Caitlin MacNamara
Encyclopedia
Caitlin Thomas née Macnamara, was the wife of poet and writer Dylan Thomas
. Their marriage was a stormy affair, fuelled by alcohol and infidelity, though the couple remained together until Dylan's death in 1953. After her husband's death she wrote the book Leftover Life to Kill, an account of her self exile to Italy. She paints a picture of a grieving widow seeking solace in distance, a younger lover and alcohol.
, London
, to Francis, a would-be poet, and Yvonne Macnamara. The couple had a son and three daughters; she was the youngest. The Macnamaras were descended from an old Irish land-owning family, and her grandfather, Henry Vee Macnamara, was the squire of two estates in County Clare
. Francis moved in literary circles, being friendly with a number of artists, but when Caitlin was about four or five, he began to live apart from his family. Yvonne left London, and she and the girls settled in Ringwood
, near New Forest
, where they were close friends to Welsh artist Augustus John
and his family. Macnamara was a precocious child, and was attracting male attention when only twelve years old. In her early teens she fell in love with Caspar John
, son of Augustus John, despite the fact that he was almost eleven years her senior. During this period she had an affair with Augustus himself, who also painted her. In 1930, at the age of 16, she returned to London and entered a dancing school, and at 18 was a member of a London chorus line. She lived for a brief time in Paris before moving to County Clare in 1934, when her father returned to the Macnamaras' reduced estates.
, London, in 1936 by Augustus John. She and Dylan bonded immediately, and that summer he travelled to Laugharne in Wales
where Caitlin and John were staying at the house of Richard Hughes
. Dylan arrived with a friend, Fred Janes, and after the four travelled to Fishguard
to view a painting exhibition, Dylan became drunk and jealous and started an argument with John. John punched Dylan and drove back to Laugharne with Macnamara. By the end of 1936, Caitlin and Dylan Thomas had begun a relationship through correspondence. By 21 April 1937 the couple were together in London and on 11 July 1937 they were married in Penzance
, Cornwall
. They had a peripatetic lifestyle, moving from Chelsea to Wales, then to Oxford, spending time in Ireland and Italy before returning to Oxfordshire. They eventually settled in a rented cottage in Laugharne in the spring of 1938, before moving into the 'Sea View' a couple of months later. In 1949 the house which would become the Thomas' family home, the Boat House
, came on the market for £3000, and was purchased by Margaret Taylor, wife of historian A. J. P. Taylor
, one of Dylan's benefactors. Caitlin Thomas had three children by Dylan, Llewelyn Edouard (1939–2000), Aeronwy Thomas-Ellis
(1943–2009) and Colm Garan Hart (born 1949).
Although Dylan tried to portray himself as a bohemian character, it was Caitlin who was the true rebel. Vera Philips, a childhood friend of Dylan's from Swansea
, recalled Dylan had the proper Welsh background, ... He was brought up like me, worrying "What will the neighbours think?" Whereas Caitlin didn't care a bugger what anyone thought.
Their marriage was a notoriously stormy affair, fuelled by alcohol and infidelity. Thomas once famously described their relationship as "raw, red bleeding meat". Despite their fiery marriage, she jealously protected both Dylan and his reputation, and tried to protect him from others and himself. Although Thomas was known for her belligerent personality, some writers have shown sympathy for a woman who was at the receiving end of Dylan's sometimes foul-mouthed abuse and pouting silences. Thomas became more and more resentful of her role as a stay-at-home mother, compounded by the run-down nature of their home, the Boat House, which had neither electricity nor running water.
The relationship between the couple deteriorated further when in 1950, Dylan undertook the first of his tours of America. The trips were arranged as a lucrative venture to gain capital to fund Dylan's poetry writing while back in Britain, though by the time of his return, the money he had accumulated did little more than repay outstanding debts. Furthermore, Thomas had become more and more frustrated at being left behind, dealing with the children and the bills, while her husband spent his time carousing in another country.
In 1953, Dylan travelled to New York without her, undertaking recitals of his poetry to American audiences. On 5 November Dylan collapsed with breathing difficulties and was admitted to hospital. Caitlin travelled to America to be with her husband, though her reaction on arriving at his death bed was aggressive, reportedly shouting "Is the bloody man dead yet?". In her autobiography, Caitlin: Life with Dylan Thomas, she states that she had no recollection of using the words, but she was, by her own words, "stinkin drunk" by the time she arrived. Other reports state that when Caitlin found another woman tending to her comatose husband, she flew into a fit of rage, biting an attendant and fighting with bystanders until she was subdued.
In 1957 Caitlin published a frank account of her later life and reflections on her life with Dylan, titled Leftover Life to Kill, though she refused to collaborate with most of her husband's biographers in later years. In a memoir published in 1982, she described her relationship with Dylan as "Predominantly a drink story because without the first-aid of drink it could never have got onto its rocking feet." Although their relationship was tempestuous, writings in a personal journal uncovered over fifty years after Dylan's death showed Thomas' passion and love for her husband.
, until, in 1957, she decided to relocate to the country. She left Britain with her children in September 1957, and moved to Rome
with a Welsh actor and writer, Cliff Gordon. Gordon was homosexual, and his main purpose in Rome appears to have been as a drinking partner for Thomas. Towards the end of 1957, while eating at a restaurant on Via Margutta
she met Giuseppe Fazio, a Sicilian 'director's assistant'. The couple began a relationship soon after, which lasted until Thomas' death. Although they never married, they had a son together, Francesco, who was born on 29 March 1963 when Thomas was 49. In 1963, while in Italy, she wrote her second book, Not Quite Posthumous Letters to My Daughter.
By her own account, after the death of Thomas she experienced severe emotional and psychological distress, and was treated in clinics and asylums in London, Rome and Catania
. She began to attend Alcoholics Anonymous
in 1973, aged 60. In 1982 she and Fazio left Rome and moved to Catania
, Sicily
, eventually moving into a house left by Fazio's mother.
Caitlin Thomas died in Catania on 31 July 1994 following a long illness, aged 80. She was buried next to Dylan in Laugharne, though the burial request came as a surprise to her family, with her daughter believing that she would have preferred to have been buried in Italy after spending so much of her later life there.
, previously known by its working title The Best Time of Our Lives, saw Thomas played by Sienna Miller
in a story that reflects the relationship between Thomas and Vera Philips, Dylan's childhood friend. A second movie, Caitlin, with Miranda Richardson
and Rosamund Pike
depicting the title character at different points in her life, was to be produced the same year, but failed to reach the screen.
The Australian rock band The Paradise Motel
named their 1997 debut album
after the title of Macnamara's autobiography.
American folksinger Joe Crookston
wrote a song about Thomas's relationship with Dylan, entitled Caitlin at the Window, which was released on his 2011 album Darkling and the BlueBird Jubilee.
Dylan Thomas
Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...
. Their marriage was a stormy affair, fuelled by alcohol and infidelity, though the couple remained together until Dylan's death in 1953. After her husband's death she wrote the book Leftover Life to Kill, an account of her self exile to Italy. She paints a picture of a grieving widow seeking solace in distance, a younger lover and alcohol.
Early history
She was born in HammersmithHammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, to Francis, a would-be poet, and Yvonne Macnamara. The couple had a son and three daughters; she was the youngest. The Macnamaras were descended from an old Irish land-owning family, and her grandfather, Henry Vee Macnamara, was the squire of two estates in County Clare
County Clare
-History:There was a Neolithic civilisation in the Clare area — the name of the peoples is unknown, but the Prehistoric peoples left evidence behind in the form of ancient dolmen; single-chamber megalithic tombs, usually consisting of three or more upright stones...
. Francis moved in literary circles, being friendly with a number of artists, but when Caitlin was about four or five, he began to live apart from his family. Yvonne left London, and she and the girls settled in Ringwood
Ringwood
Ringwood is a historic market town and civil parish in Hampshire, England, located on the River Avon, close to the New Forest and north of Bournemouth. It has a history dating back to Anglo-Saxon times, and has held a weekly market since the Middle Ages....
, near New Forest
New Forest
The New Forest is an area of southern England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. It covers south-west Hampshire and extends into south-east Wiltshire....
, where they were close friends to Welsh artist Augustus John
Augustus John
Augustus Edwin John OM, RA, was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a short time around 1910, he was an important exponent of Post-Impressionism in the United Kingdom....
and his family. Macnamara was a precocious child, and was attracting male attention when only twelve years old. In her early teens she fell in love with Caspar John
Caspar John
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Caspar John GCB was the British First Sea Lord from 1960 to 1963. He was pioneer in the Fleet Air Arm, and rose to become Vice-Chief of Naval Staff to Sea Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma in 1957 and subsequently First Sea Lord from 1960 to 1963.-Early...
, son of Augustus John, despite the fact that he was almost eleven years her senior. During this period she had an affair with Augustus himself, who also painted her. In 1930, at the age of 16, she returned to London and entered a dancing school, and at 18 was a member of a London chorus line. She lived for a brief time in Paris before moving to County Clare in 1934, when her father returned to the Macnamaras' reduced estates.
Life with Dylan Thomas
Caitlin Macnamara was introduced to Dylan Thomas in a pub, either the Wheatsheaf or the Fitzroy, in FitzroviaFitzrovia
Fitzrovia is a neighbourhood in central London, near London's West End lying partly in the London Borough of Camden and partly in the City of Westminster ; and situated between Marylebone and Bloomsbury and north of Soho. It is characterised by its mixed-use of residential, business, retail,...
, London, in 1936 by Augustus John. She and Dylan bonded immediately, and that summer he travelled to Laugharne in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
where Caitlin and John were staying at the house of Richard Hughes
Richard Hughes (writer)
Richard Arthur Warren Hughes OBE was a British writer of poems, short stories, novels and plays.He was born in Weybridge, Surrey. His father was a civil servant Arthur Hughes, and his mother Louisa Grace Warren who had been brought up in Jamaica...
. Dylan arrived with a friend, Fred Janes, and after the four travelled to Fishguard
Fishguard
Fishguard is a coastal town in Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales, with a population of 3,300 . The community of Fishguard and Goodwick had a population of 5043 at the 2001 census....
to view a painting exhibition, Dylan became drunk and jealous and started an argument with John. John punched Dylan and drove back to Laugharne with Macnamara. By the end of 1936, Caitlin and Dylan Thomas had begun a relationship through correspondence. By 21 April 1937 the couple were together in London and on 11 July 1937 they were married in Penzance
Penzance
Penzance is a town, civil parish, and port in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is approximately 75 miles west of Plymouth and 300 miles west-southwest of London...
, Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
. They had a peripatetic lifestyle, moving from Chelsea to Wales, then to Oxford, spending time in Ireland and Italy before returning to Oxfordshire. They eventually settled in a rented cottage in Laugharne in the spring of 1938, before moving into the 'Sea View' a couple of months later. In 1949 the house which would become the Thomas' family home, the Boat House
Dylan Thomas Boathouse
The Boat House is a house in Laugharne, Wales, in which the poet Dylan Thomas lived with his family between 1949 and 1953, the last four years of his life. It was in this house that he wrote many major pieces. It's often thought that he wrote Under Milk Wood here but more recent research suggests...
, came on the market for £3000, and was purchased by Margaret Taylor, wife of historian A. J. P. Taylor
A. J. P. Taylor
Alan John Percivale Taylor, FBA was a British historian of the 20th century and renowned academic who became well known to millions through his popular television lectures.-Early life:...
, one of Dylan's benefactors. Caitlin Thomas had three children by Dylan, Llewelyn Edouard (1939–2000), Aeronwy Thomas-Ellis
Aeronwy Thomas
Aeronwy Bryn Thomas-Ellis translator of Italian poetry, was the second child and only daughter of the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas and his wife, Caitlin Macnamara.-Early life:...
(1943–2009) and Colm Garan Hart (born 1949).
Although Dylan tried to portray himself as a bohemian character, it was Caitlin who was the true rebel. Vera Philips, a childhood friend of Dylan's from Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
, recalled Dylan had the proper Welsh background, ... He was brought up like me, worrying "What will the neighbours think?" Whereas Caitlin didn't care a bugger what anyone thought.
Their marriage was a notoriously stormy affair, fuelled by alcohol and infidelity. Thomas once famously described their relationship as "raw, red bleeding meat". Despite their fiery marriage, she jealously protected both Dylan and his reputation, and tried to protect him from others and himself. Although Thomas was known for her belligerent personality, some writers have shown sympathy for a woman who was at the receiving end of Dylan's sometimes foul-mouthed abuse and pouting silences. Thomas became more and more resentful of her role as a stay-at-home mother, compounded by the run-down nature of their home, the Boat House, which had neither electricity nor running water.
The relationship between the couple deteriorated further when in 1950, Dylan undertook the first of his tours of America. The trips were arranged as a lucrative venture to gain capital to fund Dylan's poetry writing while back in Britain, though by the time of his return, the money he had accumulated did little more than repay outstanding debts. Furthermore, Thomas had become more and more frustrated at being left behind, dealing with the children and the bills, while her husband spent his time carousing in another country.
In 1953, Dylan travelled to New York without her, undertaking recitals of his poetry to American audiences. On 5 November Dylan collapsed with breathing difficulties and was admitted to hospital. Caitlin travelled to America to be with her husband, though her reaction on arriving at his death bed was aggressive, reportedly shouting "Is the bloody man dead yet?". In her autobiography, Caitlin: Life with Dylan Thomas, she states that she had no recollection of using the words, but she was, by her own words, "stinkin drunk" by the time she arrived. Other reports state that when Caitlin found another woman tending to her comatose husband, she flew into a fit of rage, biting an attendant and fighting with bystanders until she was subdued.
In 1957 Caitlin published a frank account of her later life and reflections on her life with Dylan, titled Leftover Life to Kill, though she refused to collaborate with most of her husband's biographers in later years. In a memoir published in 1982, she described her relationship with Dylan as "Predominantly a drink story because without the first-aid of drink it could never have got onto its rocking feet." Although their relationship was tempestuous, writings in a personal journal uncovered over fifty years after Dylan's death showed Thomas' passion and love for her husband.
Later life
After Dylan's death in 1953, Thomas returned to Laugharne, but she was desperate to leave the village, referring to it as a "permanently festering wound". Thomas spent less and less time in Wales, and made several journeys to Ireland and Italy. She spent an increasing amount of time in Italy, staying on ProcidaProcida
Procida is one of the Flegrean Islands off the coast of Naples in southern Italy. The island is between Cape Miseno and the island of Ischia. With its tiny satellite island of Vivara, it is a comune of the province of Naples, in the region of Campania. The population is about ten...
, until, in 1957, she decided to relocate to the country. She left Britain with her children in September 1957, and moved to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
with a Welsh actor and writer, Cliff Gordon. Gordon was homosexual, and his main purpose in Rome appears to have been as a drinking partner for Thomas. Towards the end of 1957, while eating at a restaurant on Via Margutta
Via Margutta
Via Margutta is a narrow street in the centre of Rome, near Piazza del Popolo, accessible from Via del Babbuino in the ancientCampo Marzio neighborhood also known as "the foreigner's quarter". Mount Pincio is nearby...
she met Giuseppe Fazio, a Sicilian 'director's assistant'. The couple began a relationship soon after, which lasted until Thomas' death. Although they never married, they had a son together, Francesco, who was born on 29 March 1963 when Thomas was 49. In 1963, while in Italy, she wrote her second book, Not Quite Posthumous Letters to My Daughter.
By her own account, after the death of Thomas she experienced severe emotional and psychological distress, and was treated in clinics and asylums in London, Rome and Catania
Catania
Catania is an Italian city on the east coast of Sicily facing the Ionian Sea, between Messina and Syracuse. It is the capital of the homonymous province, and with 298,957 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in Sicily and the tenth in Italy.Catania is known to have a seismic history and...
. She began to attend Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...
in 1973, aged 60. In 1982 she and Fazio left Rome and moved to Catania
Catania
Catania is an Italian city on the east coast of Sicily facing the Ionian Sea, between Messina and Syracuse. It is the capital of the homonymous province, and with 298,957 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in Sicily and the tenth in Italy.Catania is known to have a seismic history and...
, Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, eventually moving into a house left by Fazio's mother.
Caitlin Thomas died in Catania on 31 July 1994 following a long illness, aged 80. She was buried next to Dylan in Laugharne, though the burial request came as a surprise to her family, with her daughter believing that she would have preferred to have been buried in Italy after spending so much of her later life there.
In popular culture
In 2008, a film portraying Thomas' life with Dylan was released. The Edge of LoveThe Edge of Love
The Edge of Love is a 2008 John Maybury film starring Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Cillian Murphy and Matthew Rhys from a script by Sharman Macdonald, Knightley's mother...
, previously known by its working title The Best Time of Our Lives, saw Thomas played by Sienna Miller
Sienna Miller
Sienna Rose Diana Miller is a British-American actress, model, and fashion designer, best known for her roles in Layer Cake, Alfie, Factory Girl, The Edge of Love and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. In 2007, the London Film Criticsnamed her British Actress of the Year for Interview...
in a story that reflects the relationship between Thomas and Vera Philips, Dylan's childhood friend. A second movie, Caitlin, with Miranda Richardson
Miranda Richardson
Miranda Jane Richardson is an English stage, film and television actor. She has been nominated for two Academy Awards, and has won two Golden Globes and a BAFTA during her career....
and Rosamund Pike
Rosamund Pike
Rosamund Mary Elizabeth Pike is a British actress. Her film roles include villainous Bond girl Miranda Frost in Die Another Day, Jane Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, Helen in An Education, Lisa in Made in Dagenham, Miriam Grant-Panofsky in Barney's Version and Kate Sumner in Johnny English...
depicting the title character at different points in her life, was to be produced the same year, but failed to reach the screen.
The Australian rock band The Paradise Motel
The Paradise Motel
The Paradise Motel are a critically and commercially successful independent Australian band from Hobart, Tasmania, first active from 1995–2000, who reformed in 2008.-Formation and early releases 1994–1998:...
named their 1997 debut album
Left Over Life to Kill
Left Over Life To Kill is both an EP and an album released by the Australian band The Paradise Motel, released in 1996 and 1997 respectively...
after the title of Macnamara's autobiography.
American folksinger Joe Crookston
Joe Crookston
Joe Crookston is an American folk singer. As of 2011, he has released three albums on the Milagrito Records label: 2004's Fall Down as the Rain, 2008's Able Baker Charlie & Dog, and 2011's Darkling & the BlueBird Jubilee.- Biography :...
wrote a song about Thomas's relationship with Dylan, entitled Caitlin at the Window, which was released on his 2011 album Darkling and the BlueBird Jubilee.