Our Family Affairs, 1867-1896

The narrator opens a vivid portrait of a late‑Victorian household, recalling the austere yet oddly tender world of Wellington College where his father, the headmaster, presided with a blend of scholarly authority and gentle ritual. Even as a child he registers the solemn bedtime blessing, the smell of books and soap, and the occasional fantastical drawing of knights and dragons that the headmaster produced for his children. These early impressions are rendered with a delicate balance of humor and affection, turning ordinary moments into lasting, dream‑like fragments.

Beyond the school’s walls, the family’s domestic life unfolds with equal charm. A mother who can send a croquet ball soaring into a flower‑bed while tending to her child, a nurse who rescues a slipping infant, and a garden where a gardener battles a wandering adder—all become the texture of a world both disciplined and whimsically alive. The memoir promises a lively, observational journey through the quirks of upper‑class English life, filtered through the keen eyes of a young boy learning to make sense of his surroundings.