Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/17/1 - September - October 1915 - Part 7

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had not written it. Bartlett had
sd to him afterwds: I say, I hope you
didn't mind my inserting one or two
things in your account - I had
one or two things I heard from officers.”
and that was it - I dont believe
for a minute Bartlett wdn't invent
a description like tt. But he had
heard something of / sort from some
N.Z. officer & he inserted it without
hesitation in a report wh / 
article sd he had rec^d from Mr Ross,
the N.Z. official correspt. Bartlett has
a real regard for truth - & tt is
/ astonishing part about him, tt &
his industry. He is a chap w an
exceedingly nice nature but vilely
brought up in / sort of wild
selfish third rate society tt surrounded
his father. He frankly sd tells you tt
his mother & father were unsuited -
tt his mother, though always very kind
to him, wd have irritated anybody
she lived with. He hated his school days

58
at Marlborough - & / compulsory
cricket & football, & his schoolmasters
- almost every one of them, & their
families. The only part he looks back
on w pleasure is his active
rebellion - as when he & a friend
exploded 10 lbs of mine powder on a
neighbouring hilltop during / solemn
procession of the masters & their
wives & families to chapel. The
explosion created an enormous
sensation - it ws chiefly for / benefit
of a science master who had immense
interest in / questn whether / neighbouring
hills were volcanic or alluvial. This
master was always discovering tt /
place ws an extinct volcano or something
o / sort, & when he saw this terrestrial
disturbance on / neighbouring hill
he simply rushed made a bee line to investigate
it & / theories he brought back kept
Marlborough agitated for / rest o /
term - at least tt is how Bartlett
tells it. He is a splendid companion
when he is in / mood but his training

59
(or rather / utter absence of it) has
made him profoundly selfish. He is
a good friend, & ws honestly anxious to
stay here bec. he thought it the fair thing
to Harry Lawson, his employer. He is
plucky but doesn't believe in exposing
himself more than is necessary to get
/ story he wants. He lives like a king in
camp & cdn't think of putting up w /
sort of discomfort tt satisfies some of us.
He has half a dozen ways in his head of
getting rich - I shd say the best is his
cinema & lecture tour - he spent hours
trying to get real photos of a shell
burst on / cinema - but they
include a mine somewhere in
/ centre of S. America known as
"Diamantina" where / ^aged inhabitants
are supposed to wash gold out o /
village street, & concessions from / 
Sultan of Morocco (the French occupatn
balked him there). He is quite frank
abt / number of times he has bn
thro' / bankruptcy court & tells / story

of how British justice is exemplified
by / way in wh one of his friends

60
arranged w a certain judge to
get / case thro if possible without
difficulty. This ws done by calling
it on perfectly punctually - a
thing wh practically never occurs.
The creditors were assembling
outside when / case came on but
before any of them got inside / court
it was over & they were left grieving.
Bartlett works tremendously
fast & his stuff is easily / most
vivid written by any war correspt.
today. He is a real hard worker
when writing - it is just this strain
of energy & honesty wh stands showing
up so strong in him in spite of his
home training (wh ws o / worst possible
descriptn) tt makes him so successful
as a war correspt. Where every
war correspt who knows them
says tt Donohoe is a hopeless
faker & inventor - almost as bad
as Smiler Hales - they all realise
tt Bartlett writes very close to /
truth.
Nevinson is a man of 58 and

61
a more accurate writer than
Bartlett; a more restrained & w
a better style & pretty vivid. He
is a fairly clever talker but without
Bartletts extraordinary sparkle - 
He is a man who has had all / 
advantages of Shrewsbury & Oxford
- at Shrewsbury he ws under Gilkes
from whom he received a great deal - he
speaks of Gilkes as a really great
master. Nevinson is a rebel
by nature (so is Bartlett really
but much less earnest). Nevinson
went out to Macedonia w Miss
Durham to try & really settle /
refugee problem there & save some
o / wretched evicted inhabitants.
He ws sent to Caucasus & Asia
Minor to report on / evictions
Armenian massacres for a
Parliamentary Ctee & ws to be 
sent by another ctee (the Persian
Ctee of / House of Commons) to
see what / Russians were doing
in Persia at / time when this

62
war broke out & prevented it.
The Gen He began his press career
by fighting for / Greeks when they
ran away from / Turks in 1897.
He is / friend of lost causes or of 
causes wh have got to be / subject arena 
of heavy fighting before they can win.
He is In / days when / British
people hated & suspected / Russians
he ws / Russians chief friend in
England, or one of them. The moment
/ people & Govt changed their exaggerated
fear of Russia into friendship & 
hated Germany instead he began to
see / danger o / Russian alliance
or entente & / greatness & virtue
that is in / Germans. He was really
in each case a rebel agst / exaggerations
o / populace & / stupidity o / foreign office.
When he fought for / Greeks (wh
he regretted as folly when he began
to realise what sort of race they were)

63
he ws asked by Massingham o /
Daily Chronicle to write for
them - he began / war as a
soldier & ended it as a war-correspt.
His letters were so good valuable tt he
never afterwds went back to his
profession (wh had bn / laying 
out of Garden suburbs or model
quarters.) He ws sent to / Boer
war, / war in Morocco, & /
Balkan War. He is anti-imperialist
& thinks tt Britain wd probably
gain almost more good out of a
defeat in this war than out of
a victory. Yet he ws one o / first
to go to / war office & offer his services
for any object purpose they wished
& he is desperately anxious tt we
should win. All his theories seem to
be flat against nationalism & yet
he is abt / most earnest & anxious
patriot tt I know here. Bartlett
gets very keen on some points wh

64
appeal to his sentiment or his
humanity - he is bitterly hostile
to G.H.Q. for never having attempted
to arrange a truce to save / wounded
after a fight but having gone back to
its dinner instead. Nevinson
takes / whole cause o / campaign
more to heart. Both (like myself)
are at heart thorough rebels - Bartlett
is by nature a Radical but by
inclination actually has stood ^for election twice
for the conservative side & each time
lost heavily.  As Nevinson says, he's
far too brilliant for politics.
Here's an example of Bartletts
style: He ws telling us how on /
morning o / Suvla landing Sir Ian
Hamilton wanted to get across to
Suvla but it ws found tt /
torpedo boat or destroyer wh is told
off to take him hadnt any water in
her boilers & so he cdnt start.

65
He sent to / Exmouth but difficulties
were raised or at least they werent
smoothed - “until about twelve
o'clock,” said Bartlett - “of course
then it ws too late - it ws getting near
time for lunch.” G.H.Q hates him
for this style of talking. Shortly after
/ show began in April some speech
of his ws reported to G.H.Q & / 
Chief of Staff had Bartlett up & 
warned him tt he wd only be
allowed to remain on conditn
he undertook not to criticise / conduct
of / expeditn - (this is in / regulations)
as it tended to created despondency.
Bartlett gave / undertaking as
a conditn of his being alld to remain,
but his relations w G.H.Q. have
aways bn strained. He does not want
a favour from Hamilton as he knows
he will be criticising him in his book
- he regards him as a national
danger - a nice man personally but

66
a hopelessly weak one. Braithwaite
& he are sd to be scarcely on speaking
terms. Braithwaite is said to
be a man of some brains (Hamilton
certainly has a fine brain &
dauntless courage o / physical
sort) but Braithwaite is sd to be
a complete snob & certainly my
own experience of him at Mudros
wd lead me to believe tt this is
probably right. Hamilton I really
like but every one says tt B. is
far too strong for him.
The other correspts here are Lawrence
& Ross. Lawrence is for Reuters (Nevinson
Provincial Press, Bartlett London dailies)
He ws their correspt at Berlin & is
an exceedingly well read & intelligent
little chap whose first experience of
war this is. He knows / Germans
thro’ & thro’ & is intensely interested
& interesting on / point of their ideals
& development. I used to think his
letters & cables were mere snippets