04 Jun 2023
On This Day
4 June 2023 Cheryl

4 June 1913: A.A. Milne marries

A.A. Milne marries Dorothy de Sélincourt

A.A. Milne had a famous schoolteacher when he attended Henley House, his father’s school. One of his teachers was a young H.G. Wells. Wells was a few years away from publishing his first novel, The Time Machine, when he had a post at Henley House in 1889-90 and taught Milne mathematics. [1]

A.A. Milne, best known for his beloved creation, Winnie the Pooh, married Dorothy “Daphne” de Sélincourt on 4 June 1913, in a traditional English ceremony held in St John’s Church in Bayswater, London.

Initially, their relationship was strong, and although the couple had very few interests in common, but she laughed at his jokes, and they shared a passion for the arts.

The year following their wedding, Milne joined the army at the beginning of the First World War, beginning as a signalling officer. Two years later he was stationed in France, where he wrote comical plays to lift the morale of the soldiers. Milne returned from the war with shattered nerves, a mercurial temper and persistent writer’s block.

Their son, Christopher Robin was born in 1920 and the family moved to a quiet cottage near the East Sussex woodlands (which would become the inspiration for Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood). Neither of his parents took much interest in him and Christopher Robin was primarily cared for by his beloved nanny, a woman named Olive.

Glamorous socialite Daphne, who had thrived on Milne’s early success as a writer of popular throwaway plays, was now cooped up in the country with nothing to do. Life was far from peaceful, and she would disappear for weeks at a time, visiting the controversial American playwright, Elmer Rice. Milne appeared to know all about his wife’s alleged affair but proved himself ahead of his time by turning a blind eye. Meanwhile, he was rumoured to be having a fling himself, with a young actress called Leonora Corbett.

As he grew older, Christopher Robin felt that he could not escape the shadow of the fictional character based on him and he resented the intrusion of the public and media into his private life. By the time he reached adulthood, Christopher’s relationship with his parents was so strained that they mostly communicated via letters.

Despite all the emotional turbulence the marriage endured, and Daphne nursed her husband at the end of his life. Milne died in January 1956 at the age of 74 and Daphne went on to live another 15 years.