Compton Mackenzie
Encyclopedia
Sir Compton Mackenzie, OBE (ˈ; 1883–1972) was a writer and a Scottish nationalist
.
, England, into a theatrical family of Mackenzies, but many of whose members used Compton as their stage surname, starting with his grandfather Henry Compton
, a well-known Shakespearean
actor of the Victorian era
. His father, Edward Compton, was an actor and theatre company manager; his sister, Fay Compton
, starred in many of J. M. Barrie
's plays, including Peter Pan
.
He was educated at St Paul's School and Magdalen College, Oxford
, where he graduated with a degree in modern history.
The Monarch of the Glen
(1941), sources of a successful film
and a television series respectively. He published almost a hundred books on different subjects, including ten volumes of autobiography, My Life and Times (1963–1971). He also wrote history (on Marathon
and Salamis
), biography (Mr Roosevelt, 1943, a biography of FDR), literary criticism, satires, apologia (Sublime Tobacco 1957), children's stories, poetry, and so on. Of his fiction, The Four Winds of Love is considered to be his magnum opus
. It is described by Dr. John MacInnes (formerly of the School of Scottish Studies
) as "one of the greatest works of English literature
produced in the twentieth century."
He was an influence on the young F. Scott Fitzgerald
, whose first book, This Side of Paradise
, was written while under his spell. Sinister Street
, his lengthy 1913-14 bildungsroman
, influenced the young and impressed established writers. Against the rules, George Orwell
and Cyril Connolly
read it as schoolboys. Max Beerbohm
praised Mackenzie's writing for vividness and emotional reality Frank Swinnerton, literary critic, comments on Mackenzie's "detail and wealth of reference". John Betjeman
said of it, "This has always seemed to me one of the best novels of the best period in English novel writing." Henry James
thought it to be the most remarkable book written by a young author in his lifetime.
Following his conversion to Catholicism in 1914, he explored religious themes in a trilogy of novels, The Altar Steps (1922), The Parson's Progress (1923), and The Heavenly Ladder (1924). Following his time on Capri, socialising with the gay exiles there, he treated the homosexuality of a politician sensitively in Thin Ice (1956).
He was the literary critic for the London-based national newspaper Daily Mail
.
According to these books, he was commissioned in the Royal Marines, rising to the rank of Captain. His ill-health making front-line service impractical, he was assigned counter-espionage work during the Gallipoli campaign, and in 1916 built up a considerable counter-intelligence network in Athens, Greece then being neutral. While his secret service work seems to have been valued highly by his superiors, including Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming, his passionate political views, especially his support for the Venezilists, made him a controversial figure and he was expelled from Athens after the Noemvriana
.
In 1917, he founded the Aegean Intelligence Service, and enjoyed considerable autonomy for some months as its Director. He was offered the Presidency of the Republic of Cerigo, which was briefly independent while Greece was split between Royalists and Venezilists, but declined the office. He was recalled in September 1917. Smith-Cumming considered appointing him as his Deputy, but withdrew the suggestion after opposition from within his own service, and Mackenzie played no further active role in the war. In 1919, be was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire
(OBE), and was also honoured with the French Legion of Honour, the Serbian Order of the White Eagle
, and the Greek Order of the Redeemer
.
After the publication of his Greek Memories in 1932, he was prosecuted at the Old Bailey under the Official Secrets Act
for quoting from supposedly secret documents. His account of the trial, vividly described, is in Octave Seven (1931-1938) of his autobiography: the result was a fine of £100 and (prosecution) costs of £100. His own costs were over £1,000. Mackenzie states that a plea-bargain (described in the text as "an arrangement") had been reached with the judge prior to the trial: in exchange for his pleading guilty, he would be fined £500 with £500 costs. However Sir Thomas Inskip, then then Attorney General who prosecuted the case, succeeded in annoying the trial judge to such an extent that he then reduced the penalties to a token amount. The - still banned - 1932 edition of Greek Memories was published in 2011 by Biteback, including the Secret Intelligence Service
memo detailing the offending passages of the book.
He was Knighted
in 1952.
He was president of the Croquet Association
from 1953 to 1966. He was also president of the Siamese Cat Club.
In 1923 he and his brother-in-law Christopher Stone founded The Gramophone, the still-influential classical music magazine.
A strong supporter of Edward VIII
, Mackenzie was a leading member of the Octavians, a minor society that campaigned in support of the king and also for his return to the UK after he became the Duke of Windsor. According to a 1938 Time
article Mackenzie had intended to write a book in support of Edward but abandoned the plan when the Duke of Windsor asked him not to publish.
, and returned to visit in later years. This Italian island near Sorrento
was known to be tolerant not just of foreigners in general, but of artists and homosexuals in particular. Faith had an affair with the Italian pianist Renata Borgatti
, who was connected to Romaine Brooks
.
Compton Mackenzie's observations on the local life of the Italian islanders and foreign residents led to at least two novels, Vestal Fire (1927) and Extraordinary Women (1928). The latter, a roman à clef
about a group of lesbians arriving on the island of Sirene, a fictional version of Capri, was published in Britain in the same year as two other ground-breaking novels with lesbian themes, Virginia Woolf
's love letter to Vita Sackville-West
, Orlando
, and Radclyffe Hall
's controversial polemic The Well of Loneliness
, but Mackenzie's satire did not attract legal attention.
He was friends with Axel Munthe
, who built Villa San Michele
, and Edwin Cerio
, who later became mayor of Capri.
jun2001.jpg)
Mackenzie went to great lengths to trace the steps of his ancestors back to his spiritual home in the Highlands, and displayed a deep and tenacious attachment to Gaelic culture
throughout his long and very colourful life. As his biographer, Andro Linklater
, commented, "Mackenzie wasn't born a Scot, and he didn't sound like a Scot. But nevertheless his imagination was truly Scottish."
He was an ardent Jacobite
, the third Governor-General of the Royal Stuart Society
, and a co-founder of the Scottish National Party
. He was rector of University of Glasgow
from 1931 to 1934, defeating Oswald Mosley
, who later led the British Union of Fascists
, in his bid for the job.
Mackenzie was from 1920–1923 Tenant of Herm and Jethou
. He shares many similarities to the central character in D. H. Lawrence
's short story "The Man Who Loved Islands", despite Lawrence saying "the man is no more he than I am." Mackenzie at first asked Martin Secker
, who published both authors, not to print the story, and it was left out of one collection.
Mackenzie built a house on the island of Barra
in the 1930s. It was on Barra that he gained much inspiration and found creative solitude, and where he befriended a great number of people that he described as "the aristocrats of democracy". One such friend was John MacPherson, known as "The Coddy". MacPherson's son, Neil, recalled Mackenzie as a man of huge imagination, generosity, and talent.
He died in Edinburgh
. Such was his love of the Scottish Highlands
that he is buried in Barra.
, Lillian MacSween in 1965.
He converted to Catholicism in 1914.
Scottish independence
Scottish independence is a political ambition of political parties, advocacy groups and individuals for Scotland to secede from the United Kingdom and become an independent sovereign state, separate from England, Wales and Northern Ireland....
.
Background
Compton Mackenzie was born in West HartlepoolWest Hartlepool
This article refers to the place; for the Rugby Football Club see West Hartlepool R.F.C.West Hartlepool refers to the western part of the what has since the 1960s been known as the borough of Hartlepool in North East England...
, England, into a theatrical family of Mackenzies, but many of whose members used Compton as their stage surname, starting with his grandfather Henry Compton
Henry Compton (actor)
Henry Compton was an English actor best known for his Shakespearean comic roles.-Biography:...
, a well-known Shakespearean
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
actor of the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
. His father, Edward Compton, was an actor and theatre company manager; his sister, Fay Compton
Fay Compton
Fay Compton was an English actress from a notable acting lineage; her father was actor/manager Edward Compton; her mother, Virginia Bateman, was a distinguished member of the profession, as were her sister, the actress Viola Compton, and her uncles and aunts. Her grandfather was the 19th-century...
, starred in many of J. M. Barrie
J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright...
's plays, including Peter Pan
Peter and Wendy
Peter and Wendy, published in 1911, is the novelisation by J. M. Barrie of his most famous play Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up...
.
He was educated at St Paul's School and Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...
, where he graduated with a degree in modern history.
Writing
Sir Compton Mackenzie is perhaps best known for two comedies set in Scotland, the Hebridean Whisky Galore (1947) and the HighlandScottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
The Monarch of the Glen
The Monarch of the Glen (novel)
The Monarch of the Glen is a Scottish comic farce novel written by English-born Scottish author Compton Mackenzie and published in 1941. It depicts the life in the fictional Scottish castle of Glenbogle....
(1941), sources of a successful film
Whisky Galore! (film)
Whisky Galore! was a 1949 Ealing comedy film based on the novel of the same name by Compton MacKenzie. Both the movie and the novel are based on the real-life 1941 shipwreck of the S.S. Politician near the island of Eriskay and the unauthorized taking of its cargo of whisky...
and a television series respectively. He published almost a hundred books on different subjects, including ten volumes of autobiography, My Life and Times (1963–1971). He also wrote history (on Marathon
Battle of Marathon
The Battle of Marathon took place in 490 BC, during the first Persian invasion of Greece. It was fought between the citizens of Athens, aided by Plataea, and a Persian force commanded by Datis and Artaphernes. It was the culmination of the first attempt by Persia, under King Darius I, to subjugate...
and Salamis
Battle of Salamis
The Battle of Salamis was fought between an Alliance of Greek city-states and the Persian Empire in September 480 BCE, in the straits between the mainland and Salamis, an island in the Saronic Gulf near Athens...
), biography (Mr Roosevelt, 1943, a biography of FDR), literary criticism, satires, apologia (Sublime Tobacco 1957), children's stories, poetry, and so on. Of his fiction, The Four Winds of Love is considered to be his magnum opus
Magnum opus
Magnum opus , from the Latin meaning "great work", refers to the largest, and perhaps the best, greatest, most popular, or most renowned achievement of a writer, artist, or composer.-Related terms:Sometimes the term magnum opus is used to refer to simply "a great work" rather than "the...
. It is described by Dr. John MacInnes (formerly of the School of Scottish Studies
School of Scottish Studies
The School of Scottish Studies was founded in 1951, and is affiliated to the University of Edinburgh. It holds an archive of over 9000 field recordings of traditional music, song and other lore, housed in George Square, Edinburgh...
) as "one of the greatest works of English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
produced in the twentieth century."
He was an influence on the young F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
, whose first book, This Side of Paradise
This Side of Paradise
This Side of Paradise is the debut novel of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Published in 1920, and taking its title from a line of the Rupert Brooke poem Tiare Tahiti, the book examines the lives and morality of post-World War I youth. Its protagonist, Amory Blaine, is an attractive Princeton University...
, was written while under his spell. Sinister Street
Sinister Street
Sinister Street is a 1913-14 novel by Compton Mackenzie. It is a kind of bildungsroman or novel about growing up, and concerns two children, Michael Fane and his sister Stella...
, his lengthy 1913-14 bildungsroman
Bildungsroman
In literary criticism, bildungsroman or coming-of-age story is a literary genre which focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood , and in which character change is thus extremely important...
, influenced the young and impressed established writers. Against the rules, George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
and Cyril Connolly
Cyril Connolly
Cyril Vernon Connolly was an English intellectual, literary critic and writer. He was the editor of the influential literary magazine Horizon and wrote Enemies of Promise , which combined literary criticism with an autobiographical exploration of why he failed to become the successful author of...
read it as schoolboys. Max Beerbohm
Max Beerbohm
Sir Henry Maximilian "Max" Beerbohm was an English essayist, parodist and caricaturist best known today for his 1911 novel Zuleika Dobson.-Early life:...
praised Mackenzie's writing for vividness and emotional reality Frank Swinnerton, literary critic, comments on Mackenzie's "detail and wealth of reference". John Betjeman
John Betjeman
Sir John Betjeman, CBE was an English poet, writer and broadcaster who described himself in Who's Who as a "poet and hack".He was a founding member of the Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture...
said of it, "This has always seemed to me one of the best novels of the best period in English novel writing." Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
thought it to be the most remarkable book written by a young author in his lifetime.
Following his conversion to Catholicism in 1914, he explored religious themes in a trilogy of novels, The Altar Steps (1922), The Parson's Progress (1923), and The Heavenly Ladder (1924). Following his time on Capri, socialising with the gay exiles there, he treated the homosexuality of a politician sensitively in Thin Ice (1956).
He was the literary critic for the London-based national newspaper Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
.
Other work
Mackenzie also worked as an actor, political activist and broadcaster. He served with British Intelligence in the Eastern Mediterranean during the First World War, later publishing four books on his experiences.According to these books, he was commissioned in the Royal Marines, rising to the rank of Captain. His ill-health making front-line service impractical, he was assigned counter-espionage work during the Gallipoli campaign, and in 1916 built up a considerable counter-intelligence network in Athens, Greece then being neutral. While his secret service work seems to have been valued highly by his superiors, including Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming, his passionate political views, especially his support for the Venezilists, made him a controversial figure and he was expelled from Athens after the Noemvriana
Noemvriana
The Noemvriana of November–December 1916 was a political dispute, which led to an armed confrontation in Athens between the royalist government of Greece and the Allies forces over the issue of Greece's neutrality during World War I....
.
In 1917, he founded the Aegean Intelligence Service, and enjoyed considerable autonomy for some months as its Director. He was offered the Presidency of the Republic of Cerigo, which was briefly independent while Greece was split between Royalists and Venezilists, but declined the office. He was recalled in September 1917. Smith-Cumming considered appointing him as his Deputy, but withdrew the suggestion after opposition from within his own service, and Mackenzie played no further active role in the war. In 1919, be was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(OBE), and was also honoured with the French Legion of Honour, the Serbian Order of the White Eagle
Order of the White Eagle
The Order of the White Eagle is Poland's highest decoration awarded to both civilians and the military for their merits. It was officially instituted on November 1, 1705 by Augustus II the Strong and bestowed on eight of his supporters: four Polish magnates, three Russian field marshals , and one...
, and the Greek Order of the Redeemer
Order of the Redeemer
The Order of the Redeemer , also known as the Order of the Savior, is an order of Greece. The Order of the Redeemer is the oldest and highest decoration awarded by the modern Greek state.- History :...
.
After the publication of his Greek Memories in 1932, he was prosecuted at the Old Bailey under the Official Secrets Act
Official Secrets Act
The Official Secrets Act is a stock short title used in the United Kingdom, Ireland, India and Malaysia and formerly in New Zealand for legislation that provides for the protection of state secrets and official information, mainly related to national security.-United Kingdom:*The Official Secrets...
for quoting from supposedly secret documents. His account of the trial, vividly described, is in Octave Seven (1931-1938) of his autobiography: the result was a fine of £100 and (prosecution) costs of £100. His own costs were over £1,000. Mackenzie states that a plea-bargain (described in the text as "an arrangement") had been reached with the judge prior to the trial: in exchange for his pleading guilty, he would be fined £500 with £500 costs. However Sir Thomas Inskip, then then Attorney General who prosecuted the case, succeeded in annoying the trial judge to such an extent that he then reduced the penalties to a token amount. The - still banned - 1932 edition of Greek Memories was published in 2011 by Biteback, including the Secret Intelligence Service
Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
memo detailing the offending passages of the book.
He was Knighted
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
in 1952.
He was president of the Croquet Association
Croquet Association
The Croquet Association, which was formed as the United All England Croquet Association in 1897 , is the national governing body for the sport of croquet in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle Of Man. Until 1974 the association was responsible for croquet in the whole...
from 1953 to 1966. He was also president of the Siamese Cat Club.
In 1923 he and his brother-in-law Christopher Stone founded The Gramophone, the still-influential classical music magazine.
A strong supporter of Edward VIII
Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
Edward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India, from 20 January to 11 December 1936.Before his accession to the throne, Edward was Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay...
, Mackenzie was a leading member of the Octavians, a minor society that campaigned in support of the king and also for his return to the UK after he became the Duke of Windsor. According to a 1938 Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
article Mackenzie had intended to write a book in support of Edward but abandoned the plan when the Duke of Windsor asked him not to publish.
Capri
Between 1913 and 1920 he lived with his wife, Faith, on CapriCapri
Capri is an Italian island in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrentine Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples, in the Campania region of Southern Italy...
, and returned to visit in later years. This Italian island near Sorrento
Sorrento
Sorrento is the name of many cities and towns:*Sorrento, Italy*Sorrento, Florida, United States*Sorrento, Louisiana, United States*Sorrento, Maine, United States*Sorrento, Victoria, a township on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia...
was known to be tolerant not just of foreigners in general, but of artists and homosexuals in particular. Faith had an affair with the Italian pianist Renata Borgatti
Renata Borgatti
Renata Borgatti was an Italian classical musician, performing in Europe and the United States.-Early life:She was the daughter of the great Wagnerian tenor Giuseppe Borgatti , whose imposing career at Milan's La Scala opera house was ended by blindness...
, who was connected to Romaine Brooks
Romaine Brooks
Romaine Brooks, born Beatrice Romaine Goddard , was an American painter who worked mostly in Paris and Capri. She specialized in portraiture and used a subdued palette dominated by the color gray...
.
Compton Mackenzie's observations on the local life of the Italian islanders and foreign residents led to at least two novels, Vestal Fire (1927) and Extraordinary Women (1928). The latter, a roman à clef
Roman à clef
Roman à clef or roman à clé , French for "novel with a key", is a phrase used to describe a novel about real life, overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people, and the "key" is the relationship between the nonfiction and the fiction...
about a group of lesbians arriving on the island of Sirene, a fictional version of Capri, was published in Britain in the same year as two other ground-breaking novels with lesbian themes, Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....
's love letter to Vita Sackville-West
Vita Sackville-West
The Hon Victoria Mary Sackville-West, Lady Nicolson, CH , best known as Vita Sackville-West, was an English author, poet and gardener. She won the Hawthornden Prize in 1927 and 1933...
, Orlando
Orlando
Orlando is a major city in the U.S. state of Florida.Orlando may also refer to-Places:* in Florida** Orlando, a major city** Greater Orlando, the 27th-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
, and Radclyffe Hall
Radclyffe Hall
Radclyffe Hall was an English poet and author, best known for the lesbian classic The Well of Loneliness.- Life :...
's controversial polemic The Well of Loneliness
The Well of Loneliness
The Well of Loneliness is a 1928 lesbian novel by the British author Radclyffe Hall. It follows the life of Stephen Gordon, an Englishwoman from an upper-class family whose "sexual inversion" is apparent from an early age...
, but Mackenzie's satire did not attract legal attention.
He was friends with Axel Munthe
Axel Munthe
Axel Martin Fredrik Munthe was a Swedish psychiatrist, best known as the author of The Story of San Michele, an autobiographical account of his life and work....
, who built Villa San Michele
Villa San Michele
The Villa San Michele was built around the turn of the 20th century by the Swedish physician, Axel Munthe, on the ruins of the Roman Emperor Tiberius's villa, on the Isle of Capri, Italy. Its gardens have panoramic views of Capri town and its marina, the Sorrentine Peninsula and Mount Vesuvius...
, and Edwin Cerio
Edwin Cerio
Edwin Cerio was a prominent Italian writer, engineer, architect, historian, and botanist. He was born on the island of Capri to an English artist mother and a well-known local physician, Ignazio Cerio.-Early life:...
, who later became mayor of Capri.
Scottish identity
Scottish Gaelic language
Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish, and thus descends ultimately from Primitive Irish....
throughout his long and very colourful life. As his biographer, Andro Linklater
Andro Linklater
Andro Linklater is a non-fiction writer, and historian.-Life:Andro Ian Robert Linklater is the youngest son of Eric Linklater. His brother is journalist, Magnus Linklater and his sisters are the voice expert Kristin Linklater and painter, Sally Linklater...
, commented, "Mackenzie wasn't born a Scot, and he didn't sound like a Scot. But nevertheless his imagination was truly Scottish."
He was an ardent Jacobite
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
, the third Governor-General of the Royal Stuart Society
Royal Stuart Society
The Royal Stuart Society, founded in 1926, is the senior monarchist organisation and the foremost Jacobite and Legitimist body in the United Kingdom...
, and a co-founder of the Scottish National Party
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....
. He was rector of University of Glasgow
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
from 1931 to 1934, defeating Oswald Mosley
Oswald Mosley
Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, of Ancoats, was an English politician, known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists...
, who later led the British Union of Fascists
British Union of Fascists
The British Union was a political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by Sir Oswald Mosley as the British Union of Fascists, in 1936 it changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists and then in 1937 to simply the British Union...
, in his bid for the job.
Mackenzie was from 1920–1923 Tenant of Herm and Jethou
Jethou
Jethou is a small island that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It is privately leased, and not open to the public.It is immediately south of Herm and has an area of approximately .-History:...
. He shares many similarities to the central character in D. H. Lawrence
D. H. Lawrence
David Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation...
's short story "The Man Who Loved Islands", despite Lawrence saying "the man is no more he than I am." Mackenzie at first asked Martin Secker
Martin Secker
Martin Secker , born Percy Martin Secker Klingender, was a London publisher who was responsible for producing the work of a distinguished group of literary authors, including D. H. Lawrence, Thomas Mann, Norman Douglas, and Henry James...
, who published both authors, not to print the story, and it was left out of one collection.
Mackenzie built a house on the island of Barra
Barra
The island of Barra is a predominantly Gaelic-speaking island, and apart from the adjacent island of Vatersay, to which it is connected by a causeway, is the southernmost inhabited island of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland.-Geography:The 2001 census showed that the resident population was 1,078...
in the 1930s. It was on Barra that he gained much inspiration and found creative solitude, and where he befriended a great number of people that he described as "the aristocrats of democracy". One such friend was John MacPherson, known as "The Coddy". MacPherson's son, Neil, recalled Mackenzie as a man of huge imagination, generosity, and talent.
He died in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. Such was his love of the Scottish Highlands
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
that he is buried in Barra.
Private life
Mackenzie was married three times. In 1905, he married Faith Stone, who died in 1960; then in 1962, he married Christina MacSween – who died the following year. Finally, he married his dead wife's sisterDeceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act 1907
The Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act 1907 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, allowing a man, if his wife had died, to marry her sister.Previously, it was forbidden for a man to marry the sister of his deceased wife...
, Lillian MacSween in 1965.
He converted to Catholicism in 1914.
Select bibliography
- The Gentleman in Grey (1907), a play
- The Passionate Elopement (1911), a revision of the play into a novel
- Carnival (1912), an early best-seller
- Sinister StreetSinister StreetSinister Street is a 1913-14 novel by Compton Mackenzie. It is a kind of bildungsroman or novel about growing up, and concerns two children, Michael Fane and his sister Stella...
(1914), a bildungsroman - Guy and Pauline (1915)
- The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett (1918), filmed in 19351935 in film-Events:*Judy Garland signs a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .*Seven year old Shirley Temple wins a special Academy Award.*The Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment started in order to educate the Bantu peoples.-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:...
as Sylvia ScarlettSylvia ScarlettSylvia Scarlett is a 1935 romantic comedy film starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, based on The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett, a novel by Compton MacKenzie. Directed by George Cukor, it was notorious as one of the most famous unsuccessful movies of the 1930s... - The Altar Steps (1922), and its sequels
- Santa Claus in Summer (1924)
- The Old Men Of the Sea (1924)
- Vestal Fire (1927)
- Extraordinary Women (1928)
- Gallipoli Memories (1929)
- Athenian Memories (1931)
- Greek Memories (1932)
- Water on the Brain (1933), an absurdist spy novel parody.
- The Monarch of the GlenThe Monarch of the Glen (novel)The Monarch of the Glen is a Scottish comic farce novel written by English-born Scottish author Compton Mackenzie and published in 1941. It depicts the life in the fictional Scottish castle of Glenbogle....
(1941) - Wind of Freedom: The history of the invasion of Greece by the Axis powersAxis PowersThe Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
, 1940-1941 (1944) - The Four Winds of Love (6 volumes 1937–45)
- Whisky Galore (1947), filmed in 19481948 in filmThe year 1948 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Laurence Olivier's Hamlet becomes the first British film to win the American Academy Award for Best Picture.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :...
as Whisky Galore!Whisky Galore! (film)Whisky Galore! was a 1949 Ealing comedy film based on the novel of the same name by Compton MacKenzie. Both the movie and the novel are based on the real-life 1941 shipwreck of the S.S. Politician near the island of Eriskay and the unauthorized taking of its cargo of whisky... - Hunting the Fairies (1949)
- The Rival Monster (1952)
- Rockets Galore (1957), a sequel, filmed in 19581958 in filmThe year 1958 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 16- "In the Money" by William Beaudine is released on this date. It would be the last installment of The Bowery Boys series which began back in 1946....
as Rockets Galore!Rockets Galore! (film)Rockets Galore! is a 1957 comedy film sequel to Whisky Galore! It was much less successful than its predecessor.It was directed by Michael Relph and based on the novel by Compton Mackenzie... - Thin Ice (1956)
- The Lunatic Republic (1959)
- Cats' Company (1960) with photos by Harrison MarksHarrison MarksGeorge Harrison Marks was a British glamour photographer and director of nudist, and later, pornographic films who was active in the fields for several decades.-Kamera and Pamela Green:...
- The Stolen Soprano (1965)
- The Stairs That Kept Going Down (1967)
- My Life and Times in ten volumes each covering eight years, published as "Octave One" to "Octave Ten"(1963 - 1971)