Testament of Youth: Who was Vera Brittain?
The protagonist, 21-year-old Vera Brittain, argues with her father over whether her brother should be allowed to sign up for military service. The all-knowing young woman (portrayed by Alicia Vikander), assures her father (Dominic West) that the war will be short and fast.
“Well I can assure you,” her father responds, “it’s never short, and it’s never fast.”
And, of course, young Brittain soon discovers he is right, as the fighting stretches over four years and ends the lives of her beloved, two friends and finally, her brother. The headstrong Vera leaves a hard-won spot at the University of Oxford to work as a nurse. Close to the action, she sees more death and suffering, not just of English soldiers, but of Germans, as well.
Based on the memoir of noted pacifist Vera Brittain, Testament may rank among the top films ever produced about World War I.
But who was Brittain? Here are the basics:
Born: Vera Mary Brittain was born Dec. 29, 1893, at Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. Her brother, Edward, was born two years later. By 1905, the family had moved to a resort town, Buxton at Derbyshire, according to a biography on the University of Oxford website. The child of a paper manufacturer, Brittain was educated at boarding schools. At one, she was encouraged by the headmistress, Louise Heath-Jones, who stressed “current affairs and social commitment,” according to the Poetry Foundation. Heath-Jones was also a feminist.
College: In 1913, Brittain attended a series of summer lectures given by the director of the extension program at Oxford. She made a good impression. In her time, it was still unusual for women to go to college, but Brittain persuaded her parents to let her take the entrance exam for Somerville College, a women’s school at Oxford. In 1914, she won a scholarship to study English literature, the Poetry Foundation recounts.
The Great War: In 1914, the war began. Edward, Brittain’s brother, along with Roland Leighton and Victor Richardson applied for commissions to the British army. In August, 1915, while Leighton was on leave, he and Brittain became engaged. That year, Brittain left school to become a VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) nurse.
Leighton was killed in December of the same year, according to the University of Oxford account. In 1917, Richardson and another friend, Geoffrey Thurlow, both were killed. Shortly before the war ended, Brittain's brother Edward was killed. Beyond her personal losses, Brittain also witnessed the devastation of war at nursing stations in Malta and France.
College: Brittain returned to Oxford after the war, and while there, she befriended Winifred Holtby, who would go on to write the novel, South Riding. The two became close friends and advised one another on writing.
Marriage: Brittain married George Catlin, a political scientist (1896-1979), in 1925. They had two children: John, born in 1927, and Shirley, born in 1930, who went on to become a politician in Great Britain. Determined to continue her career, she lived part of the year with Catlin and part of the year with Holtby (until Holtby's death in 1935), according to the Poetry Foundation.
Publication of Testament of Youth: The book’s full name is Testament of Youth: An Autobiographical Study of the Years 1900-1925. Since it was first published in 1933, the book has never been out of print, the Poetry Foundation noted.
Pacifism: Later, Brittain’s pacifism was controversial, particularly during World War II. She wrote the “Letter to Peace-Lovers,” which had 2,000 subscribers, according to Learn Peace, a Peace Pledge Union project headquartered in London. Brittain objected to the Royal Air Force’s “area bombing,” or saturation bombing of German cities. The Peace Pledge Union recounted that in one of her letters she wrote that the country must decide whether "we want the government to continue to carry out, through its Bomber Command, a policy of murder and massacre in our name. Has any nation the right to make its young men the instruments of such a policy?"
Death: Brittain suffered a fall in 1966 and died in 1970, according to the Pledge Peace Union. Although she thought her work had been forgotten, it was subsequently made into a BBC drama and, of course, the recent film.
Sources:
- University of Oxford: The Vera Brittain Collection
- University of Oxford: Vera Brittain and Oxford Extension
- Peace Pledge Union, London: Vera Brittain, A Short Biography
- Poetry Foundation: Vera Mary Brittain
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