England's Hour

by Vera Brittain

From A Common Reader’ London Library series for serious lovers of London.

Genres: History, World War II, Nonfiction, Memoir, Autobiography, Classics, Biography

230 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1941

About the author

Vera Mary Brittain was an English writer and pacifist, best remembered as the author of the best-selling 1933 memoir Testament of Youth, recounting her experiences during World War I and the beginning of her journey towards pacifism.

Her daughter is Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby, who is a British politician and academic who represents the Liberal Democrats.

Reviews

[Shiloah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this an interesting, important and compelling read. Written during the first three years of WW2, her first hand account and eye-witness events were sometimes shocking, sometimes inspiring. I love how she captured the indomitable spirit of the British people. Here are some quotes:


“London, bombed, burned and battered, became the suffering symbol of England's anguish, and a living sacrifice to the spiritual failure of the race of men.”

“Beauty and history, whatever their locality, are the jewels of human civilization.” Vera Brittain, England’s Hour

“For fourteen years after Versailles, there were elements in Germany which feared the rise of Hitlerism and foresaw its consequences more clearly than we did. They knew that Fascism was being created by the policy of the Allies and especially by that of France. The people of this country did nothing to support those German elements or to stop that French policy. They founded their little businesses, bought their little houses on the instalment system, and worked in their little gardens on Saturday afternoons. In their cheerful, contented apathy, they left the circumstances which made Hitler's triumphs inevitable to be created by a group of politicians whom the anonymous 'Cato', in the yellow-jacketed book which I have recently seen a young man reading, describes as Guilty Men.”

“We failed because we were too easily satisfied. We assumed that the keen enthusiasm of an energetic minority signified a desire for peace on the part of the whole nation.
Perhaps it did; but it signified only a negative, apathetic desire which was never sufficiently alive to count the cost of peace and be ready to pay it.”

[cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read a lot of these British war journals and each one brings a personality as well as personal story. This has information about the pacifists in WWI and II and makes rather more statements about her political philosophy and waxes a bit poetic at times. On the other hand, being a journalist, she brings good writing and amazing detail to her story about staying in London, sending her children to the United States and the nature of the British population in a way I hadn't read before. Very good reading.

[Jes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some cool stuff in here about daily life in London during the Blitz, but Brittain's preachiness about brotherly love and peace and British fortitude made it a bit of a slog. She seems like she is one of those people you are sort of friends with, but secretly can't resist needling just because they are so resolutely Noble and Just. And let's be real, those kinds of people must be harboring some seriously dark sexual fantasies or something, right? That probably would have made this wartime journal a much more interesting read.

[Bob Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vera Brittain was a British patriot, in my estimation anyway – a World War I nurse at the front, journalist and pacifist, who wrote this book after living in London while it was ruthlessly bombed by Hitler’s airmen during the infamous Blitz of autumn 1940. She wrote it, literally as the bombs were falling.
Yes, she was a confirmed pacifist, but she still felt duty-bound to honor those among her countrymen who felt differently and gave their lives. And her pacificism should not be confused with sympathy with the enemy’s cause, only with all those who fight and die.
Oddly, though written 80 years ago, her story remains relevant, it seems to me.
“The majority of my countrymen, like all people who are guileless and semi-informed, can be roused by propaganda to vindictiveness and hatred,” she wrote. Considering what happened in Washington D.C. a few weeks ago, that thought still seems starkly relevant.
She writes of finding a prayer pamphlet in the bombed-out ruins of St. Paul’s Cathedral that asks that God release Londoners “from bitterness and vindictiveness and persecution or suspicion of refugees and aliens;” and “from making expedience the test of truth and right.” That also sounds familiar.
Yes, Brittain was a pacificist (not automatically a bad thing), but her words 80 years ago still ring true, and that’s why this book, while occasionally preachy, is still important.

[Barbara Mader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good writing, well done; quite reflective for having been written at the time.

Privileged woman, but was mostly aware of that. Peace activist and this is strongly apparent in her reflections.

Note: Downloaded as free book and the text was a bit off at times, particularly numbers, so some uncertainty as to dates etc. as reading.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's probably not so much the author's fault so much as the nature of the subject matter she is describing, but the first half of this book deserves more stars than the second half. During the months when she and her family and fellow Brits were preparing for the inevitable, becoming the battlefield of Nazi bombs, the book is thick with tension. I could hardly put it down, I was so unnerved by the prospect that they were confronting. And yet, as the horror begins and the reality that one might get blown up in the street or in one's bed becomes the norm, the tension peaks, and instead a weary jaded quality sets in.

Why is this? Surely the author is not to blame that the banal aspect of dumb bombs dropping from the sky creates mostly a lot of bother walking through the streets, making meetings with community leaders and visits to friends challenging. But the material she has to work with, once the reality of the Blitz sets in, is quite limited.

Brittain was a really strong pacifist, and she maintains this stand even in the face of the Blitz. I admire her principles, but it began to feel like I was being lectured on a position I mostly agree with. So I sort of skimmed the places where she began to share her views, and just went on the gruesome facts.

In closing, I need to ask myself why a pacifist would be so interested in the build up to war, and I don't yet have an answer to this. I suppose in a way, it's one of those intriguing "what if" questions that gets answered. What if everything I hold dear were to be swept away from me? How would I face the reality of life where bombs fall from the sky? Life in a city that is unsafe for children? How would I cope? Brittain's book gives a good answer to the question, but the answer is stultifying. The stiff upper lip and all that is the result of experiencing the chaos of a world that has lost all evidence of civility. A stiff upper lip will see you through, but it's not cheery or joyful.

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This only covers the first 14 months of World War 2, up to November 1940. It was published in 1941. I imagine it made her pretty unpopular at the time, because she was a fervent and active peace campaigner and, for example, says how terrible it is that young pilots are dying in the Battle of Britain on both sides. She was understandably devastated that Europe had arrived at a point where another war was inevitable, and doesn't sound like a big Churchill fan. It's quite a change from the usual jingoistic London blitz memoir, which I found refreshing.

There are some wonderful descriptions of London in the blitz, and the rest of the country at the time from the point of view of a Londoner. I particularly enjoyed the chapter about Oxford, where she describes the colleges being used as refugee centres for people made homeless in London. I always wondered what happened to all the people who were in shelters when their houses were bombed. Nobody else ever seems to say.

However, she doesn't seem very empathetic, and there were times when she lost my sympathy... e.g. the chapter where she complains about how late and crowded the trains always were, because of all the troops who were being moved on them for no reason (in her opinion) when she wanted to go and visit friends. And how the Midlands wasn't being bombed at all (at the time), as if it was unfair. It almost sounded like she thought those British troops should be out there bombing the untouched parts of their own country to even things up, instead of cluttering up the trains.

[Elizabeth Quinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A reread of a book that was essential research for my first novel, Alliances. I based a character in that novel, Constance Tolliver, very loosely on Vera Brittain -- a famous World War I pacifist turned journalist who is noted for the World War II "Letter from London" published in a New York weekly magazine. Brittain in this non-fiction memoir of the first year of the war proved to have the quintessential reportorial skill: an eye for the telling detail. Like the genteel woman sheltering two East End children who returns to an apparently empty bedroom to say good night and finds her guests bunked down under the bed: "Isn't this where we're supposed to be?" Or the piled soil and dug trenches aimed at preventing invasion aircraft landing in the city's great parks. And the ratcheting tension of homeowners and neighbors locked out of their homes and streets until an unexploded time bomb detonates. Those telling details were a gold mine for my research 35 years ago, and my reread show that this 1941 book has held up well. If you want to know what life was like for Londoners who lived through the Blitz, you can't beat Brittain.

[Michael Bully · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most objective of Vera's World War 2 writing so a good starting point for anyone who wants to explore her work beyond the 'Testament of Youth ' heyday . Shows what a skilled social commentator Vera was. Observations about the human cost of The Bltiz, meeting bombed out families, visiting air raid shelters, her own home threatened by an unexplained bomb. Vera also ventured to Oxford, Reading, the Black Country. An intriguing account of conscientious objectors facing a Military Service Tribunal
Particularly moving account of having to saying goodbye to her children who were sailing off to the USA. Vera changed the name of her husband George Catlin to 'Gordon' as he did not share her opposition to the War. Arguably Vera's opposition to World War 2 began her slow descent towards obscurity following her success of the 1930's.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always been a fan of Vera Brittain, especially her books about World War I, such as Testament of Youth. It is fitting that I should also love her book on the Battle of Britain. This is a very personal account--essentially her memoir of the battle and her observations of it. Because the book was published in 1941, it is a primary source on the battle. Brittain, who saw two world wars up close, is a pacifist, and sometimes I disagree with her options, but I am always ready to hear them. Most importantly what comes through in this book is her love of her country, and her love of God.

[Manuel Giménez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting chronicle of the two crucial months of the Blitz: September & November 1940. The writer is an exceptional witness on every page and the facts she describes. Its reading is a must. Taking the book as the basis of a script, it would be able to make a magnificent movie.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

She set out originally to write this as a sort of wartime companion piece to JB Priestley's English Journey but adapted this idea once she realised that while many places would still be largely the same as in that book, London would provide the focus for her reportage just as it provided the focus for the nightly bombing raids. Her decision was also influenced by difficulty travelling during wartime.
It is purely coincidence that I find myself reading the two books side by side, but a happy coincidence. Both books guide you through an England long gone in the company of a friendly and observant companion. There is a decency in outlook and an awareness of the political as well as the social and economic conditions that they find. There is also a quaint snobbery about both of them that is revealed though hind-sight and reflects more how times have changed than any criticism of two rather decent people.
This eye-witness account written during the conflict, when there was no certainty as to the future, has a dramatic quality, a lyrical quality as well as adding enormously to the telling of our war-time story.
Again and again she criticises the failures of a generation that led to the second world conflict of the century, while at the same time praising the ability to endure of the ordinary people of Britain. She sees the conflict as a battle of production; who can turn out the most planes, the most tanks, the most bombs; underpinned by suffering and endurance. She is also able to take time to reflect and capture just what it is about England that makes it worth fighting for.
The book covers the first fifteen months of the war when Britain found itself standing alone against the forces of the nazis. I'm not overly patriotic but the volume gave me a blush of pride and gratitude at what my parents generation went through for our benefit.

[Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been wanting to read this book for years, and it did not disappoint. It delivers a realistic view of the Blitz of London in 1940 during World War II and a very in the moment feeling, since it was written while it was all happening. The bravery and strength of the British people of this time never cease to amaze me. They lived through so much pain, fear, destruction and death yet they prevailed through all of it. Vera Brittain did a wonderful job in capturing all of it, and I would bet that writing about the war she was living through was quite cathartic for her.

The only negative thing I will say is that some of the chapters about the history of the British government were quite dry and dull, unless you are into that sort of thing.

I also found it kind of odd that she would call her children "Richard" and "Hilary" and her husband "Martin" when their real names are "John", "Shirley" & "George"...but I guess this was done to protect their privacy. I found this out after researching the author, since I was enjoying the book so much.

[Stan Bebbington]

I have to say that although I enjoyed the book, I found the author a little distant from, or lacking empathy with ordinary people. The point of the exercise was to give a picture of life in Britain during the early part of World War 2. Because she and I were present at the time there was a sort of "comparing notes" ambience to my involvement in reading her book. I was in a county town in Northern England for the whole period and air raids, although continuous in the early part of the war, were not often directed to the town I was in but to the bigger towns around us. Her descriptive skills make the book a worthwhile read for those who want to get a picture of what life was like, or to refresh their memory.

[Linda Orvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was great to read about London during its worst days from the perspective of a person who lived through it. It was also valuable to me to read an account that was written as it happened. When I'm curious about historical events, I go directly to the books that were written at the time. I feel they are the most accurate and have the least amount of agenda-ridden slants. England's Hour was well written and kept my attention throughout. The author, Vera Brittain, belonged to organizations in England that worked toward peace between World War I & World War II. To read her opinions on how the second world war could have been prevented was quite interesting to me.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I averaged this out to 2 stars. Her writing style on the whole is very readable and much better than the turgid style of Testament of Youth. She wrote well about daily life in the time of the Blitz and the effects on the landscape & people - it brought it to life and was very interesting. Vera Brittain was a pacifist and she frequently punctuates the book with sloppy arguments for pacifism and philosophises about how there would be no wars if the rich and politicians could be controlled - very naive & idealistic. These parts break up the book and, frankly, are very boring, so I give these sections a 0 star rating. The rest is worth 3 - 3 1/2 stars.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written taste of what living through the Blitz was like. It gave me a better understanding of British fortitude.

[Micebyliz]

I know this was written a long time ago, so i was not surprised to read the ethnically and racially inappropriate comments, but it's upsetting to think we haven't gotten much further away from it these days.
Her report on the war was particularly interesting because not only was it between the wars and during the war but there were reminiscences of the first war she had lived through. I find that fascinating. I can't imagine living through both of them.
One thing that stood out to me from all the rest was that she and her husband secured their children a place to live in the States. That's great but what about all the other children who did not have such luck? Especially those from eastern Europe or who were poor or had no connections...
At least the Brits organized Kindertransport...I know someone who was part of it..