Dawnish's family (The Pretext)

In the short story the family members of Guy Dawnish, except Lady Caroline Duckett and Lord Askern, are only described in short for which reason they will be summarized in one paragraph here. Most of his family members are only mentioned to describe Guy Dawnish’s wealthy and brilliant background which is conveyed through his unconscious communication. One of his family members “had ‘asked for the Chiltern Hundreds’” (Lewis, 1968, p. 638). According to Chisholm (1910, p. 163) taking the Chiltern Hundreds traces back to the early 18^th century. During that time, it was a common practice that members of the lower local aristocracy were forced to serve in parliament or rather in the House of Commons. When someone was chosen, the person was not able to lay down his obligation, unless he would accept an office of profit from the crown. Among these offices there were also several crown stewardships which were not regarded as such. In one case, a member of the House of Commons took such a stewardship and laid down his service and from there on it was possible for other members to do so. Two of these stewardships survived and one of them was called the Chiltern. Thus, when a member gave up his seat, “he was accordingly spoken of as taking the Chiltern Hundreds.” (Chisholm, 1910, p. 163).

One of Guy Dawnish’s uncles was “an Elder Brother of the Trinity House” (Lewis, 1968, p. 638). According to the official website of Trinity House UK, the corporation was formed after a petition addressed to the King “for license to set up a fraternity enabled to regulate pilotage on the capital’s river” (“History of the Corporation”, 2016). The afterward formed corporation, in short called Trinity House, had the duty to guide ships safely on the River Thames and later on other stretches of water. Furthermore, being an Elder Brother of the Trinity House means being chosen out of over 400 Younger Brethren to have duties as “examination and regulation of Pilotage” and among others also “the siting and erection of various aids to navigation (such as lighthouses, buoys, beacons and lightvessels)” (“Elder Brethren”, 2016).

Another member of Dawnish’s family was the master of a college and someone else was “in command at Devonport” (Lewis, 1968, p. 638), which means he must have had a high military rank because Devonport was and still is a naval base supporting the Royal Navy (“Devonport”, 2014). Further information about the naval base Devonport can be found here. As already mentioned, the listing of the family members and their occupations serves only to show the background of Guy Dawnish.

The last two family members of Guy Dawnish mentioned in the short story are his parents. His father is only mentioned once in the newspaper article about the dissolving of the engagement of Gwendolen Matcher and Guy Dawnish. The name of Guy Dawnish’s father is Colonel the Hon. Roderick Dawnish (Lewis, 1968, p. 648). The late in front of his name could either mean that he already died, what could explain why Guy Dawnish spent his childhood at Guise Abbey under his grandfather’s rule or that Guy Dawnish’s father was a former Colonel. Additionally, his father is or was titled with Hon. which is “used in official titles of jobs” (Hornby, 2015, p. 754). Like other members of the Dawnish family the father is or was as well a rather respectable person which is shown by his titles. About Guy Dawnish’s mother, the short story reveals only that she at some point retired to a “rose-hung cottage in Wales” (Lewis, 1968, p. 638) after her father-in-law died and that she (and Guy Dawnish’s sisters) was really shocked and upset about his decision regarding the engagement with Gwendolen Matcher (Lewis, 1968, p. 652).

Sources:

Chisolm, H. (Ed.) (1910). The Encyclopedia Britannica. A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General Information. Eleventh Edition. Volume VI. Châtelet to Constantine. New York: The Encyclopedia Britannica Company.

“Devonport”. Royal Navy, 2014, https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/our-organisation/bases-and-stations/naval-base/devonport. Accessed March 9, 2021.

“Elder Brethren”. Trinity House, 2016, https://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/about-us/trinity-house-fraternity/older-brethren. Accessed March 9, 2021.

“History of the Corporation”. Trinity House, 2016, https://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/about-us/history-of-trinity-house/th500. Accessed March 9, 2021.

Hornby, A. S. (2015). Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Lewis, R. W. B. (1968). The Collected Short Stories of Edith Wharton. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.