Madeleine (34 page)
Chris Tillam was there. It had been forty years since he had seen Antony and Annabel, at his wedding in Clifton Gardens, and almost as long since Madeleine had left him in New York. He had had no contact with Madeleine since the unhappy phone call in 1976 when she had told him he owed her money. He had read
The Women in Black
, but not the âLondon novels'. But he was intrigued by Madeleine's repeated theme of infidelity and betrayal.
Chris expected to see Colette at the wake and was disappointed when she was not there. Neither were Madeleine's half-brothers; nor Val, who had been upset to see Ted described as âcold' in the
Herald
obituary.
There was still no closure for Val. She wrote to Florence and included a copy of the 1998
HQ
magazine article that had caused such trouble. She wanted information from her sister-in-law. Florence replied, referring to the difficulties that Val faced in taking Madeleine and Colette as stepdaughters only a year after their mother's death:
I am very sorry you are going through a bad time following Madeleine's death. I suppose it is inevitable that one mulls things over after a death in the family, especially when there are differences, and I trust things will fall into placeâ¦I think it is important to set the record as straight as possible about those early days, now shrouded in the mists of time. Thinking about it makes one conscious once again of the terribly difficult situation you encountered when you married Ted.
14
Val wrote again, mentioning Sylvette's multiple attempts at suicide and Ted's devastation after her death. âI'm sorry to have dumped all this on you but I think it is important for you to have the facts. It is a relief to me to have put it away and I am no longer mulling over it. This letter is the last of it.'
15
Madeleine's death stirred memories for Chris, too. Shortly after her funeral, he wrote a piece about his former wife and posted it as a tribute on the internet. It was a brief, beautifully written account of their days in California and the east coast of the US in the 1960s. The piece was tinged with his regret, and included a passage in which he addressed Madeleine directly:
We were a match, we had made of each other a refuge in the shadows of the ruins of two families. We each brought our demons, and in the confined and fragile spaces of our marriage, you gave yours free rein.
16
Jane Holdsworth took Madeleine's ashes home to Putney, and Susannah took the biographical material to her flat at Brixton. Later, when she moved permanently to Suffolk, Susannah took Madeleine's papers with her and stashed them in the attic.
17
In Sydney, Valerie St John agonised over the letters to Ted from Madeleine that she still held. She talked to her sons and then destroyed them. After all, that was what her stepdaughter had specified in her will.
18
Jane Holdsworth worried about what to do with Madeleine's ashes. Then one summer she and her partner decided to take them to France. They scattered some in Paris and some near Amiens, not far from the country house where Madeleine had spent a splendid weekend some years before at the wedding of Robert and Georgina McPherson.
19
Madeleine St John, the Australian writer who had lived a lifetime in London grieving her French mother, was at rest, in the land that Sylvette had left seventy years before.
| ABBREVIATIONS | |
| MSJ | Madeleine St John |
| CSJ | Colette St John Lippincott |
| TSJ | Ted St John (Edward) |
| VSJ | Val St John (Valerie Winslow) |
| CT | Chris Tillam |
| JT | Joan Tillam |
| HT | Helen Trinca |
| FH | Florence Heller (St John) |
| FB | Felicity Baker |
| JMcC | Judith McCue |
Chapter 1: A WAR BABY
1
Madeleine St John, interview, recorded by Judith McCue, London, 23â29 March 2004 (MSJ Tapes, March 2004).
2
Ibid
.
3
Her birth certificate registered Madeleine as Mireille. On 16 July 1963, when Madeleine was twenty-one, her father wrote a note: âTo Whom it May Concern, to certify that my daughterâ¦is identical with the child, particulars of whose birth on the 12th November, 1941, was registered under the name Mireille St John.'
4
Edward (Ted) St John (TSJ) recorded by Veronica Keraitis, for the Oral History Project, National Library of Australia (TRC830), 29â30 September 1980.
5
Ibid
.
6
Ibid
.
7
FB, interview with HT, 16 October 2011.
8
Edward St John recorded by Vivienne Rae-Ellis for the Oral History Project, National Library of Australia (TRC4900/70), 5â7 July 1983.
9
Ibid
.
10
Roland St John in
Memories at Sunset,
completed in 1991 and published by his son Nigel St John in 1994.
11
FH, interview with HT, 31 March 2011.
12
TSJ, Oral History Project, 1983.
13
Marriage certificate of Yancu Meer Cargher and Feica Avram, 30 September 1916.
14
MSJ Tapes, March 2004.
15
Ibid
.
16
Medical records of Sylvette St John, Broughton Hall Psychiatric Clinic, 16 June 1954.
17
Passenger ListâIncoming Passengers, S.S.
Orama
, 29 August 1929, NSW State Archives; Passenger Arrivals Index, National Archives of Australia.
18
Passenger ListâIncoming Passengers,
Cephee,
8 June 1934, NSW State Archives.
19
Sydney Morning Herald
, 9 September 1936, p. 13.
20
Ron Storer, email to HT, 13 April 2011.
21
Sylvette Cargier, âGirl Students in Paris',
Sydney Morning Herald
, 22 June 1937, p. 2.
22
FH, interview with HT, 31 March 2011.
23
Ria Murch (Counsell), interview with HT, 6 November 2012.
24
Gloria Skinner (Clarton), interview with HT, 9 April 2011.
25
TSJ, letter to Sylvette St John, 27 November 1939.
26
Certificate of Registration of Alien, of Feiga Cargher, 30 September 1939. Change of abode, registered 4 June 1940.
Chapter 2: âPICKLED IN LOVE'
1
MSJ Tapes, March 2004.
2
Lorna Harvey, interview with HT, 19 October 2011.
3
Henriette Pile, interview with HT, 1 August 2012.
4
John Minchin, letter to Margaret Minchin (St John), 1942.
5
Margaret Minchin (St John), letter to John Minchin, 27 May 1942.
6
Margaret Minchin (St John), letter to John Minchin, May 1942.
7
Ibid
.
8
Margaret Whitlam, interview with HT, 15 June 2011.
9
TSJ, Oral History Project, 1980.
10
MSJ Tapes, March 2004.
11
Courier-Mail,
31 March 1937, p. 9.
12
MSJ Tapes, March 2004.
13
FB, interview with HT, 29 September 2011.
14
FH, letter to VSJ, 6 August 2006
15
MSJ Tapes, March 2004.
16
âDonald Friend: Merioola and Friends', a paper delivered by Christine France at a conference at the National Library of Australia, 23â24 February 2001.
17
TSJ, Oral History Project, 1980.
18
MSJ Tapes, March 2004.
19
Ibid
.
20
FB, interview with HT, 29 September 2011.
21
Margaret Whitlam, interview with HT, 15 June 2011.
22
CSJ, interview with HT, 15 July 2012.
23
MSJ report card, Edgeworth school, November 1948.
24
MSJ Tapes, March 2004.
Chapter 3: SYLVETTE 'S DESPAIR
1
Ingrid Wilkins (Relf), interview with HT, August 2011.
2
MSJ Tapes, March 2004.
3
Medical records of Sylvette St John, Broughton Hall Psychiatric Clinic, 16 June 1954.
4
Jonette McDonnell (Jarvis), interview with HT, 26 June 2011.
5
Margaret Whitlam, interview with HT, 21 October 2011.
6
Lorna Harvey, interview with HT, 30 August 2011.
7
CSJ, interview with HT, 22 September 2012.
8
Medical records of Sylvette St John, Broughton Hall Psychiatric Clinic, 16 June 1954.
9
MSJ Tapes, March 2004.
10
Ibid
.
11
Ibid
.
12
FH, letter to VSJ, 6 August 2006.
13
VSJ, letter to FH, 4 September 2006.
14
Tina Micklethwait (Date), interview with HT, 13 June 2011.
15
MSJ Tapes, March 2004.
16
CSJ, interview with HT, 17 June 2012.
17
Antony Harvey, interview with HT, 6 September 2011.
18
TSJ, evidence at coroner's inquest, 27 October 1954.
19
FH, interview with HT, 21 March 2011.
20
MSJ Tapes, March 2004.
21
CSJ, interview with HT, 23 July 2012.
22
Medical records of Sylvette St John, Broughton Hall Psychiatric Clinic, 16 June 1954.
23
VSJ, letter to FH, 4 September 2006.
24
Medical records of Sylvette St John, Reception House, Darlinghurst, 15 March 1953.
25
MSJ Tapes, March 2004.
26
Ibid
.
27
Ibid
.
28
Medical records of Sylvette St John, Reception House, Darlinghurst, 1953.
Chapter 4: A MOTHER LOST
1
Details of the life of Margaret Michaelis are from an article first published in
World of Antiques and Art
, Edition 68, by Helen Ennis, associate professor at the Australian National University School of Art. Ennis has also published a biography,
Margaret Michaelis: Love, loss and photography
, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2005.
2
MSJ Tapes, March 2004.
3
CSJ, interview with HT, 23 July 2012.
4
Medical records of Sylvette St John, Broughton Hall Psychiatric Clinic, 16 June 1954. The comments were recorded during an interview with TSJ.
5
MSJ Tapes, March 2004.
6
CSJ, interview with HT, 15 July 2012.
7
MSJ Tapes, March 2004.
8
Ibid
.
9
Ibid
.
10
Medical records of Sylvette St John, Reception House, Darlinghurst, 15 March 1953.
11
Ibid
.
12
Ibid.
13
Ibid
.
14
Ibid
.
15
MSJ Tapes, March 2004.
16
CSJ, interview with HT, 23 July 2012.
17
Medical records of Sylvette St John, Broughton Hall Psychiatric Clinic, 16 June 1954.
18
Ibid
.
19
Margaret Whitlam, interview with HT, 15 June 2011.
20
CSJ, interview with HT, 23 July 2012.
21
CSJ, interview with HT, 22 September 2012.
22
Deslys Hunter (Moody), interview with HT, 17 August 2012.
23
Medical records of Sylvette St John, Broughton Hall Psychiatric Clinic, 16 June 1954.
24
Ibid
.
25
Dr Marie Illingworth, statutory declaration reported in âMental Health Charges Sent to Minister', in
Sydney Morning Herald
, 24 November 1954, p. 1.
26
MSJ Tapes, March 2004.
27
Catherineian,
1954.
28
Henriette Pile, interview with HT, 1 August 2012.
29
MSJ Tapes, March 2004.
30
CSJ, interview with HT, 22 September 2012.
31
TSJ, evidence at coroner's inquest, 27 October 1954.
32
Henriette Pile, interview with HT, 1 August 2012.
33
Friedel Souhami, evidence at Coroner's inquest, 27 October 1954.
34
MSJ Tapes, March 2004.
35
Tina Micklethwait (Date), interview with HT, 13 June 2011.
36
Dr J. F. N. Thomas, letter, 13 August 1954, lodged in evidence at the coroner's inquest, 27 October 1954.
37
MSJ Tapes, March 2004.
38
CSJ, interview with HT, 15 July 2012.
39
MSJ Tapes, March 2004.
40
Ibid
.
41
FB, interview with HT, 29 September 2011.
42
âMedical report upon the examination of the dead body', signed by Dr Stratford Sheldon, 14 August 1954, and lodged in evidence at the coroner's inquest, 27 October 1954.
43
MSJ Tapes, March 2004.
44
Henriette Pile, interview with HT, 1 August 2012.
45
FH, interview with HT, 31 March 2012.
46
CSJ, interview with HT, 24 November 2012.
47
Felicity Baker disputes this account. In her account MSJ did not hear of the family's belief that Sylvette had suicided until FB mentioned it around 1972. FB, email to HT, 14 June 2012.
48
Finding by City Coroner, Mr Frank Leonard McNamara, 27 October 1954.
49
Dr Marie Illingworth, statutory declaration reported in âMental Health Charges Sent to Minister', in
Sydney Morning Herald
, 24 November 1954, p. 1.
50
FB, interview with HT, 29 September 2011.
51
MSJ Tapes, March 2004.