Kathleen in the neighbourhood

Last week I got a phone call from a woman who had read about my Katherine Mansfield project in the community newspaper. She wanted me to know that she grew up in Fitzherbert Terrace, Thorndon, very near to Katherine Mansfield’s family, the Beauchamps, and her father had been friends with Kathleen. Now the woman lived near me, and she had all of her father’s Mansfield treasures – clippings, books, biographies – as well as a few more personal things. Here’s Katherine’s name on his dance card – you can enlarge it by clicking on it – you can see that she danced with him three times, each time to the waltz. All the other ladies prefaced their names with ‘Miss’ – not Kathleen. There’s also a Miss Chaddie on the dance card – Katherine’s elder sister. And below Kathleen is Miss Perkins, which is funny, because Emily Perkins was touted as the next Katherine Mansfield when her book of stories, Not Her Real Name, first came out.

The woman also had her father’s autograph book and Katherine Mansfield had inscribed it with a few lines of music (anyone know what it is?) and a characteristic quote from Oscar Wilde. She was obsessed with Oscar Wilde in her teens.

It was lovely to talk to the woman – she was so interesting – and to think that there are still some quite direct connections to Mansfield still living. The woman remembered Mansfield’s sisters visiting her house, and she also remembered seeing Harold Beauchamp catching the tram near the Katherine Mansfield memorial, wearing a bowler hat and swinging his cane, frowning upon the school girls who were doing handstands on the grass.

Talking about the neighbourhood – I have my talk at the local Pt Chev library today! 2.30-3.30. I’d better go practice.