‘Muriel & Bert’: The Story of Jessie Chambers, D H Lawrence’s first Girlfriend & their Relationship

About

Tuesday 20 February 2024 I 7pm

Arnold Methodist Church 

Tickets: £3

D H Lawrence describes Jessie Chambers as ‘the chief friend of my youth’.  As his childhood friend and first girlfriend, she played a pivotal role in his journey.  Jessie Chambers was born on the 29th of January 1887 and was a year younger than D H Lawrence. She was just eleven years old when her family left Eastwood to go to live at Haggs Farm, Underwood, approximately three miles away.  Mrs Chambers invited Mrs Lawrence to visit them and the rest, as they say, is history. Jessie Chambers can be credited with launching Lawrence’s literary career. She would encourage him, reading his work and giving him the support he didn't get from anywhere else.  She began to recognise his genius and, it was she who collected his early poems and scraps of writings, copying them out and forwarding them to the English Review, where Ford Madox Hueffer (Ford) agreed to publish them. 

All are welcome to come and listen to Bob Massey's fascinating account of Muriel & Bert’s relationship.

Image credit - DH Lawrence Birthplace Musuem