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Katharine Patience Hague
Biographical Photographs 1916 – 1946
Part 1

Why this presentation?
Pat wrote about the first half of her 93-year life and these photographs are gathered to
illustrate her story.
Short introductory paragraphs are inserted before each section.
You can visit a website dedicated to her life at www.lhague.plus.com

Part 1
Childhood
Teenager
St Christopher School (1927 – 1931)
Lausanne (1931 – 1932)
RADA (1932 – 1934)
Old Thatched Barn (1935)
Berlin (1937)
Young Woman
Part 2
Chiropody (1937 – 1938)
South Africa (1938 – 1939)
Ceylon (1939)
Freemount School (1941 – 1946)
Waldorf Teacher Training (1947 – 1947)
Houseboat at Worcester
Houseboat at Kinver
Contents

First Years
Archibald and Janet Goolden had two daughters. The eldest, Peggy, was born in peacetime in
1912, and received the undivided attention of two doting parents – with lots of baby
photographs to prove it. By contrast Pat, short for Patience, was born in June 1915, when the
world was at war and Zeppelins would soon be attacking civilian populations in Britain and
France.
Pat’s life reveals many contrasts, both at the material and emotional level. As soon as she
was born she was left on a window sill wrapped in cotton wool while all the attention
focused on the mother. Only later was it discovered that the baby was alive. It is with this
event that Pat chose to begin writing the story of her life.
Then the nurse, a powerful figure in those days, laid down the rule that the baby must not be
picked up except for feeding and changing. With this treatment Pat cried so much that she
burst a blood vessel in her throat.
Worse was to come. Because the air raids became so bad her parents arranged for the nurse
to take the two sisters to stay at a safe seaside town. The girl had no help or respite. Here Pat
suffered physical chastisement and was frequently left alone to cry herself to sleep while the
nurse took her sister to the seaside. This experience left a legacy of insecurity which lasted
for years, she said.

Father, Pat and sister Peggy, 1916

Early Years
Despite the rough start Pat grew up in a secure and well-ordered, middle-class
environment. Her father was a naval man who gave up the sea to work in the Research
Department at The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich. He was a mathematician and scientist who
started out in the Gunnery Department and then became superintendent.
He had impeccable manners, the courage of his convictions and Pat felt he had the
highest standards of morality and lived up to them. He was a quiet, self-contained man
who filled her with awe so that he was rather distant for her. Nevertheless he took the
upbringing of his children very seriously and there seemed no activity or learning
experience he did not provide. It was always enjoyable with no hint of pressure.
He read to the children in the evening and took them on many outings, including to
Greenwich Park and Chislehurst Caves. There were many picnics in the country and the
girls attended the Christmas Lectures at the Royal Institution. Pat had piano lessons and
dancing classes from an early age. Then came swimming, horse riding and tennis. She was
given train sets, a bicycle and a camera.

At roadside – mother, Pat and Peggy

Pat and Peggy in car – close up

Picnic at Cotman’s Ash – Mother, Pat and Peggy

Picnic at Cotman’s Ash – Close up, mother, Pat and Peggy

Picnic – Mother, Pat and father

Picnic – mother, Pat, father and Peggy

Picnic – Peggy, Pat and mother

Father reading to Peggy and Pat

Berry Pomeroy Castle, 13 Aug 1922 – Peggy and Pat

Milton, 1925 - Peggy, mother and Pat on ground

Totnes weir, 25 Aug 1922 – Peggy, Jan & Pat; Phyllis Scudamore & Ida Bryan

With sister in Pierrot costumes

Pat and Peggy in Pierrot costumes – Peggy at front

Dressed for a French play at Coed Bel School – Pat on left

Violet with Peggy Pony and dog

Violet and Peggy Pony with dog on back

Violet with Peggy Pony and dog on back

Katharine Patience Hague - Part 1, Biographical photographs 1916 - 1946

A man in suit with Peggy Pony and dog on back

Beechbrook April 1929 – Pat with racket

Vegetarian
Pat’s parent’s became vegetarian for health reasons and their children were vegetarian from
birth. Her father had a scientific approach to diet and made sure it was fully balanced.
The children were served delicious meat-free food, perhaps made possible because her mother
had the help of a cook and maid.
Vegetarianism turned into a crusade for animal welfare in general and literature on the cruelty
involved in food production and anti-vivisection littered the house.

Reaching down to stream with two dogs paddling

Standing in front of a wire fence

Peggy and Pat - Beechrook 1929

Pat and Peggy - Letchworth, 7 Oct 1928

Peggy and Pat and cousins (front), aunt Olive, uncle Dick and mother (back)

Pat and mother front, Alan and Peggy standing - June 1930

Peggy on left, Pat second from right

Pat standing on step of caravan

Swanage 1928 - Peggy centre, mother with dog, Pat top

Father in deckchair, Pat sitting in caravan

Mother, Pat behind in caravan, Peggy in deckchair

Birchington 1926 - Pat in deckchair, Peggy standing

Staying at a vegetarian holiday centre at the seaside. There was tennis, bathing, dancing and sports. In a similar photo given
away were Peter Young, mother, Granny Lilian, Walter, Magnus (Pat’s friend), Peggy, Alan Young and Pat

Pat far left, mother far right

Three bull-nosed Morris cars lined up at Beaulieu Abbey – Father on right

Mother, Pat with dog, and Peggy

St Christopher School
1927 - 1931

St Christopher School
In 1927 when Pat was 12 she was sent to St Christopher School in Letchworth as a
boarder. It was chosen for the simple reason that it was the only vegetarian school in
Britain. It was a progressive, co-educational school which had been founded by the
Theosophists. There was no physical punishment and each child had their own
timetable. Pupils were divided into companies and each company had an adviser.
Pat loved the social aspect of the school and games such as tennis, netball and lacrosse
formed a large part of her life. A school report noted: “Pat is an exceedingly jolly member
of the company. She is keen and frank and capable of really good work.”
As she became a teenager she became very popular with the boys. They would offer to
escort her to her hostel and there was competition to partner her on the dance floor. It
was both exciting and frightening but she did not allow any close friendships. However
she was a bit of a flirt, she admits.
Then a much older and sophisticated boy began an obsessive pursuit of her which was to
change the course of her life. When studying at Cambridge he began coming back to
St Christopher’s to visit her. This became an impossible situation and, at Pat’s request, her
parents arranged for her to study music at Lausanne Music College. Music and been her
passion for some time and she had gained Grade 8 in both piano and violin.

Arundale House, St Christopher School, Letchworth

Gym Company flattens out cricket pitch, 1931
Jean Lavender, Joan Nicholson, Colin Watson, John Fennel, Chase, David Knaggs, Maurice Birkett, Dorothy Swan, Pat, Michael Muir

Ready for hocky – Pat second right

Bournemouth hocky tournament – Pat centre

Hinchcliffe 1928
Rosemary, Joy, Pat, Dorothy Swan (centre front), Joan Nicholson, Audrey Gibson

Movement – Pat on far right
Joy, Phyllis Dax (left), Pat (far right)

Gold Company – Pat 2nd row down, 6th from right (by arrow)

Postcard of eurhythmic group in central hall

Postcard – Old scholar names on back

Old scholar reunion greetings to Pat

Pat spent a year studying music in Lausanne but because of fibrositis in her shoulder she
realised a career in music was not possible.
She enjoyed her time there, skiing and skating in the winter and swimming and boating in
the summer. It opened her eyes to the world. She had three proposals of marriage and
learnt a lot about men.
Back in England Peter Young became her boyfriend.

View of trees with mountains in distance

RADA
Pat now auditioned for RADA, The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She was one of the 10
students chosen out of about 200. Possibly her outstanding good looks had something to
do with it.
At the end of the course she was chosen to take part in a play to be performed in the
Public Theatre, something which didn’t happen every year. She was very excited about
this. But when the man playing opposite her was replaced by someone incompatible with
her their time was removed. She “cried buckets.”

Dorothy Green in 1919 - One of Pat’s teachers
Photo from Wikipedia - Source the December 1919 issue of Shadowland

Sara Allgood c.1912 – One of Pat’s teachers
Photo from Wikipedia – Source Project Gutenberg's Irish Plays and Playwrights by Cornelius Weygandt

Irene Vanbrugh in The Admirable Crichton, 1902 – One of Pat’s teachers
Photo from Wikipedia – Source The Play Pictorial 1903

Violet Vanbrugh in 1909 – One of Pat’s teachers
Photo from Wikipedia – Source The Play Pictorial, 1909

On leaving RADA Pat says her lack of self-confidence and naivety prevented her from even
beginning to look for work in the theatre.
Then Peter Young, the boy who had been obsessed with her at St Christopher, appeared on
the scene again. She went along with his idea to run a roadhouse near Tenterden with a lady
cake maker as chaperone.
All went well until the cake maker handed in her notice. For the sake of propriety Pat agreed
to marry Peter so that she was not seen to be living in sin.
The roadhouse was very busy in the summer but not viable in the winter. They gave it up and
moved to a ghastly flat in Addiscombe. It was ugly and dirty beyond description. Here Pat fell
ill and had to be rescued by her parents. After her recovery she returned to the flat to find a
dainty lady’s handkerchief on the windowsill. It was a shock to her system and she returned
to her parents in despair.

The Old Thatched Barn, High Halden, Kent (1930s)

Postcard showing chimney corner

But it was not the end of her marriage. Her husband found a job in a Jewish
girls school in Berlin in Nazi Germany and persuaded her to come with him,
adamantly assuring her there was no one else in his life.
Just as they had settled into a routine there came another body blow. Peter
announced that he had to get back to England because of some girl he had
met in a shoe shop.

As a Young Woman
Unknown time and place

With father and mother at sister’s wedding

Pat on right with Marjorie, her sister-in-law

Mother in centre, Pat on right

Pat centre, Peter Young on right

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Katharine Patience Hague - Part 1, Biographical photographs 1916 - 1946

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