could not settle down." Catherine then sued for divorce. Claud did not contest the action and in March 1911, the court granted Catherine a divorce with costs charged to her ex-husband.
n/ Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, October 14, 1910; Reynolds's Newspaper, October 16, 1910; Reynolds's Newspaper, March 26, 1911.
A year later, Sykes married another actress, Annie (Daisy) Race, in Salford, her home town. The marriage was announced in the Manchester Guardian. Daisy was the eldest child of Robert and Annie Elizabeth Race. Robert Race was headmaster of Cheetham Higher Elementary School, one of five such council schools in the City of Manchester. He was an active Freemason and devotee of the occult and spiritualism. In 1901, The Two Worlds Publishing Company released his 87-page book Secrets of Religion (Studies of the Past).
n/ Manchester Guardian, April 23, 1912; Marriage Registrations, England & Wales, 2nd Quarter, 1912; Race Household Returns, Census of England & Wales - 1891, 1901; Manchester Evening News, June 24, 1919; City of Manchester, Fifth Annual Report of the Education Committee, 1907; The Two Worlds, September 15, 1922.Secrets of Religion was published with "Vindex Veri" shown as the author. Race's pseudonym is Latin for "champion of the truth." The book is available on the Internet Archive. Click on the link and it will open in a new browser window.
Daisy Race first appeared on stage in 1906 at age 20 when she gave a local recital. She had previously studied "dramatic elocution" under Kate Carlyle of Manchester and claimed an association with the Royal Manchester College of Music. Daisy joined the Lovel company in October 1909 and remained with it until Spring 1914, when both she and her husband left Lovel's employ. Like Claud, she appeared publicly in support of the women's suffrage movement. The couples last engagement with Lovel was at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, April 6-11, 1914. Daisy then obtained employment with the Payne and Theodore touring company. Her last appearance noted in the press was in the children's play The Shepherdess Without a Heart, performed in Liverpool, December 1914 - January 1915. In the Summer of 1914, Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree's London company engaged Claud as an understudy for two minor parts. Claud Sykes' last work as a professional actor for almost four years was a minor role in August Strindberg's The Link, presented by London's Century Play Society on December 26, 1914 at Clavier Hall.
n/ Marriage Registrations, England & Wales, 2nd Quarter, 1912; Household Return, Census of England & Wales, 1891; Manchester Courier and Lancashire Advertiser, April 5, 1906; Manchester Guardian, April 5, 1906; Brighton Gazette, November 17, 1909; Somerset Guardian and Radstock Observer, October 15, 1909; Advertisement of the Women's Social and Political Union, Manchester Guardian, February 12, 1912; Birmingham Evening Post, April 7, 1914; Liverpool Daily Post, December 29, 1914; Liverpool Echo, January 7, 1915; The Stage, January 7, 1915; The Era Almanack and Annual, 1914, 117.
Note that Claud Sykes' acting career, until he met James Joyce in Zurich, consisted of seven years touring the provinces (nearly all with a small, artistic company) and one brief (likely three or four weeks), West End appearance in a minor role.
Click on the above link for this website's Lovel-Kenmore page.
Claud Sykes: Bandmann-Palmer and the West End
Throughout his four-year stay in Zurich, Sykes claimed he was with the famous acting company of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree that performed at His Majesty's Theatre, London. He was; however, more truthful about his relationship with Sir Herbert's troupe with Joyce's principal biographer, Richard Ellmann. In 1955, Sykes wrote to Ellmann that he had a small part in Sir Herbert's production of Drake but his main work was with Leigh Lovel's company. Sykes also told Ellmann that sometime after 1904, he was in Millicent Bandmann-Palmer's acting company.
n/ Letter from Claud Sykes to Richard Ellmann, October 10, 1955, Richard Ellmann Papers, University of Tulsa Library, 1988.012.1.198; Ellmann, James Joyce, 441.
Millicent Bandmann-Palmer
There is no evidence that Sykes toured extensively with Mrs. Bandmann-Palmer; however, there is one press notice for an appearance he made with Bandmann-Palmer in May 1907. He had a minor part in Sapho and the Dundee Courier's critic wrote "... other parts were capably filled by Mr. F. Skein, Mr. Fenton, Mr. Robert Pittard, Mr. Claud Sykes, and Mr. Ashmor J. Vincent." Sykes was apparently engaged by Bandmann-Palmer for her two-month tour of the Scottish Highlands. In April and May of 1907, her company performed Jane Shore, Sappho, East Lynne, and From Washerwoman to Duchess in first Aberdeen, then Dundee.
The famous actress, Millicent Palmer (wife of the more famous international actor Daniel E. Bandmann) was born in 1845 and retired from the stage about 1893. She returned to theater in 1903 and toured the UK with her own company of "select London players." By then, she was a "has been" of the Mid-Victorian acting style. Mrs. Bandmann-Palmer was fairly active through early 1907, then press notices of her and her company dried-up. Mrs. Bandmann-Palmer retired for good sometime in 1908 or 1909. She did; however, later appear in two benefit performances: One for the Richmond Hospital (London), January 1914, and one for the Red Cross, December 1914. For more on that actress, go to Bloom's Theatrical Picks on this website.
n/ Dundee Courier, May 31, 1907; Aberdeen Journal, April 22, 1907; The Era - January 28, 1914, December 23, 1914.
Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and His Majesty's Theatre
As Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree's repertory company was one of the best known and most respected theater troupes in the UK, it's understandable that while in Zurich, and afterwards, Sykes played-up his former affiliation with that organization. Tree, a renowned actor, appeared in many of his own productions, which he also directed. His company performed in London at His Majesty's Theatre, a theater Tree had built. Though productions by impresarios other than Tree appeared at His Majesty's Theatre, Tree's acting company and theater were so entwined that their names were practically synonymous.
The Herbert Beerbohm Tree papers show Claud Sykes in the cast for Louis N. Parker's Drake which opened on August 20, 1914. The outbreak of war prompted Tree to revive this patriotic spectacle (47 speaking parts) which ran through December 7 of that year. On the parts list for Drake, "C.W. Sykes" is typed as understudy for the minor roles of Yole and Cooke. Sykes' typed name; however, is crossed out and "L. Tucker" written in hand, shows as the understudy. "Sykes" is handwritten over the crossed out, typed name of Leslie Ryecroft as principal player of Cooke, but that too is crossed out with "V. Lewisohn" written in. As the opening night cast included Ryecroft as Cooke, he was probably replaced first by Sykes, then by Lewisohn. Accordingly, Sykes likely appeared in Drake for a few weeks in the minor role of Cooke. The Tree papers disclose no role assigned to Sykes, as principal or understudy, for works presented after Drake closed.
James Joyce, business manager of The English Players, the Zurich acting company he formed with Sykes in 1918, presented Sykes to the public and critics as formerly of His Majesty's Theater, London.
n/ The Stage, August 20, 1914; Herbert Beerbohm Tree Papers, University of Bristol Theatre Collection, Drake cast lists, HBT/233/54, 56; His Majesty's Theatre programs, 1914-1916; Pall Mall Gazette, December 7, 1914; "M. Claud W. Sykes de His Majesty's Theatre (le plus important theatre de Londres)," Feuille D'Avis de Montreux, July 15, 1918; L'Express, November 28, 1919 (see below); Engadiner Post, February 6, 1920.
Feuille d'Avis de Neuchatel, November 25, 1919.
Claud Sykes in Zurich
In early 1915, the acting careers of Claud and Daisy Sykes were apparently on hold. Whether this was by choice can't be determined. Claud was not a member of Tree's company after Drake, and neither of the two actors are mentioned in the press after Daisy's appearance in Birmingham.
In July 1915, Lt.-Col. Walter Kirke, chief of British secret military intelligence for the Western Front, received notice from a subordinate officer that one of his agent’s in Switzerland would soon return home on account of poor health. By then, the Swiss police had arrested or uncovered most of the British agents in Switzerland and Kirke badly needed a replacement. Military Intelligence HQ in London sent him dossiers for four, suitable candidates. On July 15th, Kirke decided any one of three of them “might probably do.” Among those three was a man named “Sykes.” On August 9, 1915, Claud and Daisy Sykes obtained passports and by October, were living in Zurich, Switzerland. For more on Sykes and British intelligence during the First World War, click on the link for this site's webpage "Claud Sykes and British Intelligence in Switzerland."
n/ War Diary of Sir Walter Mervyn St. George Kirke, Book 1, Imperial War Museum Documents.20171, I(b); Foreign Office Passport Register, 1 January - 11 August 1915, UK National Archives FO 611/23; Richard Ellmann, James Joyce rev. ed. (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1982), 410.
There is no public record of what Sykes did in Zurich from late November 1915 (when he last appears in Kirke’s war diary), through the Spring of 1917. Sykes’ activities in Zurich beginning then are known to us through interviews he later gave Joycean researchers, the letters of James Joyce, and memoirs of persons who knew Joyce in Zurich.
In 1917, Sykes and his wife lived in Villa Hagele, a pensione at 19 Platten-strasse that was listed by Baedeker. As shown by the Adressbucher der Stadt Zurich listings farther down this webpage, Sykes had a much better residence than did Joyce, whose income was only 210 cf. per month from his Civil List "pension" plus the little he earned from teaching. Sykes, as a secret agent, likely had a monthly income of 300 cf. Note that in 1915-16, 300 cf. per month provided a couple with a lower-middle class standard of living. Switzerland's wartime inflation; however, by mid-1917 reduced that monthly income to working-class level.
n/ Letter from James Joyce to Claud Sykes, postmarked December 19, 1917 and addressed to Claud Sykes, Pension Haegeli, Plattenstrasse 19, James Joyce Collection, Correspondence from James Joyce, X.ZD, State University of New York at Buffalo; Herbert Gorman, James Joyce (London: Lane, 1941); Baedeker's Switzerland - 1905, 1913; Adressbuch der Stadt Zurich, 1920.), 250; Ellmann, James Joyce, 408-09; Richard Cafferata, "Redmond Barton Cafferata," Cafferata Family History, cafferata.synthasite.com (Click on the link and the cited page will open in a new browser window.); Richard Cafferata's Redmond Cafferata Papers on Microsoft One Drive, accessed through The Great War Forum, www.greatwarforum.org/topic/190220-redmond-barton-cafferata-military-intelligence; Swiss Government, "Minimum Cost of Living of Workmen's Families in Basel, in Monthly Review of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 5, No. 3 (September 1917): 144-45; Christian Koller, "Labour, Labour Movements, Trade Unions and Strikes (Switzerland),"Freie Universitat Berlin (2015) on Zurich Open Repository and Archive.The UK paid secret agents in Switzerland either 200 cf. or 300 cf. monthly. The few that travelled to Germany received from 500 cf. to 1,000 cf. Sykes, a British national, did not enter Germany and would have received "local service" pay. The SIS would have paid him at the higher 300 cf. rate simply because of his background as a Rugbean of an establishment family. Cafferata Papers.
By 1918, without additional income, inflation would have severely eroded the Sykes household's purchasing power. Fortunately for Claud and Daisy, in that year Joyce received monthly patronage income of 1,330 cf. from the rich Mrs. McCormick which allowed him to fund the English Players. The company paid regular salaries to Claud (producer, director, actor) and Daisy (actor).
n/ Ellmann, James Joyce, 413, 422.
Zurich, c. 1913
(Click on the image for a high resolution pdf.)
Map by Wagner & Debes for Baedeker,
digitized by the Boston Public Library.
digitized by the Boston Public Library.
In 1931, Sykes gave the Joyce biographer, Herbert Gorman, the following description of Zurich during the First World War:
"Zurich was such a mixture of many nationalities that the main street of the town, the Bahnhofstrasse, was nicknamed the Balkanstrasse. The foreigners consisted chiefly of refugees, persons expelled from enemy territory, war profiteers, spies, people of artistic or pacifistic temperment who preferred to live in a neutral country, deserters, and dubious individuals who were ready for any sort of questionable adventure. We all got on fairly well together, and one curious point was that the British and Germans generally sought each others' society and despised their allies. We all detested the Swiss.
"Life in Switzerland was very expensive, and naturally we all felt the pinch in the matter of food. In 1917 we were put on bread cards, but I always found my bread allowance ample. There were two meat shortages, but I think my worst privation was when I did not taste a potato for about five months. During the last two years of the war butter was a luxury we seldom saw."
"The Swiss disliked foreigners, at least the Zuricher did, though the inhabitants of mountain cantons liked them and disliked the Zuricher."
n/ Claud Sykes Written Response to Gorman Questionnaire. Harley K. Croessmann Collection, Morris Library MSS 073, Southern Illinois University. Extracts of Sykes' description of wartime Zurich appear in Gorman's biography of James Joyce at pages 229-30.
Joyce met Sykes through a young Dutchman, Jules De Vries. Joyce encountered De Vries at a restaurant in the Spring of 1917 and De Vries asked him to write a script for a film to be titled Wine, Women, and Song. De Vries believed it could be a financial success if rich women were willing to pay for appearances in small parts. De Vries advertised for actors and Sykes answered the casting call. He received a part but when he asked for the script, De Vries said it wasn't finished; however, an author named James Joyce was working on it. De Vries sent Sykes to Joyce's home and the two men developed a friendship. De Vries had no intention of ever making a film and later confided to Joyce and Sykes that the project was only a vehicle to defraud vain, rich women.
n/ Ellmann, James Joyce, 410-11; Gorman, James Joyce, 241-43. De Vries was the black sheep of a prominent Amsterdam family. His father was a noted gynecologist. With Joyce's approval, he appears in Gorman's biography as "Joe Martin." Postcard from James Joyce to Herbert Gorman, August 23, 1938. Richard Ellmann, ed., Letters of James Joyce Letters, Vol. 3 (New York: Viking, 1966), 426. In the early-twentieth century, there was an Amsterdam gynecologist, J. de Vries, whose 1903 dissertation, De Echinokokkus in den Uterus, was noted in two medical journals: British Medical Journal 1 (June 4, 1904), 91 and Monatsschrift fur Geburtshulfe und Gynakolgie 3 (March 1904), 432.
In 1914, Joyce wrote the play Exiles but it had yet to be performed. De Vries proposed to produce the play in Zurich and went as far as to locate a woman to portray one of its characters. He offered himself as Robert Hand, one of the play's leading roles. Joyce, though eager to see Exiles performed, never took De Vries' offer seriously and nothing came of the proposal.
n/ Ellmann, James Joyce, 412; Gorman, James Joyce, 242. The script for Exiles was published in May 1918 and the play was first performed in German (as Verbannte) at the Munchener Theater in Munich, August 7, 1919. The production was a fiasco and one critic noted it was far too complex for the general, theater-going public. Elliott M. Simon, "James Joyce's Exiles and the Tradition of the Edwardian Problem-Play," Modern Drama 20, no. 1 (Spring 1977): 21-35.
De Vries remained in contact with both Sykes and Joyce until sometime in 1918. He sought to perform with the English Players but at a rehearsal, Sykes dropped him as he was "hopeless as an actor." In the Summer of 1926, Joyce encountered De Vries in Ostende, Belgium, who at the time claimed to be a dentist.
n/ Gorman, James Joyce, 243; Ellmann, James Joyce, 579-80. Sykes' Written Response to Gorman Questionnaire, Harley K. Croessmann Collection, Morris Library MSS 073, Southern Illinois University. In February 1927, Joyce wrote to Sykes and noted "At Ostende this summer we met Devries who is there pulling all the teeth and legs he can." Stuart Gilbert, ed. Letters of James Joyce, Vol. 1 (New York: Viking, 1966).
The English Players
Early in 1917, Claud and Daisy began to discuss formation of an acting company. That year, a UK consular official hinted to Sykes that he would receive state funding if he got up a play in English. Sykes, at the time, thought Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Ernest should be the troupe's first production. Sykes then presented to Joyce the idea of starting an English-language, theatrical company that would tour wartime Switzerland. It would present quality plays penned by UK playwrights. Joyce, not unexpectedly, considered Exiles appropriate material for such hypothetical acting troupe. Their idea became feasible when in March 1918, Joyce came into a monthly gratuity of 1,000 francs. Joyce's benefactor was Edith McCormick, reputably the richest woman living in Zurich, possibly all of Switzerland. Mrs. McCormick's father was the John D. Rockefeller whose name was synonymous with great wealth; her husband was Harold Fowler McCormick of the Chicago farm implement manufacturing family. She was the woman whom De Vries had in mind to play Bertha in Exiles. Many years later, Sykes wrote to the bibliophile and Joyceana collector, John J. Slocum, the following about the English Players' genesis:
"When I broached the idea to Joyce, I found him interested. Relieved of financial worries, he was in an adventurous mood, and he liked the idea of the enterprise starting off with a play by an Irish writer. We agreed to go into partnership; he was to be the business manager and I the producer. He was an enterprising business manager. He interviewed the consul and persuaded several professionals to give their services for small fees, in the hope of better remuneration if the venture was a success. Considering that we had to bear the whole of the expenses, we could not afford to pay as we should have liked. Joyce also went round among his Triestine friends and got promises of their support. He worked very hard."
Through Sykes, the planned theatrical endeavor, received quasi-official UK endorsement but no state funding. At the time, the UK did not participate in the cultural propaganda battle being fought in Switzerland. That would change later in the year when the wartime Ministry of Information began a Swiss campaign to promote British culture. Among the UK's propaganda force "soldiers" was Frank Budgen. (For more on propaganda in wartime Switzerland, click here and a page from the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation's website will appear in a new browser window.) Budgen was an English painter who came to Switzerland from France at the outbreak of war. His Paris friend August Suter, a noted Swiss sculptor, had invited Budgen to spend the war at his family home. Joyce met Budgen in mid-1918 and the two developed a lasting personal and artistic relationship. Note that had Budgen not been a guest of the Suters, he would have lived in poverty as in 1918, his government salary, paid in Sterling, brought only 216 cf. monthly. During the war, the Pound fell v. the Swiss Franc from 25 cf. to 20 cf. This caused extreme hardship for British expatriates dependent on Sterling remittances as during the war, the cost-of-living in Switzerland tripled.
The English Players was a troupe of amateur and professional actors living in wartime Switzerland. It presented plays by UK authors, in English, throughout Switzerland. Claud and Daisy Sykes were regular performers and Nora Barnacle had small parts in the company's productions of J.M. Barrie's The Twelve-Pound Look and John Synge's Riders to the Sea. Frank Budgen and the American music student Otto Leuning also appeared on stage. Joyce most likely hired Budgen to help the Englishman financially.
Much has been written about the English Players in conjunction with Joyce's well-known feud with the English-born, Canadian soldier, Henry Carr. Early in the war, Private Henry Carr had been seriously wounded and captured by the Germans. Beginning in late 1915, treaties among the belligerent states enabled wounded and seriously ill prisoners of war to be sent from captivity to Switzerland for medical treatment and convalescence. Carr was among such paroled soldiers and in July 1916, arrived in a Swiss village east of Montreux. By 1917, Carr had recovered enough to work and the UK's Zurich consulate hired him as a clerk. Joyce and Sykes selected Carr for the leading role in their company's first production: Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. They chose Carr as he looked perfect for the part of Algernon Moncrieff and had acted, as an amateur, in Canada. After the performances, Carr and Joyce had a dispute over Carr's remuneration which went to court. Joyce's difficulty with Carr led to the naming of several Ulysses characters: Sergeant-Major Bennett, Private Carr, and the barber-hangman Harry Rumbold. For a California judge's look at Joyce v. Carr in Swiss court, see Conrad L. Rushing, "The English Players Incident: What Really Happened?" James Joyce Quarterly 37, no. 3/4 (Spring-Summer 2000): 371-88.
Though the English Players had amateurs, they usually appeared in minor parts and Sykes considered the troupe a professional acting company. He took offense when a Zurich newspaper referred to his troupe as "the English amateur players of Zurich." In response, he wrote to the editors who later printed a clarification that the English Players was primarily a professional organization. Click here to read a translation of the corrective article, which will open in a pdf from this website in a popup window.
The English Players presented at least sixteen plays during 1918 and 1919. Though Sykes and Joyce planned to stage Exiles, it was never performed. Beginning in the Summer of 1919, the company's audience began to decline. Sykes attributed this to the return to England of the English Player's most popular actor, Tristan Rawson, and the dwindling, wartime foreign population in Switzerland. (For a publicity photograph of Rawson with three famous, English actors, click on the link and it will open in a popup window.) Performances by the English Players continued as Joyce, that summer, contributed to it a substantial amount of money. Sykes disbanded the acting troupe in March 1920.
n/ Sykes Interview Notes, Ellmann Papers, 1988.012.1.198; Ellmann, James Joyce; Claud W. Sykes, My Recollections of James Joyce, James Joyce Collection, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University, GEN MSS 112, Box 34, Folder 588; William Brockman and Sabrina Alons, "Exit Joyce," James Joyce Online Notes 15 (December 2019); Frank Budgen, James Joyce and the Making of 'Ulysses' (London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1972); Neue Zurcher Zeitung, April 11, 1919; Tom Stoppard, "Henry Wilfred Carr, 1894-1962" in Travesties (New York: Grove, 1975); Henry Philip Picot, The British Interned in Switzerland (London: Arnold, 1919); Letter from Claud Sykes to Richard Ellmann, February 9, 1960, Ellmann Papers, 1988.012.1.198.Sykes was interviewed by Richard Ellmann in June 1954, after Ellmann agreed to pay Sykes a fee. Sykes would not be interviewed gratis as in 1949 he had sold a good deal of Joyce material and a prepared memoire to John J. Slocum. Ellmann offered to pay Sykes $25 (equivalent to $280 in 2022) for a three-hour interview. Sykes accepted the offer. Richard Ellmann Papers, University of Tulsa Library, 1988.012.1.198: Letter from Claud Sykes to Richard Ellmann, December 31, 1953; Letter from Richard Ellmann to Claud Sykes, June 13, 1954 (duplicate)
Claud Sykes on the English Players:
"The article you wrote at my suggestion appeared in the Daily Telegraph of April 1 and attracted attention. Mr Davray, editor of Anglo-French review, to whom I sent it chose that means as more likely to win attention to it. He writes that the editor of D.T. wishes to get into touch with E.P. Will you see to this matter? It would be well to send a line of thanks to both."
James Joyce
Click on the above link for a transcript of Syke's article in a pdf on this website. It will open in a popup window.
n/ Letter of James Joyce to Claud Sykes, May 24, 1920. Richard Ellmann, ed., Letters of James Joyce, Vol. 2 (New York: Viking, 1966). "D.T." is the Daily Telegraph; "E.P." The English Players.
A year after the English Players debuted, Sykes styled himself a theatrical director and in 1919, requested a listing in Adressbuch der Stadt Zurich for 1920. That publication is like Thom's Directory. The 1920 edition marks Sykes' first, and only, appearance in the Adressbuch der Stadt Zurich. Joyce, publicizing himself as a teacher, appears in the directory's editions for 1917 through 1920. Joyce listed himself with a double-barreled name to indicate his "wife" Nora went by her maiden name.
Sykes' residence was notably upscale from Joyce's. Among the Sykes' neighbors were a merchant, a lawyer, and a company executive. Joyce's building housed, among others, a cutter, a pattern publisher, and a charwoman. Note that the owner of Joyce's building didn't live there but the owner of Sykes' pension did.
Adressbucher der Stadt Zurich
Directories digitized by the Central Library of Zurich.
Claud and Daisy frequently spent evenings with Joyce at the Cafe Pfauen, Ramistrasse 32. Beginning in mid-1918, the three were usually joined by Frank Budgen or Paul Suter (brother of the sculptor August). The cafe was in the same building that housed the Pfauen Theater, one of the two Zurich theaters in which the English Players performed. Nora Barnacle never went to the Cafe Pfauen with Joyce. She did; however, attend theatrical performances with her husband, Claud, and Daisy. Note that Daisy Sykes became Nora's best friend in Zurich.
n/ Brenda Maddox, Nora (London: Hamilton, 1988), 194, 219; Frank Budgen, James Joyce and the Making of Ulysses (London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1972), 171-73; Sykes Interview Notes, Ellmann Papers, 1988.012.1.198; Ellman, James Joyce, 412; .
Joyce met Sykes often to discuss subjects connected with Ulysses and the English actor was one of many "sounding boards" used by Joyce in writing the novel. In late 1917, Sykes typed Joyce's hand-written manuscripts of Ulysses' first three episodes for submission to The Little Review. The famed American poet Ezra Pound, who was close to Joyce, was that journal's foreign editor. Pound, who lived in London, arranged for The Little Review to serialize Ulysses. The episodes that Sykes typed were in that journal's March, April, and May 1918 issues. Note that the fourteen Ulysses' episodes in The Little Review were extensively reworked by Joyce prior to the novel's publication in February 1922. Click on the link for the Major Tweedy's Neighborhood webpage on that journal.
n/ Ellmann, James Joyce, 411, 419-20, 422.
Joyce left Switzerland in October 1919 and returned to Trieste where his books and papers were stored. His brother had arranged for an apartment for the Joyce family (James, Nora, son Giorgio, and daughter Lucia). Claud Sykes wound up the affairs of the English Players in February 1920 and he and Daisy soon returned to England.