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Jacquemine Charrott Lodwidge (born 20 July 1919) is an English writer who also worked as an art director in British-made films.
Born at Langport, Somerset, in 1919,[1] Lodwidge was the daughter of Dr William Charrott Lodwidge MRCS LRCP (1864-1929), medical officer of health to the Langport Rural District Council, who at the end of the First World War had retired as a Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Originally from Basingstoke, her father had lost his first wife, Sarah Harriet Forret, in 1917,[2] and in 1918 had married secondly Louise Elise Marie Kermaree. Jacquemine Lodwidge was their only child and was born in 1919.[3][4]
Her father, born at Basingstoke in 1864,[5] was thirty years older than her mother,[6] In 1928, he retired on the grounds of ill health[7] and died in April 1929, when Lodwidge was nine, leaving an estate valued at £883.[8] She was thus brought up by her French mother.
At the beginning of the Second World War Lodwidge was a student. A French speaker, she decided to join first the Auxiliary Territorial Service and then, in February 1942, the Free France (France Libre) army.[9] As a result, she spent two years working with the Bedouins in the Syrian desert.[10]
After the war Lodwidge studied the history of architecture and spent several years in Greece.[10] By 1960 she was working as a researcher for BBC television, and one bemused Punch reviewer commented on a new programme about everyday London life called Our Street "For some reason or another I find myself intrigued to notice that the research was done by one Jaquemine Charrott-Lodwidge."[11] At her home in Somerset she built up a substantial collection of books for reference, especially children's and illustrated books.[10]
In 1970 Lodwidge began to develop a career in the movie business, first as a fashion co-ordinator, later as an art director in films and television. However, she became a less active traveller after the death of her mother in 1977.[6] In 1980 she moved into a cottage in Langport called Underwall after a notable wall built in 1340, standing by Whatley Steps near the top of Langport Hill. She decided to supplement her income between filming assignments by becoming a bookseller and selling some of her own books. Installing her stock in a gazebo, the new enterprise was called Pelekas Books, taking its name from a place Lodwidge had known in Corfu. In The Book Browser's Guide to Secondhand and Antiquarian Bookshops (1982), R. H. Lewis comments "There are herons at the bottom of the terraced garden, and a river from which excellent rough fishing can be had; accompanying husbands or wives not interested in books are invited to bring fishing rods. The building has been redesigned with film-set type features such as a spiral staircase and a gazebo, where the books are now housed... Normal hours, when Jacquemine is not on location, so strictly by appointment.[10]
Ivor Powell acknowledged the assistance of Lodwidge with his book Astrology in the kitchen (1974).[12]
- The Breaking of Bumbo (1970) : fashion co-ordinator
- Blue Blood (1973) : art director
- Malachi's Cove, also known as The Seaweed Children (1973) : art director
- Autobiography of a Princess (1975) : setting
- Spanish Fly (1975) : art director
- Emily (1976) : art director[13]
- The Ups and Downs of a Handyman (1976) : art director
- Keep It Up Downstairs (1976) : art director
- David Norris, Jacquemine Charrott-Lodwidge, The Book of Spells (Lorrimer, 1974)
- ^ Register of Births for Langport Registration District, vol. 5c , p. 441: "Lodwidge, Jacqueline [mother's maiden surname] Kermaree"
- ^ Register of Deaths for Canterbury Registration District, vol. 2a, June 1917 quarter, p. 1227: Lodwidge, Sarah H, 49, Canterbury
- ^ British Medical Journal (1904) p. 1119
- ^ Register of Births for Langport Registration District, vol. 5c (1919) p. 441: Lodwidge Jacqueline [mother's maiden surrname] Kermaree
- ^ Register of Births for Basingstoke Registration District, March 1864, vol. 2c, p. 173: Lodwidge, William Charrott
- ^ a b Register of Deaths for Yeovil Registration District, vol. 23, September quarter of 1977, p. 1400: "Charrott-Lodwidge Louise Elise M [born 13 October 1894]"
- ^ Justice of the Peace and Local Government Review (Justice of the Peace, Limited, 1928), p. 296: "Dr. William Charrott Lodwidge, medical officer of health to the Langport Rural District Council, has resigned, owing to ill - health."
- ^ Probate Index for 1929 (England): "Lodwidge William Charrott of Langport Somersetshire died 3 April 1929 at the Home of Good Hope Bournemouth Hampshire Probate Taunton 17 May to Louise Elise Marie Lodwidge widow. Effects £883 9s."
- ^ Une Française Libre parmi 51449 Jacqueline Lodwidge (Resistance file GR 16 P 374733) at francaislibres.net, accessed 7 November 2017
- ^ a b c d Roy Harley Lewis, The Book Browser's Guide to Secondhand and Antiquarian Bookshops (1982), p. 188
- ^ Punch, Volume 238 (1960), p. 598
- ^ Ivor Powell, Astrology in the kitchen (Drake Publishers, 1975), p. 15
- ^ Mike Kaplan, ed., Variety International Showbusiness Reference (1981), p. 388
External links
[edit]- Jacquemine Charrot Lodwidge at goodreads.com