Belloc Family correspondence
Dates
- Creation: 1829-1963, undated
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1902-1926
Scope and Contents
This collection contains correspondence to and from the members of Hilaire Belloc's immediate family. It features letters written between the family members, as well as correspondence from members of the extended family including Eleanor Belloc's husband, Reginald Jebb and Hilaire Belloc's sister, Marie Belloc Lowndes. It also includes one autographed letter signed in French by Hilaire Belloc's grandmother, Louise Belloc, dated 7 July 1829 regarding her translation of Maria Edgeworth's works.
Of principal interest in this collection is a series of Belloc family legal and administrative documents. These items include three of Hilaire Belloc's passports, his marriage certificate, an executor's statement regarding the division of Belloc's property following his death, and a host of other administrative documents.
The collection includes one letter from Maurice Baring. It also contains several copies of Elizabeth Belloc's privately printed poem “The Flight into Egypt,” two of Louis Belloc's exercise books, and correspondence from the religious Order of Prémontré in Storrington, Sussex, to Elodie Belloc dated between 1907-1912.
Creator
- Belloc, Hilaire, 1870-1953 (Person)
Language of Materials
English, French
Restrictions on access
Collection is open for research.
Restrictions on use
These materials are made available for use in research, teaching and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source. The original authors may retain copyright to the materials.
Biographical Note
The French-born British author Joseph Hilaire Peter Belloc was born in Celle Saint-Cloud, France, on July 27, 1870. In 1896 Hilaire married Elodie Hogan, an American, and they had three sons and two daughters: Louis (1897), Eleanor (1899), Elizabeth (1900), Hilary (1902), and Peter (1904). Belloc began his literary career with Verses and Sonnets (1895). He next published The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts (1896), a collection of nonsense verse that was so popular it sold out in four days. Belloc then produced a series of biographies that included Danton (1899) and Robespiere (1901). In 1902 he published Path to Rome, which is perhaps his most representative work for its combination of Belloc’s love for travel, as well as his fierce Roman Catholicism. It recounts Belloc’s journey on foot from Toul, France to Rome, Italy.
In 1906 Belloc was elected to the House of Commons in England as the representative for South Salford, a seat that he held until 1910. He left his political career to pursue journalism, founding the political journal, New Witness, with G. K. Chesterton. His political broadsides written with Chesterton and his brother, Cecil, were popularly known as the “Chesterbellocs.” Belloc also served as editor of Land and Water, a journal devoted to the progress of the First World War, from 1914 to 1920. Elodie Belloc died in 1914, and Belloc’s eldest son, Louis, was killed in 1918 while serving in World War I. Belloc’s youngest son, Peter, a captain in the Royal Marines, would later die during World War II.
Belloc was decorated with the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Gregory the Great in 1934 by Pope Pius XI for his devotion to Catholicism as a writer. That same year, he was also awarded an honorary Master of Arts from Oxford University. Belloc published prolifically over the course of his life. He wrote 153 books of essays, fiction, history, biography, and poetry, as well as numerous articles for periodicals.
He continued to travel extensively until suffering a stroke in 1942. He died on July 16, 1953.
Source:
A.N. Wilson Hilaire Belloc: A Biography, Atheneum: New York, 1984.
Extent
0.5 Linear Feet (1 container)
Abstract
This collection contains correspondence to and from various members of the Belloc family including Hilaire, his wife Elodie (Hogan), and their five children (in order of birth): Louis, Eleanor, Elizabeth, Hilary and Peter. It also contains a small amount of correspondence from non-family members, as well as a number of Belloc family administrative documents such as marriage certificates, licenses and passports.
Arrangement
Arranged into ten series. Series I. Hilaire Belloc Correspondence, Series II. Elodie Belloc Correspondence, Series III. Louis Belloc Correspondence, Series IV. Eleanor Belloc Correspondence, Series V. Elizabeth Belloc Correspondence, Series VI. Hilary Belloc Correspondence, Series VII. Peter Belloc Correspondence, Series VIII. Other Belloc Family Members’ Correspondence, Series IX. Other Correspondence, and Series X. Belloc Family Administrative Documents.
Provenance
Purchase from the Belloc estate (1981).
Source
- Belloc, Hilaire, 1870-1953 (Person)
- Bertram Rota, Ltd (Organization)
- Title
- Belloc Family Correspondence
- Subtitle
- 1829-1963, undated [bulk 1902-1926]
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Francis Vye, S.J., Philip Kiley, S.J., Matthew Heitzman, Amy Braitsch
- Date
- 2007 June - 2008 Spring
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the John J. Burns Library Repository
John J. Burns Library
Boston College
140 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill MA 02467 United States
617-552-4861
library.bc.edu/burns/contact