Osbert Sitwell - Life After The Baronetcy

Life After The Baronetcy

When his father died in 1943, and he succeeded to the baronetcy, he started an autobiography that would run to five volumes. The first volume, Left Hand, Right Hand proved to be his best work to date. The subsequent volumes were The Scarlet Tree (1946), Great Morning (1948), Laughter in the Next Room (1949) and Noble Essences: a Book of Characters (1950).

Sitwell, as his autobiography bears out, was familiar with almost everyone 'in society', and was a friend of Queen Elizabeth, the wife of King George VI. At the time of the abdication of King Edward VIII he wrote a poem, 'Rat Week', attacking those 'friends' of the King who deserted him when his alliance with Mrs Simpson became common knowledge in England. This was published anonymously, and caused some scandal (the manuscript is in the library of Eton College). Sitwell campaigned for the preservation of Georgian buildings and was responsible for saving Sutton Scarsdale Hall, now owned by English Heritage. He was an early and active member of the Georgian Group. He also had an interest in the paranormal, for which reason he joined the Ghost Club, at the time being revamped as a dinner society dedicated to discussing paranormal occurrences and topics. His London home was in Carlyle Square, Chelsea. Pound Wise, a collection of essays is copyright 1949.

He received many awards in the 1950s and in 1962 completed a postscript to his autobiographies Tales my Father Taught Me.