Maurice Nicoll: A Portrait

310 Pages·1988·9.761 MB·English

by  Beryl Pogson

MAURICE
NICOLL
A Portrait
by BERYL PO G SO N
A personal account of Maurice Nicoll's life
as a student of Gurdjieff and and
his teaching of the Fourth Way.
FourthWay
B O O K S
Maurice Nicoll: A Portrait
M A U RICE N IC O LL
A Portrait
--------
By Beryl Pogson
‘Those bom of the Spirit are unpredictable*
FOURTH WAY BOOKS
NEW YORK
© GLOBE PRESS BOOKS
1987
FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1961
FIRST AMERICAN EDITION
1987
BY FOURTH WAY Be H 'Ks
AN IMPRINT OF GLOBE PRESS BOOKS
P.O. BOX 2045
MADISON SQUARE STATION
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10159
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
ISBN 0-936385-24-3
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NO. 87-082275
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES
Contents
List of Illustrations viii
Biographical Table ix
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction xiii
I EARLY YEARS (1884-1912) I
19
Ü DECISIVE INFLUENCES
HI THE 1914 WAR - ACTIVE SERVICE IN GALLIPOLI
AND MESOPOTAMIA (1914-I917) 30
TV EMPIRE HOSPITAL (1917-1918) 50
• V MARRIAGE - MEETING WITH OUSPENSKY AND
GURDJIEFF - TRAINING AT THE CHATEAU DU
PRIEURE (192O-I923) 67
. VI RELATIONSHIP WITH OUSPENSKY (1923-1931) 93
VII GROUP WORK IN LONDON AND ESSEX (1931-I939) 110
Vin 1939 WAR -BIRDLIP (194O-I941) I3I
149
IX EXTRACTS FROM WAR DIARY
X BIRDLIP I942 198
XI BIRDLIP I943-I944 215
XH QUAREMEAD (1945-1946) 22Ö
Xm GREAT AMWELL HOUSE (1946-1951) 237
XTV PUBLICATIONS 256
XV LAST YEARS AT GREAT AMWELL HOUSE (195I-
1953) 268
Index 285
vii
r
List of Illustrations
i. About 1890 facing page 18
2. 1899 (Aldenham) 19
3. Medical Student, Bart’s 34
4. R.A.M.C. 1914, with Constance, his sister 35
5. Marriage, 1920 66
6. Catherine Nicoll, 1920 67
7. P. D. Ouspensky at Alley Cottage 82
8. Carpenter’s Shop, Prieure 83
9. After Fontainebleau, with Jane 146
10. The Old Manse, Lumsden 147
11. Bay Tree Lodge 147
12. Chateau du Prieure 162
13. Tyeponds 162
14. Alley Cottage 162
15. Great Amwell House 163
16. With the author, 1949 258
17. In his study, Great Amwell House 259
18. In the ‘George IV’ 259
1953
19. 274
viii
Biographical Table
‘The ideal biography should begin with a very clear chronological
table, shewing at a glance how the life was divided. For want of
this we misconceive - we do not see how events are spread about
or crowded together in a space of years/ w. robertson nicoll:
Letters on Life.
1884 Bom at the Manse, Kelso, 19th July.
1886 Father retired from Ministry.
1889 Family removed to Bay Tree Lodge, Hampstead.
Entered University College Preparatory School.
1891 Death of Grandfather, Rev. Harry Nicoll.
1894 Death of Mother.
1897 Father’s marriage to Miss Catherine Pollard.
Entered Aldenham School.
1904 Entered Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.
1906 B.A. Cantab - ist Class Honours. Entered Bart’s
Hospital.
1909 Father received knighthood.
1910 Qualified in Medicine.
Joint publication with his sister of Lord Richard in the
Pantry.
1912 Studied Psychology in Vienna and Zürich.
1913 In practice in Golders Green. Partnership with Dr Crichton
Miller.
1914 Received Commission in R.A.M.C.
1917 Work in Empire Hospital on shell shock.
1920 Marriage to Miss Catherine Champion Jones.
1921 Father awarded C.H. Birth of daughter. Meeting with
Ouspensky.
1922 Meeting with Gurdjieff. Gave up London practice - went
to Institute.
1923 Death of Father.
IX
BIOGRAPHICAL TABLE
1924
Resumed practice in Harley Street.
1931 Received authority from Ouspensky to teach the System.
1939 Retired from Harley Street practice.
1940
Moved to The Knapp, Birdlip.
1945 Moved to Quaremead, Ugley.
1946
Moved to Great Am well House, Ware.
1948
Birth of granddaughter.
1949 Private publication of three volumes of Commentaries on
the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky.
1950
Publication of The New Man.
1951 Serious operation.
1952
Publication of three volumes of Commentaries on the
Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky. Publication of Living
Time.
1953 Death.
Acknowledgements
I should like to thank Maurice Nicoll’s family for the apprecia­
tion and encouragement which they have never failed to give me
during the writing of this book. I was particularly grateful to the
late Lady Robertson Nicoll for her clear recollections of his child­
hood, and for the loan of letters and photographs and for per­
mission to quote from her private publication, Under the Bay Tree.
I was very thankful that she was able to read the book in manu­
script before she died and to express her approval of it. My thanks
are due also to Mrs Elystan Miles, Mrs Grange Kirkcaldy and
Mrs John Mounsey for letters, photographs and reminiscences
and to Lady Syfret, Mrs Mayor, Miss Moxon, Mrs Ronald
Jeans, Mr Kenneth Walker, Mr Thomas Casswell, Mr Cyril
Parfit, Mr David Squire, Mr Harold Rubinstein and Mr
Michael Rubinstein for valuable material and photographs. I
am grateful to Mrs Humphrey Butler for helpful suggestions
in the early stages of the writing and I owe much to Miss Edith
Saunders for her expert advice in the arrangement of the manu­
script at a time when I had become discouraged. Further, my thanks
are due to Mrs Hodder for secretarial help, and to Miss Rosanne
McCullagh for the final typing of the text, to Mr Lewis Creed
for his drawing of Bay Tree Lodge from a reproduction of an
original drawing, to Mr E. C. Machines Begg, Mrs Janet Hagon,
Mr T. Marriner, Rear-Admiral R. W. Oldham and Mr Harold
Rubinstein for proof-reading, and to those members of my group
who have assisted in the compilation of the Index.
XI