25 Facts About Osbert Sitwell

Sir Francis Osbert Sacheverell Sitwell, 5th Baronet CH CBE was an English writer.

Osbert Sitwell grew up in the family seat at Renishaw Hall, Derbyshire, and at family mansions in the region of Scarborough, and went to Ludgrove School, then Eton College from 1906 to 1909.

Osbert Sitwell acted as best man at the wedding of Alexander, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke, son of Prince Henry of Battenberg and Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom, on 19 July 1917 at the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace, London.

In 1918 Osbert Sitwell left the Army with the rank of Captain, and contested the 1918 general election as the Liberal Party candidate for Scarborough and Whitby, finishing second.

Osbert Sitwell was opposed to British intervention in the Russian Civil War.

Osbert Sitwell wrote a 1919 poem, satirizing Winston Churchill for his advocacy of British involvement in the conflict.

Osbert Sitwell wrote the poem "Shaking Hands With Murder" which was published in the Daily Herald newspaper in 1920; this poem derided Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer for ordering the Amritsar massacre.

Osbert Sitwell campaigned for the preservation of Georgian buildings and was responsible for saving Sutton Scarsdale Hall, now owned by English Heritage.

Osbert Sitwell was an early and active member of the Georgian Group.

Osbert Sitwell had an interest in the paranormal and joined the Ghost Club, which at the time was being relaunched as a dinner society dedicated to discussing paranormal occurrences and topics.

Osbert Sitwell devoted himself to poetry, art criticism and controversial journalism.

Osbert Sitwell published three books of poems: Argonaut and Juggernaut ; At the House of Mrs Kinfoot ; and Out Of The Flame.

Osbert Sitwell went on to write several further novels, including Miracle on Sinai and Those Were the Days neither of which received the same glowing reviews as his first.

Osbert Sitwell's "The Four Continents" is a book of travel, reminiscence and observation.

Osbert Sitwell was a close friend of the Duke and Duchess of York, future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

In February 1937, a version appeared in Cavalcade, which Osbert Sitwell described as a "paper, which confounded liveliness with mischief".

Osbert Sitwell obtained an interim injunction preventing further publication in Cavalcade, which ensured further surreptitious circulation of the poem.

Osbert Sitwell resisted on the grounds that he could not be forced to make a criminally libellous statement.

Osbert Sitwell knew that, because of the libel issue, the poem could not be published in his lifetime; he decided that publication should wait even longer than that to avoid "pain to those still living".

Osbert Sitwell then explained the background to the poem in some detail because he recognised that the long delay in publication would result in many readers being unfamiliar with the characters.

Osbert Sitwell was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1956 and a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1958.

In 1923, Osbert Sitwell met David Stuart Horner who was his lover and companion for most of his life.

Osbert Sitwell suffered from Parkinson's disease from the 1950s; by the mid-1960s his condition had become so severe that he had to abandon writing.

Osbert Sitwell spent his last years in Italy, at the Castle of Montegufoni, in Montespertoli near Florence, which his father had bought derelict and restored as his personal residence; he died there on 4 May 1969.

Osbert Sitwell was cremated and his ashes buried in the Cimitero Evangelico degli Allori in Florence, together with a copy of his first novel, Before the Bombardment.