Ursula Vaughan Williams | |
|---|---|
 Ursula andRalph Vaughan Williams on their wedding day in 1953 | |
| Born | Joan Ursula Penton Lock (1911-03-15)15 March 1911 Valletta, Malta |
| Died | 23 October 2007(2007-10-23) (aged 96) London, England |
| Occupation(s) | Poet and author |
| Spouses | |
| Parent(s) | Sir Robert Lock Kathleen Beryl Penton |
| Relatives | Arthur Pole Penton (grandfather) |
Joan Ursula Penton Vaughan Williams (néeLock, formerlyWood; 15 March 1911 – 23 October 2007) was an English poet and author, and biographer of her second husband, the composerRalph Vaughan Williams.
Ursula Vaughan Williams was born inValletta, Malta, where her father, MajorRobert Lock, wasaide de camp to theGeneral officer commanding,Arthur Pole Penton. Lock, later a knighted major-general, was married to Penton’s daughter Kathleen. Ursula was the eldest of their three children, having a younger sister and a younger brother (Robert John Penton), who was killed in Burma in 1944.[1][2]
Army life entailed frequent moves, and her education was sporadic. She had governesses before attending a day school in England and finishing her schooling in Brussels (1927–28).[1] By then her father was stationed in England, as commandant of the experimental station atPorton Down. ThemusicologistOliver Neighbour writes that after moving from Brussels "she passed the next four years, horribly bored and reacting sharply against the social round in which she was expected to take part".[3] Neighbour records that she occupied herself with reading, writing poetry, archaeology and amateur dramatics, "and finally escaped to London" in 1932–33 to study at theOld Vic theatre.[3] While a student there she was able to attend some performances free of charge, and one evening she sawJob, a ballet byNinette de Valois with a score byRalph Vaughan Williams. It was a memorable experience that remained in her mind. She later said it "opened a new world to me".[4]
On 24 May 1933 she married Captain John Michael James Forrester Wood of theRoyal Artillery atSt Clement Danes church, London.[5] Between then and theSecond World War she wrote prose and verse and contributed to theBBC and theTimes Literary Supplement, while living the peripatetic life of an army wife.[1] In 1937 she sent Vaughan Williams – whom she had not met – a ballet scenario she had written about theBallad of Margaret and Clark Saunders.[6] The subject did not appeal to him, but through the intercession ofDouglas Kennedy he was persuaded to consider another scenario of hers, based onEdmund Spenser'sEpithalamion.[7] Author and composer met for lunch in March 1938 and enjoyed each other's company. Despite their both being married, and a four-decade age-gap, they soon began a love affair that lasted secretly for more than a decade.[8] Ursula became the composer's muse, helper and London companion, and later helped him care for his ailing wife, Adeline, who had arthritis so severe as to confine her to the house inDorking where she and her husband had lived since 1929.[n 1] Whether Adeline knew, or suspected, that Ursula and Vaughan Williams were lovers is uncertain, but the relations between the two women were of warm friendship throughout the years they knew each other. The composer's concern for his first wife never faltered, according to Ursula, who admitted in the 1980s that she had been jealous of Adeline, whose place in Vaughan Williams's life and affections was unchallengeable.[8]
In 1941 her first published book of poems appeared, titledNo Other Choice.[1] The following year Michael Wood died suddenly on 8 June 1942 of heart failure aged 41.[10] At Adeline's behest the widowed Ursula was invited to stay with the Vaughan Williamses in Dorking, and thereafter was a regular visitor there, sometimes staying for weeks at a time. The critic Michael White suggests that Adeline "appears, in the most amicable way, to have adopted Ursula as her successor".[11] Ursula recorded that during air raids all three slept in the same room in adjacent beds, holding hands for comfort.[11] In 1943 she published a second volume of poems,Fall of Leaf.[1]
Adeline died in 1951, aged eighty.[12] In February 1953 Vaughan Williams and Ursula were married.[n 2] He left the Dorking house and they took a lease of 10Hanover Terrace,Regent's Park, London.[14] After Vaughan Williams's return to live in London, Ursula successfully encouraged him to become much more active socially and inpro bono publico activities. With her support he resumed the composition he had been forced to set aside during his first wife's illness; Ursula wrote thelibretto for two of his last choral works, including thecantata for ChristmasHodie.[1]
Vaughan Williams died in 1958. Following his death his widow moved toGloucester Crescent nearRegent's Park, London.[15][n 3] In 1964 she publishedRVW: A Biography of Ralph Vaughan Williams. She completed her autobiography,Paradise Remembered, in 1972, but did not publish it until 2002.[3] She wrote four novels, includingSet to Partners (1968) andThe Yellow Dress (1984),[17] and five volumes of poetry. She wrote libretti for other composers, includingHerbert Howells,Malcolm Williamson andElisabeth Lutyens, for example, her "Hymn to St. Cecilia", which was set to music by Howells.[1][3]
Until her death in London at the age of 96 she was honorary president of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society. She was also the president of theEnglish Folk Dance and Song Society. Her funeral was held atSt John's Wood Church.[18]
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