| Admin/Biog History | Jeremy Nicolas Hutchinson, Baron Hutchinson of Lullington, QC (1915-2017) was a British barrister. He stood as a Labour candidate in the 1945 General Election and finally entered Parliament as a life peer in 1978, eventually voting with the Liberal Democrats.
He met Nicolson at Oxford where the two became firm friends, socialising in the same circles and, in the third year, moving into lodgings together at 7 Beaumont Street. They shared a mutual interest in art, playing an instrumental role in the activities of the Florentine Club, and undertaking several trips abroad together in the 1930s, viewing works in public and private collections. Hutchinson and Nicolson's friendship continued post Oxford: they corresponded regularly recording, in particular, their views on the art they had seen on their various travels. The archive contains very little correspondence following Hutcinson's marriage to Peggy Ashcroft in 1940.
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| Description | Includes correspondence from Jeremy Hutchinson to Benedict Nicolson. All the letters are of a personal nature, the majority containing discussion of travels abroad and in particular, Hutchinson's views and impressions on the public and private collections he has viewed in Europe. The letters also include arrangements for socialising and for travels together; views on books; films and the ballet. They also discuss mutual friends and relationships and their early experiences in the Second World War. Nicolson & Hutchinson corresponded regularly in the 1930s and the letters are best read alongside the journals for this period. The file contains only one letter post 1940.
The majority of letters are not fully dated but it has been possible to identify when they were written by consulting the envelopes and the journals. Definite dates have been pencilled onto the top right hand corner of the letter; approximate dates have been prefixed with a question mark.
Of particular note:
-letter, dated July 1934, concerning Hutchinson's stay with a German family, at Altenhof bei Eckernförde, and his views on the Latin and German characters in the pre-war period ('Duty & Vaterland are always there in these nice quiet good humoured people').
-letter, dated August 1934, concerning a visit to Amsterdam to view pictures in public and private collections including, in particular, '150 Van Goghs' (see LBN/1/5: entry for 16 August)
-letter, dated April 1935, concerning tea with Leonard and Virginia Woolf, in which Leonard predicts a second world war; and they discuss T.S Eliot and Clive Bell. Also includes Hutchinson's comments on Quentin Bell's collages & Curtis Moffat's photographs. [A digital copy of nine pages of this letter can be found below]
-letter, dated May 1937, concerning reflections on life at Beaumont Street, Oxford and the nature of friendships
-letter, sent July 1937, concerning the joint purchase, by Nicolson, Hutchinson and David Wallace, of Cardinal's Wharf
-letter, undated [1937] concerning smart society & debutantes ('half-witted, sacred pubescent virgins'); mutual friends; the Giorgione controversy at the National Gallery, Tancred Borenius and Kenneth Clark; and Laura Bonham-Carter's engagement.
-letter, sent October 1939, concerning Hutchinson's occupation as a signaller in the Royal Navy and his predictions about the post-war period
-letter, sent September 1940, announcing his marriage to Peggy Ashcroft
-letter, dated 23 February 1941, thanking Nicolson for a picture given as a wedding present |