Events in the Life of Edward Upward

Year Event
1903 Edward Falaise Upward born on 9th September in Romford, Essex
1914 WWI begins
1917 Starts at Repton school in Derbyshire
1917 Russian Revolution
1918 WWI ends
1920 Foundation of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB)
1922 Lives in Rouen
1922 Starts at Cambridge (Corpus Christi College)
1922 Publication of Joyce’s Ulysses in Paris (Upward travels there to buy it in 1924)
1926 Starts a series of teaching jobs
1926 General Strike
1927 Publication of final part of Proust’s A la recherche du temps perdu
1931 Canvasses in Bethnal Green for Communist Party candidate in October’s general election
1932 Visits USSR, but doesn’t see famine and repression
1932 Visits Isherwood in Berlin
1932 Joins the Communist Party – membership initially on a probationary basis, partly self-imposed, until 1934
1932 Begins teaching at Alleyn’s School, Dulwich
1933 Short stories ‘The Colleagues’ and ‘Sunday’ published in the anthology New Country
1933 Hitler takes power in Germany
1936 Spanish Civil War begins
1936 Marriage to Hilda Percival
1936 Battle of Cable Street
1936 Joins editorial board of The Ploughshare (Teachers’ Anti-War Movement) for which he also writes articles
1937 Isherwood’s Lions and Shadows published
1938 Son Christopher born
1938 Journey to the Border published
1939 Isherwood and Auden emigrate to the United States
1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between USSR and Germany
1939 WWII begins – school and family evacuated
1941 Daughter Katherine born
1941 Germany invades USSR
1945 WWII ends
1948 Hilda and Edward leave CPGB
1957 Foundation of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND)
1961 Retires with Hilda to his parents’ old house in Sandown, Isle of Wight
1962 In the Thirties published
1969 The Rotten Elements published
1973 Auden dies
1977 No Home But the Struggle published (as part of The Spiral Ascent)
1986 Isherwood dies
1987 Publication of The Night Walk and Other Stories – first volume of post-war stories
1991 Dissolution of USSR
1994 Enitharmon Press begins publishing Upward’s writing
1995 Hilda dies
2002 Son Christopher dies
2003 Publication of A Renegade in Springtime, a career-spanning collection of his stories
2003 Celebrates centenary with a large party in Sandown
2003 His last story, ‘Cromelin-Brown’, is broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s The Verb together with an interview by Ian McMillan
2004 Moves to Pontefract, where his daughter and son-in-law live
2005 Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and awarded its Benson Medal
2009 Dies on 13th February in Pontefract, West Yorkshire