90-449: Esther Waters is a novel by George Moore first published in 1894. Set in England from the early 1870s onward, the novel is about a pious young woman from a poor working-class family who, while working as a kitchen maid, is seduced by another employee, becomes pregnant, is deserted by her lover, and against all odds decides to raise her child as a single mother . Esther Waters is one of
180-478: A bookmaker , is the proprietor of a public house in Soho and has separated from his adulterous wife, waiting for his divorce to be completed. He immediately declares his unceasing love for Esther and urges her to live with him and work behind the bar of his pub. Esther realises that she must make up her mind between the sheltered, serene and religious life Parsons is offering her—which she is really longing for—and sharing
270-517: A Young Man , a lively memoir about his 20s spent in Paris and London among bohemian artists. It contains a substantial amount of literary criticism for which it has received a fair amount of praise, for instance The Modern Library chose it in 1917 to be included in the series as "one of the most significant documents of the passionate revolt of English literature against the Victorian tradition." During
360-560: A book recommended to Moore by W. K. Magee , a sub-librarian of the National Library of Ireland , who had earlier suggested that Moore "was best suited to become Ireland's Turgenev". The tales are recognised by some as representing the birth of the Irish short story as a literary genre. In 1903, following a disagreement with his brother Maurice over the religious upbringing of his nephews, Moore declared himself to be Protestant. His conversion
450-573: A collection of short stories: Celibates (1895). In 1901, Moore returned to Dublin at the suggestion of his cousin and friend, Edward Martyn . Martyn had been involved in Ireland's cultural and dramatic movements for some years, and was working with Lady Gregory and William Butler Yeats to establish the Irish Literary Theatre . Moore soon became deeply involved in this project and in the broader Irish Literary Revival . He had already written
540-450: A failed artist, shows up in Moore's own characters. He met many of the key artists and writers of the time, including Pissarro , Degas , Renoir , Monet , Daudet , Mallarmé , Turgenev and, above all, Zola , who was to prove an influential figure in Moore's subsequent development as a writer. While still in Paris his first book, a collection of lyric poems called The Flowers of Passion ,
630-685: A friend of Maria Edgeworth , and author of An Historical Memoir of the French Revolution . His great-uncle, John Moore , was president of the Province of Connacht in the short-lived Irish Republic of 1798 during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 . George Moore's father, George Henry Moore , sold his stable and hunting interests during the Great Irish Famine , and from 1847 to 1857 served as an Independent Member of Parliament (MP) for Mayo in
720-400: A good deal of time outdoors with his brother, Maurice George Moore , and also became friendly with the young Willie and Oscar Wilde , who spent their summer holidays at nearby Moytura . Oscar was to later quip of Moore: "He conducts his education in public". His father had again turned his attention to horse breeding and in 1861 brought his champion horse, Croagh Patrick , to England for
810-470: A group of Victorian novels that depict the life of a " fallen woman ". Written in a naturalistic style similar to that of Émile Zola , the novel stands out among Moore's publications as the book whose immediate success, including William Ewart Gladstone 's approval of the novel in the Westminster Gazette , brought him financial security. Continuously revised by Moore (1899, 1917, 1920, 1931), it
900-494: A kindred soul in Mrs Barfield, who is also a Plymouth Sister and abhors the betting on horses going on all around her, Esther is dismissed ("I couldn't have kept you on, on account of the bad example to the younger servants") and reluctantly goes back to London. With the little money she has saved, she can stay in a rented room out of her stepfather's sight. Her mother is pregnant with her eighth child and dies giving birth to it at
990-545: A large student population, serving Imperial College London , Charing Cross Hospital , South Kensington , Hammersmith and other Central London Universities. Avonmore Road. built in the 1880s, has been dubbed "Kensington Village". Whiteleys Furniture Repositories, laundry and stables, built along the West London line , belonged to London's first department store in Westbourne Grove . The high-ceilinged Warwick Building
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#17328732384431080-400: A lung infection brought about by a breakdown in his health. His academic performance was poor while he was hungry and unhappy. In January 1865, he returned to St. Mary's College with his brother Maurice, where he refused to study as instructed and spent time reading novels and poems. That December the principal, Spencer Northcote, wrote a report that "he hardly knew what to say about George." By
1170-625: A new independent school, has been temporarily housed in a former Local education authority special school on Mund Street W14, while the Fulham Police station site off Fulham Broadway becomes the school's new premises. The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), one of UK's leading theatre schools, moved in 2005 into the former premises of the Royal Ballet School at 153-155 Talgarth Road, after years in Earl's Court . Despite its name,
1260-703: A number of ex-local authority and local authority buildings around the North End Road, including the recently renovated Lytton Estate. Many of buildings have been sold off. A more recent private development, St Paul's Court, was built in 1980 on part of the vast former site of St Paul's School. Since much of the housing is in the rented sector, West Kensington has become a cosmopolitan enclave. There are significant populations of Arabs, Americans, Australians, New Zealanders, Irish, Italians, Spaniards, and French, encouraged by nearby private schools teaching in their native language can be found around Brook Green. The area also has
1350-507: A painter, and studied art in Paris during the 1870s. There, he befriended many of the leading French artists and writers of the day. As a naturalistic writer, he was amongst the first English-language authors to absorb the lessons of the French realists , and was particularly influenced by the works of Émile Zola . His writings influenced James Joyce , according to the literary critic and biographer Richard Ellmann , and, although Moore's work
1440-610: A play, The Strike at Arlingford (1893), which was produced by the Independent Theatre . The play was the result of a challenge between Moore and George Robert Sims over Moore's criticism of all contemporary playwrights in Impressions and Opinions . Moore won the one hundred pound bet made by Sims for a stall to witness an "unconventional" play by Moore, though Moore insisted the word "unconventional" be excised. The Irish Literary Theatre staged his satirical comedy The Bending of
1530-600: A post office, until a sub-post office agreement was reached with the retail outlet, North End News . West Kensington once had on its fringes the dominating presence of a terracotta cluster of Neo Gothic buildings amid lush playing fields, of St Paul's School backing onto the Talgarth Road, between 1884 and 1968. It has since migrated to its fifth set of buildings now south of the Thames river in Barnes , since it left, centuries ago,
1620-511: A reputation as a fair landlord, continuing the family tradition of not evicting tenants and refusing to carry firearms when travelling round the estate. While in Ireland, he decided to abandon art and move to London to become a professional writer. There he published his second poetry collection, Pagan Poems , in 1881. These early poems reflect his interest in French symbolism and are now almost entirely neglected. In 1886 Moore published Confessions of
1710-526: A satiric story of the marriage trade in Anglo-Irish society that hints at same-sex relationships among the unmarried daughters of the gentry, and Esther Waters (1894), the story of an unmarried housemaid who becomes pregnant and is abandoned by her footman lover. Both of these books have remained almost constantly in print since their first publication. His 1887 novel A Mere Accident is an attempt to merge his symbolist and realist influences. He also published
1800-404: A successful racing season, together with his wife and nine-year-old son. For a while, George was left at Cliff's stables until his father decided to send him to his alma mater facilitated by his winnings. Moore's formal education started at St. Mary's College, Oscott , a Catholic boarding school near Birmingham , where he was the youngest of 150 boys. He spent all of 1864 at home, having contracted
1890-599: Is a gambler , and nothing can stop him from risking most of the money he has in the hope of gaining even more. Illegal betting is conducted in an upstairs private bar, but more and more also across the counter, until the police clamp down on his activities, his licence is revoked, and he has to pay a heavy fine. This coincides with Latch developing a chronic , sometimes bloody , cough, contracting pneumonia , and finally, in his mid-thirties, being diagnosed with tuberculosis ("consumption"). However, rather than not touching what little money he still has for his wife and son's sake,
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#17328732384431980-414: Is dismissed when her employers find out about the existence of her illegitimate son , concluding that she is a "loose" woman who must not work in a respectable household. Later on, while hiding her son's existence, she is fired when the son of the house, in his youthful fervour, makes passes at her and eventually writes her a love letter she cannot read. Another stroke of luck in her otherwise dreary life
2070-472: Is her employment as general servant in West Kensington with Miss Rice, a novelist who is very sympathetic to her problems. While working there, she makes the acquaintance of Fred Parsons, a Plymouth Brother and political agitator, who proposes to Esther at about the same time she bumps into William Latch again while on an errand for her mistress. Latch, who has amassed a small fortune betting on horses and as
2160-634: Is often regarded as his best novel. Esther Waters is dedicated to T. W. Rolleston . Esther Waters is born to hard-working parents who are Plymouth Brethren in Barnstaple , Devon. Her father's premature death prompts her mother to move to London and marry again, but Esther's stepfather turns out to be a hard-drinking bully and wife-beater who forces Esther, a natural beauty, to leave school and go out to work instead, thus greatly reducing her chances of ever learning how to read and write, and Esther remains illiterate all her life. Her first job outside London
2250-623: Is on the District line linking Upminster with Ealing Broadway station and Richmond . There is a branch line (running between Kensington Olympia-Earl's Court-Kensington High Street) and the Piccadilly line from Barons Court , the Hammersmith & City line from Hammersmith tube station , and the Central line from Shepherd's Bush and Holland Park. A local transport-related curiosity (and not open to
2340-542: Is sometimes seen as outside the mainstream of both Irish and British literature, he is as often regarded as the first great modern Irish novelist. George Moore's family had lived in Moore Hall, near Lough Carra , County Mayo , for almost a century. The house was built by his paternal great-grandfather—also called George Moore—who had made his fortune as a wine merchant in Alicante . The novelist's grandfather—another George—was
2430-570: Is that of a kitchen maid with the Barfields, a nouveau riche family of horse breeders , horse racers and horse betters who live at Woodview near Shoreham . There she meets William Latch, a footman , and is seduced by him. Dreaming of a future with Latch, she is dismayed to find that he is having an affair with the Barfields' niece, who is staying at Woodview. After Latch and his lover have eloped together, Esther stays on at Woodview until she cannot hide her pregnancy any longer. Although she has found
2520-646: Is the North End Road . It is predominantly a dense residential area with the Queen's Club in its midst and is bordered by the Lillie Bridge railway depot , the now defunct Earls Court Exhibition Centre site, Olympia Exhibition Centre and the commercial centres at Fulham and Hammersmith Broadway . "West Kensington" is an early marketing construct, a ploy by two Victorian developers who found they had trouble selling their rapidly erected estate of terraced housing in
2610-648: The British House of Commons . George Henry was renowned as a fair landlord, fought to uphold the rights of tenants, and was a founder of the Catholic Defence Association . His estate consisted of 5000 ha (50 km ) in Mayo, with a further 40 ha in County Roscommon . Moore was born in Moore Hall in 1852. As a child, he enjoyed the novels of Walter Scott , which his father read to him. He spent
2700-595: The Earls Court Regeneration Project , with Transport for London having a 30% interest, and with the surprising cooperation of Historic England who were persuaded to grant a Certificate of Immunity from Listing (COIL), to enable the Art Deco structure to be demolished. The Lillie Bridge Depot was also in the frame and as it was claimed the Earls Court Project would bring considerable benefits to
2790-558: The Famous Three Kings pub, hosted many rock and punk concerts in the 1970s and early 1980s. Joy Division , The Sex Pistols and The Police all played there regularly. In Hanif Kureishi 's novel The Buddha of Suburbia , the main character moves from the southern suburbs of London to West Kensington and lives by the Nashville. He witnesses one of the first presentations of a punk band, probably The Sex Pistols. The flat featured in
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2880-555: The London postal area of W14 , including the area around Barons Court tube station , and is defined as the area between Lillie Road and Hammersmith Road to the west, Fulham Palace Road to the south, Hammersmith to the north and West Brompton and Earl's Court to the east. The area is bisected by the major London artery the A4 , locally known as the Talgarth Road . Its main local thoroughfare
2970-609: The Metropolitan Borough of Fulham to have North End renamed 'West Kensington' to attract new investors to their empty houses. From the High Middle Ages , the hamlet of North End in the County of Middlesex was mainly farmland and market gardens, with a few scattered houses along North End Lane which wound its way from Walham Green to the trunk road linking the parishes of Hammersmith and Kensington. The main topographical feature
3060-585: The Olympia Exhibition Centre nearby. West Kensington is within easy reach of Earl's Court , and the Broadways of Fulham and Hammersmith . There are several pubs and hotels, including The Albion public house, which is reputedly haunted. The Baron's Court Theatre is located in the basement of The Curtains Up bar and restaurant. One of the oldest extant Polish Patisserie -delicatessens in London, Prima ,
3150-659: The avant garde publisher, and on 22 September 1888, about a month before the trial, wrote a letter that appeared in the St. James Gazette . In it Moore suggested that, rather than a jury of twelve tradesmen , Vizatelly should be judged by three novelists. Moore pointed out that such celebrated books as Madame Bovary and Gautier's Mademoiselle de Maupin had morals equivalent to Zola's, though their literary merits might differ. Because of his willingness to tackle such issues as prostitution, extramarital sex, and lesbianism, Moore's novels were initially met with scandal, but this subsided as
3240-519: The publicity stirred up by its opponents . The French newspaper Le Voltaire published it in serial form as La Femme du cabotin in July–October 1886. His next novel, A Drama in Muslin was again banned by Mudie's and Smith's. In response Moore declared war on the circulating libraries by publishing two provocative pamphlets ; Literature at Nurse and Circulating Morals . In these, he complained that
3330-420: The 1880s, Moore began work on a series of novels in a realist style. His first novel, A Modern Lover (1883) was a three-volume work, as preferred by the circulating libraries , and deals with the art scene of the 1870s and 1880s in which many characters are identifiably real. The circulating libraries in England banned the book because of its explicit portrayal of the amorous pursuits of its hero. At this time
3420-403: The 1969 BBC series 'Take Three Girls' was at 17 Glazbury Road. The 2005 Woody Allen film Match Point was shot on location at Queen's Club and in the surrounding residential streets. Heather Graham and Mia Kirshner play upper-middle-class dilettantes from West Kensington in the 2008 movie Buy Borrow Steal. West Kensington is well served by public transport. West Kensington station
3510-510: The Bough (1900), adapted from Martyn's The Tale of a Town , originally rejected by the theatre but unselfishly given to Moore for revision, and Martyn's Maeve . Staged by the company which would later become the Abbey Theatre , The Bending of the Bough was a historically important play and introduced realism into Irish literature. Lady Gregory wrote that it: "hits impartially all round". The play
3600-504: The British circulating libraries, such as Mudie's Select Library , controlled the market for fiction, and the fee-paying public expected them to guarantee the morality of the novels provided. His next realist novel, A Mummers Wife (1885) was also regarded as unsuitable by Mudie's, and W H Smith refused to stock it on their news-stalls. Despite this, during its first year of publication the book went through fourteen editions, mainly because of
3690-656: The English Lady Elizabeth Craven , who in 1792 bought the handsome mansion on the Thames at Fulham, originally built by Sir Nicholas Crisp in the 17th century and renamed it "Brandenburg House". After the Margrave died, his wife, the Margravine, occupied it till her retirement to Naples in 1819. Between 1820 and 1822 it was lent by the Margravine to Caroline of Brunswick , the estranged consort of King George IV who lived and died there. After Queen Caroline's death,
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3780-507: The Margravine first sold off the contents of the house, then had the property demolished and sold the grounds for industrial development. Part went to the Haig distillery , the rest was bought for a sugar refinery. Another local landowner and developer in the 19th century was the Irish-born politician Sir William Palliser . It is possible that the station built on Palliser's land and opened in 1874,
3870-452: The Queen's Club. However, as he was heavily in debt when he died suddenly in 1882, his family did not benefit from his deals. A contemporary of Palliser was Sir Robert Gunter whose family also left its mark on a number of streets that were built on his North End estate. They are Gunterstone Road, Edith Road and Edith Villas in memory of his daughter who died of scarlet fever , aged eight. After
3960-629: The Roman Catholic Church from estate funds. George later sold a large part of the estate to the Irish Land Commission for £25,000. Moore was friendly with many members of the expatriate artistic communities in London and Paris, and had a long-lasting relationship with Maud, Lady Cunard . Moore took a special interest in the education of Maud's daughter, the well-known publisher and art patron, Nancy Cunard . It has been suggested that Moore, rather than Maud's husband, Sir Bache Cunard ,
4050-477: The already waning canal boom by converting a section of Counter's Creek into the Kensington Canal . It was not a success. Eventually the canal was filled in, and in mid 19th century it became a railway and the creek was turned into a sewer. With it came gradual urbanisation, which drew in various developers including Gibbs and Flew. Apart from their unsold houses, there was the problem of accessibility. A bridge
4140-703: The area, it was recognised by the Mayor's London Plan, under Boris Johnson , as an Opportunity Area in July 2011. The project, expected to span 15–20 years, would involve the redevelopment of 80 acres of land around the Earl's Court Exhibition Centres and the West Kensington & Gibb's Green Estate and a swathe of private businesses and other homes. The proposals included the creation of "four new village centres" across North End Road, West Kensington, West Brompton and Earl's Court. There
4230-421: The best" of the 10 books in the series. Describing the novel as Moore's best and comparing it to W. Somerset Maugham 's Of Human Bondage , Orwell noted certain stylistic flaws but argued its "fundamental sincerity makes its surface faults almost negligible." The reason why Moore chose Esther Waters rather than one of his lesser known novels (which he might have been able to promote that way) to be adapted for
4320-456: The care of a baby farmer and nurses the sickly child of a wealthy woman ("Rich folk don't suckle their own") who, out of fear of infection, forbids Esther any contact with Jack. When, after two long weeks, she finally sees her son again, realises that he is anything but prospering and even believes that his life might be in danger, she immediately takes him with her, terminates her employment without notice and then sees no other way than to "accept
4410-534: The church building was completely destroyed by a V1 flying bomb. The present church building dates from the 1960s. Blythe House has been used as a filming location for numerous films including Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy . In the film Trainspotting , the flat that Renton shows the young couple around when he gets the job as an estate agent and ultimately stashes Begbie and Sickboy in is 78A North End Road, opposite West Kensington tube station. The Nashville Rooms, now
4500-468: The church of St Andrew's, Fulham Fields is located in West Kensington. It was built by Newman and Billing in 1873, consecrated in 1874, and enlarged by Aston Webb and Ingress Bell in 1894. West Kensington's main parish church, St Mary's, is located in Hammersmith Road, near the junction with Edith Road. The original church building was built in 1813 and given its own parish in 1836. In June 1944
4590-434: The dramatic movement. Moore published two books of prose fiction set in Ireland around this time; a second book of short stories, The Untilled Field (1903) and a novel, The Lake (1905). The Untilled Field deals with clerical interference in the daily lives of the Irish peasantry, and of the issue of emigration. The stories were originally written for translation into Irish, to serve as models for other writers working in
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#17328732384434680-417: The dying man puts everything on one horse, loses, and dies a few days later. With Miss Rice also dead, Esther has no place to turn to and again takes on any menial work she can get hold of. Then she remembers Mrs Barfield, contacts her and, when asked to come to Woodview as her servant, gladly accepts while Jack, now old enough to earn his own living, stays behind in London. When she arrives there, Esther finds
4770-409: The estate over to his brother Maurice to manage and in 1873, on attaining his majority, moved to Paris to study art. It took him several attempts to find an artist who would accept him as a pupil. Rodolphe Julian , who had previously been a shepherd and circus masked man, took him on for 40 francs a month. At Académie Julian he met Louis Welden Hawkins who became Moore's flatmate and whose trait, as
4860-584: The final scene of the novel, Jack, who has become a soldier, visits the two women at Woodview. Moore's fellow late nineteenth-century novelist George Gissing wrote there was "some pathos and power in latter part, but miserable writing. The dialogue often grotesquely phrased". In a 1936 review of a series of books published by The Bodley Head and Penguin Books , appearing in The New English Weekly , George Orwell described Esther Waters as "far and away
4950-444: The financially secure but turbulent existence of a successful small-time entrepreneur who, as she soon finds out, operates on both sides of the law. Eventually, for the sake of her son's future, she decides to go to Soho with Latch, and after his divorce has come through the couple get married. A number of years of relative happiness follow. Jack, now in his teens, can be sent off to school, and Esther even has her own servant. But Latch
5040-531: The following year. Here, Moore senior tried, unsuccessfully, to have his son follow a career in the military though, prior to this, he attended the School of Art in the South Kensington Museum where his achievements were no better. He was freed from any burden of education when his father died in 1870. Moore, though still a minor, inherited the family estate that generated a yearly income of £3,596. He handed
5130-583: The hamlet of North End on the outskirts of the village of Walham Green . In 1876 William Henry Gibbs and John P. Flew, builders from Dorset , decided to capitalise on their modest success in Kensington , by speculatively building 1,200 houses on the market gardens west of the West London Railway in Fulham. However, the housing slump of the 1880s left them with many unsold properties. They succeeded in persuading
5220-643: The language. Three of the translations were published in the New Ireland Review , but publication was then paused because of their perceived anti-clerical sentiment. In 1902 the entire collection was translated by Tadhg Ó Donnchadha and Pádraig Ó Súilleabháin , and published in a parallel-text edition by the Gaelic League as An-tÚr-Ghort . Moore later revised the texts for the English edition. These stories were influenced by Turgenev 's A Sportsman's Sketches ,
5310-497: The libraries profit from salacious popular fiction while refusing to stock serious literary fiction. Moore's publisher Henry Vizetelly began to issue unabridged mass-market translations of French realist novels that endangered the moral and commercial influence of the circulating libraries around this time. In 1888, the circulating libraries fought back by encouraging the House of Commons to implement laws to stop "the rapid spread of demoralising literature in this country". Vizetelly
5400-425: The mansion blocks around Avonmore Road including, Glyn Mansions (Built 1897), Avonmore Mansions and Avonmore Gardens (Built 1893) which is located next to the new Kensington Village development. West Kensington Court was purpose built and completed in 1938 with a view of providing what were considered at the time luxury flats for young professionals and families wishing to move from older-style properties. There are also
5490-847: The old cathedral cloister in the City of London . A junior feeder school which moved with it, was the preparatory Colet Court , started in Edith Road in 1881, then on Hammersmith Road and is now renamed St Paul's Juniors in Barnes. Part of the old St Paul's site in Hammersmith is occupied by one of four campuses of the FE Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College , and by the Parayhouse Educational facility. West Kensington has two St James Independent Schools , for juniors and senior girls. Fulham Boys School ,
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#17328732384435580-479: The once proud estate in a state of absolute disrepair, with Mrs Barfield the only inhabitant. Mistress and maid develop an increasingly intimate relationship with each other and, for the first time in their lives, can practise their religion unhindered. Looking back on her "life of trouble and strife," Esther, now about 40, says she has been able to fulfil her task—to see her boy "settled in life," and thus does not see any reason whatsoever to want to get married again. In
5670-502: The public's taste for realist fiction grew. Moore began to find success as an art critic with the publication of books such as Impressions and Opinions (1891) and Modern Painting (1893), the first significant attempt to introduce the Impressionists to an English audience. By this time Moore was first able to live from the proceeds of his literary work. Other realist novels by Moore from this period include A Drama in Muslin (1886),
5760-681: The public) is the London Underground training centre that contains a mock-up station called West Ashfield tube station . It is located on the third floor of Ashfield House. Despite its recent erection, it is scheduled for demolition as part of the Earls Court Regeneration Scheme . The London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham and the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea resolved in secret to go on to grant outline planning permission for developers' Capco Masterplan for
5850-426: The same time Esther is at Queen Charlotte's Hospital giving birth to a healthy boy she calls Jackie. Still in confinement, she is visited by her younger sister who asks her for money for her passage to Australia, where her whole family have decided to emigrate. Esther never hears of them again. Learning that a young mother in her situation can make good money by becoming a wet nurse , Esther leaves her newborn son in
5940-455: The severe bomb and landmine damage to the area during World War II , the Gunter estate donated Gwendwr Gardens , formerly the Cedars Lawn Tennis Club, to the public as a memorial to those who had perished. The railway developments at North End included the Lillie Bridge Depot , an important historic engineering workshop with secondary access from Beaumont Avenue since 1872. The Earls Court Exhibition pleasure gardens , an international venue,
6030-466: The shelter of the workhouse " for herself and Jack. But Esther is lucky, and after only a few months can leave the workhouse again. She chances upon Mrs Lewis, a lonely widow living in East Dulwich who is both willing and able to raise her boy in her stead, while she herself goes into service again. However, she is not able to really settle down anywhere: either the work is so hard and the hours so long that, fearing for her health, she quits again; or she
6120-449: The stage may have been its "Englishness". The subject-matter of Esther Waters was the most "English" of his novels, and Moore had just returned to England after abandoning his brief interest in the Irish Renaissance theatre movement . 1911, then, saw the première, at the Apollo Theatre in London's West End , of Esther Waters: a play in five acts , which Moore had adapted from his own novel. Although it did not receive good reviews, Moore
6210-595: The story was based on the supposition that a non-divine Christ did not die on the cross but instead was nursed back to health and repented of his pride in declaring himself Son of God. Other books from this period include a further collection of short-stories called A Storyteller's Holiday (1918), a collection of essays called Conversations in Ebury Street (1924) and a play, The Making of an Immortal (1927). Moore also spent considerable time revising and preparing his earlier writings for new editions. Partly because of his brother Maurice's pro- treaty activity, Moore Hall
6300-401: The summer of 1867, he was expelled for, as he wrote in 1903's The Untilled Field , "idleness and general worthlessness", and returned to Mayo. His father said that he feared about George and his brother Maurice, "[that] those two redheaded boys are stupid", an observation which proved untrue for all four sons. In 1868, Moore's father was again elected MP for Mayo and the family moved to London
6390-444: The title role. A further television adaptation Esther Waters aired on the BBC in 1977, featuring Gabrielle Lloyd as Waters. George Moore (novelist) George Augustus Moore (24 February 1852 – 21 January 1933) was an Irish novelist, short-story writer , poet, art critic , memoirist and dramatist. Moore came from a Roman Catholic landed family who lived at Moore Hall in Carra, County Mayo . He originally wanted to be
6480-472: The two boroughs in 2008, demolition began in 2015. The entire venue was closed down in 2014. Other notable structures on the site were the giant Ferris wheel (1895-1907) and the 6,000 seat Empress Hall (1894), built for impresario Imre Kiralfy , both long gone. The campaign for a bridge into West Kensington from nearby Earl's Court was taken up by local residents and the West Cromwell Road bridge
6570-642: Was Counter's Creek , a tributary of the Thames River , rising in Kensal Green , which marked the parish boundary. Among the notable residents who had settled in this quiet rural retreat were Samuel Richardson , Samuel Foote , Francesco Bartolozzi , Sir John Lillie and then in the late 19th century, the artists Edward and Georgiana Burne-Jones . The quiet of North End was sorely disturbed from 1824 onwards when local landowner William Edwardes, 2nd Baron Kensington , along with several others, decided to cash in on
6660-524: Was Nancy's father, but this is not generally credited by historians, and it is not certain that Moore's relationship with Nancy's mother was ever more than platonic. Moore's last novel, Aphrodite in Aulis , was published in 1930. He died at his address of 121 Ebury Street in the London district of Belgravia in early 1933, leaving a fortune of £70,000. He was cremated in London at a service attended by Ramsay MacDonald among others. An urn containing his ashes
6750-462: Was a satire on Irish political life, and as it was unexpectedly nationalist, was considered the first to deal with a vital question that had appeared in Irish life. Diarmuid and Grania , a poetic play in prose co-written with Yeats in 1901, was also staged by the theatre, with incidental music by Elgar . After this production Moore took up pamphleteering on behalf of the Abbey, and parted company with
6840-508: Was announced in a letter to the Irish Times newspaper. Moore remained in Dublin until 1911. In 1914, he published Hail and Farewell , a gossipy three-volume memoir of his time there, which entertained readers but infuriated former friends. Moore quipped, "Dublin is now divided into two sets; one half is afraid it will be in the book, and the other is afraid that it won't". In his later years he
6930-467: Was begun by John Robinson Whitley , visited by Queen Victoria in her Jubilee year, and subsequently frequented by the Royal Household. The royal connection continued through the decades and Diana, Princess of Wales opened the barrel-shaped Earls Court II hall, which in 1991 straddled the boundary between Hammersmith and Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea ; but after a confidential decision taken by
7020-485: Was brought to court by the National Vigilance Association (NVA) for "obscene libel". The charge arose from the publication of the English translation of Zola's La Terre . A second case was brought the following year to force implementation of the original judgement and to remove all of Zola's works. This led to the 70-year-old publisher becoming involved in the literary cause. Throughout Moore supported
7110-573: Was burnt by anti-treaty partisans in 1923, during the final months of the Irish Civil War . Moore eventually received compensation of £7,000 from the government of the Irish Free State . By this time the brothers had become estranged, mainly because of George's unflattering portrait of Maurice in Hail and Farewell . Tension also arose from their religious differences: Maurice frequently made donations to
7200-440: Was eventually commenced in 1938 and, interrupted by World War II , was opened in 1942. West Kensington is primarily a residential area consisting mainly of Victorian terraced houses , many of which are subdivided into flats. There are some interesting examples of Victorian architecture , with several houses and some entire streets listed – including the imposing mansion blocks of Fitzgeorge Avenue (off North End Road ) and
7290-463: Was filmed in 1948 by Ian Dalrymple and Peter Proud with Kathleen Ryan (in the title role), Dirk Bogarde (as William Latch), Cyril Cusack , Ivor Barnard and Fay Compton . It was partly filmed at Folkington Manor , East Sussex. Two television dramas ( miniseries ) were produced in 1964 and 1977 respectively. In 1964 the BBC produced a four-part miniseries of Esther Waters , with Meg Wynn Owen in
7380-486: Was increasingly friendless, having quarrelled bitterly with Yeats and Osborn Bergin , among others: Oliver St. John Gogarty said: "It was impossible to be a friend of his, because he was incapable of gratitude". Moore returned to London in 1911, where, with the exception of frequent trips to France, he was to spend much of the rest of his life. In 1913, he travelled to Jerusalem to research his next novel, The Brook Kerith (1916). Moore once again courted controversy, as
7470-509: Was interred on Castle Island in Lough Carra in view of the ruins of Moore Hall. A blue plaque commemorates his residency at his London home. West Kensington, London West Kensington , formerly North End , is an area in the ancient parish of Fulham , in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham , England, 3.4 miles (5.5 km) west of Charing Cross . It covers most of
7560-535: Was named after the Irish estate of the Earls of Abercorn , Baronscourt in County Tyrone where Palliser may have had connections. As well as Palliser Road itself, a group of roads in West Kensington are named after members of his family. They include: Perham, Charleville, Gledstanes, Barton, Fairholme, Comeragh, Castletown and Vereker Roads and Challoner Street. He also owned the 11 acres (45,000 m ) which would become
7650-492: Was needed over the railways, but despite Gibbs and Flew trying to finance it, it led to their bankruptcy and the dissolution of the partnership in 1885. Gibbs and Flew thereafter carried on separate businesses with a measure of success in Fulham. Margravine Cemetery and some of the streets near Barons Court station, recall the brief sojourn in the County of Middlesex of the last Margrave of Brandenburg, Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1736-1806) and his second wife,
7740-609: Was opened in North End Road in 1946. For several decades after World War II , the editorial offices of the Polish Daily , the UK's oldest Polish language paper, were located in Charleville Road. The Carnival Store is a longstanding fancy dress and costume shop in Hammersmith Road and family owned for the past 40 years. In February 2009, the W14 postcode became the first London postal area without
7830-403: Was pleased with the production. In 1913 Heinemann published the playscript. There are, however, two more versions of the play. One was the result of an unsuccessful collaboration, in 1922, between Moore and theatre critic Barrett H. Clark ; a third version of the play was written by Clark in the same year, but never performed. The two 1922 versions were first published in 1984. Esther Waters
7920-441: Was self-published in 1877. The poems were derivative, and were maliciously reviewed by the critics who were offended by some of the depravities in store for moralistic readers. The book was withdrawn by Moore. He was forced to return to Ireland in 1880 to raise £3,000 to pay debts incurred on the family estate, owing to his tenants refusing to pay their rent and the drop in agricultural prices. During his time back in Mayo, he gained
8010-542: Was strong local and international opposition to the project which put thousands of people's homes, employment and businesses at permanent risk. The prevailing political and economic climate not only blighted the area but also the project. The developers sold on their loss-making venture in December 2019, while Hammersmith and Fulham Council have arranged with the buyers, Delancey to buy back the two housing estates still occupied by residents. On 26 February 1975, Stephen Tibble,
8100-634: Was used as a depository for Whiteleys-sourced furnishings (grand pianos, chaise longues, oriental room dividers, mahogany wardrobes) for the use of customers who were resident in the colonies. Kensington Village now consists of a blend of modernised Victorian buildings, such as the Warwick Building, and modern additions such as the Pembroke Building, built in a similar style with London stock brick and red lintels and full-height glazing. Local business consists of small shops, offices and restaurants, with
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