1. Desmond Macready Chute was an English poet and artist, who became a Catholic priest in 1927.
25 Facts About Desmond Chute
1. 2.
Desmond Chute was born in Bristol, the son of James Macready Chute and his wife Abigail Philomena Henessy.
3.
Desmond Chute's father ran the Prince's Theatre, Bristol, the family business.
4.
Desmond Chute's mother was the second daughter of Joseph Henessy of Richmond Terrace, Clifton, Bristol, a cattle-dealer: the Henessy family were Irish Catholics, Liberal in politics.
5.
Abigail Chute was on good terms with Grace Mary Welch of Cheltenham, mother of Werburg Welch who later became a close friend of Desmond.
6.
Desmond Chute went on in 1912 to the Slade School of Art in London.
7.
Desmond Chute's mother had taken over the Bristol theatre on his father's death in 1912, and on the outbreak of war in 1914 Chute returned to Bristol to support her.
8.
Desmond Chute was a close friend of Stanley Spencer, from 1915, and the period when Spencer was a medical orderly at the Beaufort War Hospital in the Bristol area.
9.
In 1918 Desmond Chute encountered Eric Gill at work in Westminster Cathedral.
10.
Desmond Chute became a close colleague, assistant and "beloved brother" of Gill.
11.
Desmond Chute had been exempted from conscription while he was engaged on the task.
12.
Desmond Chute left Chute in charge at Ditchling, and he oversaw Gill's household and workshop.
13.
Desmond Chute worked under Gill of a set of Stations of the Cross, for John O'Connor at St Cuthbert's Church in Bradford.
14.
Desmond Chute published poetry in The Game, the community's magazine.
15.
Desmond Chute's mother was a principal patron of the Guild in its early days.
16.
Desmond Chute was already a member of the Third Order of Saint Francis.
17.
That year, Desmond Chute started to study for the Catholic priesthood, in Fribourg at the Albertinum, the international Dominican priory there.
18.
Desmond Chute put the Bristolian Douglas Cleverdon in touch with Gill in the mid-1920s.
19.
Desmond Chute was ordained priest on 25 September 1927, at Downside School.
20.
Desmond Chute then moved for his health to Rapallo, Italy.
21.
Desmond Chute had English visitors, including at Christmas 1936 the Gills, and Christopher Dawson and his wife.
22.
Desmond Chute did work for the Apostleship of the Sea at Genoa, which had papal recognition.
23.
Desmond Chute tutored Mary de Rachewiltz, Pound's daughter with Olga Rudge.
24.
Desmond Chute supported Mary and her mother when Pound was arrested and deported by the US army.
25.
Desmond Chute was interned at Bobbio, where he worked in a hospital.