Clement-Jones family 12/22 - Person Sheet
Clement-Jones family 12/22 - Person Sheet
NameDavid “Bunny” GARNETT CBE, 10807
Birth1892
Death1981
FatherEdward William GARNETT , 10812 (1868-1937)
MotherConstance Clara BLACK , 10814 (1861-1946)
Spouses
Birth1918
Death2012
FatherDuncan James Corrowr GRANT , 10819 (1885-1978)
MotherVanessa STEPHEN , 7836 (1879-1961)
ChildrenAmaryllis , 10808
 Henrietta , 10809 (1945-)
 Frances , 10810
 Nerissa Stephen , 10811
Birth1891
Death1940
FatherWiliam Cecil MARSHALL , 10821 (1849-1921)
MotherMargaret Anna LLOYD , 10822 (1863-1941)
ChildrenRichard Duncan Carey , 10825 (1923-)
 William TK Garnett , 10826 (1925-)
Notes for David “Bunny” GARNETT CBE
David Garnett (9 March 1892 – 17 February 1981) was a British writer and publisher. As a child, he had a cloak made of rabbit skin and thus received the nickname "Bunny", by which he was known to friends and intimates all his life.

Early life

Garnett was born in Brighton, the only child of Edward Garnett and his wife Constance, a translator of Russian. As a conscientious objector in the First World War, David worked on fruit farms in Suffolk and Sussex with his lover, Duncan Grant.

Work

A prominent member of the Bloomsbury Group, Garnett received literary recognition when his novel Lady into Fox, an allegorical fantasy,[1] was awarded the 1922 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. He ran a bookshop near the British Museum with Francis Birrell during the 1920s. He also founded (with Francis Meynell) the Nonesuch Press. He wrote the novel Aspects of Love (1955), on which the later Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical was based.

Personal life

His first wife was illustrator Rachel "Ray" Marshall (1891–1940), sister of translator and diarist Frances Partridge. He and Ray, whose woodcuts appear in some of his books, had two sons, but she died relatively young of breast cancer.

Garnett was bisexual, as were several members of the artistic and literary Bloomsbury Group, and he had affairs with Francis Birrell and Duncan Grant. He was present at the birth of Grant's daughter, Angelica (by Vanessa Bell, and accepted by her husband Clive Bell), on 25 December 1918, and wrote to a friend shortly afterwards, "I think of marrying it. When she is 20, I shall be 46 – will it be scandalous?". When Angelica was in her early twenties, they did marry (on 8 May 1942), to the horror of her parents.

They had four daughters, in order, Amaryllis, Henrietta, and twins Nerissa and Frances; eventually the couple separated. Amaryllis Garnett (1943–1973) was an actress. Henrietta Garnett married Lytton Burgo Partridge, her father's nephew by his first wife Ray, but was left a widow with a newborn infant when she was 18[2]; she oversees the legacies of both David Garnett and Duncan Grant. Nerissa Garnett (1946-2004) was an artist, ceramicist, and photographer. Fanny Garnett resides in France.
[edit]Death

After his separation from Angelica, Garnett moved to France and lived at the Château de Charry,[citation needed] Montcuq (near Cahors), where he died in 1981. David Garnett was also known as Bunny Garnett. He lived in a pleasant house in the grounds of the Chateau de Charry leased to him by the owners, Jo and Angela D'Urville. He made friends among the local English community of the locality and lived there until his death, continuing to write.
Last Modified 1 Sep 2012Created 4 Mar 2023 using Reunion for Macintosh