02 Mar 2023
On This Day
2 March 2023 Cheryl

2 March 1909: Katherine Mansfield marries (briefly)

Katherine Mansfield & George Bowden

Arnold Trowell, Katherine’s first infatuation, went on to fulfil his promise of a successful musical career as a cellist and composer; his brother Garnet, on the other hand, passed into obscurity. Garnet never discussed his early relationship with Mansfield with any member of his family, but significantly kept all her letters to him until his death from cancer in 1947. [1]

Born into a wealthy family on 14th October 1888, Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp grew up in Wellington, New Zealand, with her four siblings.

After finishing her schooling in England, Mansfield returned to New Zealand, and began to write short stories. She had several works published in 1907 set her heart on becoming a professional writer, first using the name, Katherine Mansfield at this time.

In 1909, with an allowance from her father of £100 a year, Mansfield moved to London and quickly fell into a bohemian way of life. The next few years were often chaotic; she published little and supplemented her allowance by performing musical skits at parties. For companionship, she sought out her childhood sweetheart, Arnold Trowell, who now lived in London with this family. Arnold was involved with another woman, so she embarked on a passionate affair with his twin brother Garnet, even joining a touring opera company to be with the young musician. Mansfield soon realised she was pregnant, but Garnet’s parents, who disapproved of the relationship, forced them to separate.

Not wishing to have a child out of wedlock, Mansfield made a hasty marriage to George Bowden, a respectable singing teacher 11 years her senior. The ceremony took place at the Paddington registry office on 2 March 1909, and Mansfield dressed in black as if for a funeral. She left Bowden that same evening before the marriage could be consummated.

Upon hearing of the scandal and rumours that her daughter had also been involved with several women, Mansfield’s mother immediately travelled to London and placed her daughter in a spa in Germany, then returned to New Zealand and disinherited her. During her time in Germany, Mansfield suffered a miscarriage.

Returning to London, Mansfield continued to write and was involved in various love affairs including a turbulent relationship with the writer John Middleton Murry, whom she married after obtaining a divorce from Bowden. She died from tuberculosis on 9 January 1923 aged just 34.