A dreadful girl

September 1902. I imagine a large wood-panelled dining room in an imposing Thorndon villa.^[i] There, Harold Beauchamp, esteemed chairman of the Bank of New Zealand, loud-whispers stage directions from just outside the door to a ragged band of little green fairies. Despite rehearsals, some of the six-year-old dancers are disoriented now that they face an audience of friends and relatives. The troupe looks more like an untrained army unit than the corps de ballet in Swan Lake, though sweet, nonetheless.

But I’m mistaken. In fact, when I re-read the newspaper article about it, I realise Harold was assistant stage manager, probably responsible for the makeshift stage and leafy woodland set; it was another paterfamilias who prompted the erring fairies when they went astray. Next day, the local newspaper reported that ‘the aside discussions between stage manager and company, which for obvious reasons had to be audible, added greatly to the fun of the audience’.^[ii] However, traces of impatience could no doubt have been discerned on the face of the leading actress, 13-year-old Kathleen Beauchamp who was portraying a fisherman’s overworked wife in the drama. Of her performance, the same reporter, in a somewhat mixed review, stated that Kathleen ‘impersonated her character with a fidelity that her fresh and tranquil face somewhat belied’.^[iii]

It’s not hard to visualise Kathleen voicing her irritation at rehearsals as the fairies, one of them, my grandmother Linda Koch, solemnly flitted and hopped about, missing cues and muddling steps. Perhaps that’s what stuck with my grandmother for more than sixty years, or perhaps there was more to it. I didn’t like Katherine Mansfield; she was a dreadful girl,^[iv] she told me as I helped her put on her stockings – her arm was in a sling after a fall – in their tidy bedroom with its twin beds and a framed photo of Grandad in his First World War army uniform on the tall-boy. That’s all she had to say. Except that, yes, the families had been near neighbours. I was impressed that my grandmother had known the only great New Zealand writer I’d heard of in my eleven years, but taken aback by her dismissive tone. Her vehemence meant I asked no more then or later.

At the time of the private children’s party at which the play was staged, my grandmother and her parents (her father was the district engineer with the Railways Department, her mother the daughter of a doctor and a renowned beauty),^[v] lived at 43 Tinakori Road^[vi] (later renumbered 95).^[vii] They were along the road from the Beauchamps, who were at number 75.^[viii] When the Beauchamps moved to 47 Fitzherbert Terrace in 1907,^[ix] the Koches were more or less, across the road.^[x] Gran’s grandfather had lived nearby too^[xi] until his death^[xii] and so did the as yet unmarried Koch aunts. 

From the 1880s, the civic and social lives of two or three generations of the Koch and Beauchamp families circled and overlapped. ^[xiii] The men were pillars of the community, the women caught up in a constant round of engagements from balls at Government House to private dances, At Homes, afternoon teas, school sports-days, and bowling club season openings. In 1884, Gran’s aunt, Miss Janet Koch, and the newly married^[xiv] Mrs Beauchamp assisted on the stalls at an Oriental Bazaar to raise money to buy the Tinakori Road schoolroom for St Paul’s church.^[xv] In 1902, among the ‘very large and brilliant assemblage’ [xvi] of guests at a reception given by Lady Ward, wife of the prime minister, were Kathleen and Linda’s parents, the Beauchamps and the Kochs. In 1905, Mrs Koch and Mrs Beauchamp were both amongst the friends of the lady editor^[xvii] of the New Zealand Mail as her guests at a tea where a string band played throughout the afternoon. In October 1909, Miss Chad (Chaddie/Charlotte) and Jeanne Beauchamp assisted their aunt at a children’s party for their younger cousin Lulu Dyer^[xviii] and other ‘little folk’ (her 12- and 13-year-old girl friends), among them my grandmother Linda Koch.

By this time, nine years into the new century, Kathleen Beauchamp was staying in the German spa town of Bad Wörishofen^[xix] after miscarrying. She had forever disgraced herself in her mother’s eyes through a too close relationship with a former school friend in London, as well as by becoming pregnant, marrying another man in panic, and leaving the spurious marriage that same evening. The Wellington newspapers reported the bare facts: farewell functions^[xx] before Kathleen left for England, her departure on the Papanui,^[xxi] the surprising marriage to her singing teacher George Bowden^[xxii] that was quickly followed by Mrs Beauchamp’s hasty departure, lengthy journey, and short stay in London:^[xxiii] Mrs Beauchamp left Europe after only two weeks^[xxiv] to sail back to New Zealand in time to plan for her eldest daughter’s wedding.^[xxv]

One can imagine the hushed talk and shocked tones of the Koch family after dinner when 13-year-old Linda was out of earshot as they teased out the story of the misadventures of Kathleen from what they’d read and what they’d heard on the grapevine.^[xxvi] For Mr and Mrs Beauchamp, well-connected and moving in the upper echelon of Wellington polite society, it must have been mortifying. Kathleen had been permitted to leave, to live far away, where any scandalous writing or errant behaviour would not reverberate and embarrass the family, and yet still she had managed it.

But not all the Koch family condemned Kathleen. Gran’s aunt, Janet Koch, the eldest daughter, was sympathetic. Kathleen lived the life she wanted,^[xxvii] Janet said in her defence, and very possibly with a note of envy. Janet’s own act of unconventionality was to sidestep marriage and remain single despite, according to her brother, having some wonderful prospects.^[xxviii] In Janet’s view, Kathleen had protected her family from shame by using a different name. And maybe it did, at least for a while. In 1907, she insisted the Melbourne monthly, The Native Companion, publish some short pieces under a pseudonym, either K. M. or K. Mansfield.^[xxix] Two years later, a suggestive story full of sensuous detail, ‘The Education of Audrey,’ by K. Mansfield, was published in The Evening Post.^[xxx] But the nom-de-plume was hardly a secret. For Wellingtonians who didn’t already know, in 1912, the names of Mrs Bowden, Kathleen Beauchamp and the pen name Katherine Mansfield were all laid out in the same local paper in a snippet on the publication of her first book, In a German Pension.^[xxxi] The columnist praised the author as a skilful satirist with keen insight and a maliciously smart power of expression.

Gran may have disliked Kathleen, but I’d like to think that her mother and Mrs Beauchamp, with only four years difference in age,^[xxxii] were friends. Perhaps they were, perhaps not. It’s too late now to ask Gran anything more. But what if I had? What pieces of the puzzle in the life of Katherine Mansfield could have been solved? What was Mrs Beauchamp really like and how can we reconcile Katherine’s wildly different characterisations of her? Was Katherine sullen, defiant or remorseful when her mother arrived on a damage-control mission to London? What did Mrs Beauchamp have to say about Katherine on her return? What in particular so upset Mrs Beauchamp about Katherine’s lifestyle that she cut her out of her will?^[xxxiii] And what motivated Mr Beauchamp to continue providing Katherine with a regular allowance all her life,^[xxxiv] just as Linda Koch’s father did. Had I but asked, Gran might have filled in some of the gaps about the dreadful girl she once knew. I might have uncovered some gems that added to the depth and richness of the discourse; might have had the satisfaction of contributing in a small way to the KM story.

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Photos

• Garden party at Government House, Thorndon, 1913. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections NZG-19130226-0019-01
• The Beauchamp family, and others, at Las Palmas, 16 March 1903. Ref. PAColl-4131: Delahenty, A. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. natlib.govt.nz/records/22363594 
• Augustus Koch (seated) and children on the occasion of Mary’s wedding, 1893. Janet Koch is standing next to her brother August. Private collection. 
• Ethel Beale (nee Koch), Linda’s mother. Private collection.
• Annie Beauchamp, Katherine Mansfield’s mother. Ref: 1/2-028637-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. natlib.govt.nz/records/22680074
• Mrs Ethel Koch and daughter Linda Koch. Private collection.
• August Koch, civil engineer. Linda’s father. Private collection.

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Bibliography

• Alpers, Antony. The Life of Katherine Mansfield, OUP.1980.
• Brednich, Rolf W. Augustus Koch – Mapmaker. Steel Roberts. 2015.
• National Library of New Zealand. Papers Past. Evening Post. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
• Jones, Kathleen. Katherine Mansfield The Storyteller. Penguin Group. 2010.
• Te Ara. The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Dictionary of New Zealand Biography.
• Wise’s New Zealand Directory. 1901, 1902, 1906 and 1911.

Endnotes

[i] The play was performed at a children’s party given by Mrs Dean of Grant Rd, Thorndon. Retrieved from Papers Past

[ii] Evening Post. (1902, 17 September). Wellington Table Talk. Retrieved from Papers Past 

[iii] Evening Post. (1902, 17 September). Wellington Table Talk. Retrieved from Papers Past 

[iv] As told by Linda Koch to the author. 

[v] ‘Linda Koch’s parents were August Charles Koch (1863-1952) who was the eldest son of Augustus Carl Ferdinand Koch and Elizabeth Bain, and Ethel Sophia Beale (1868–1926) who was the eldest daughter of Dr Bernard Beale and Catherine Cooke. 

[vi] Wise’s New Zealand [post office] Directory 1902 on ancestry.com. 

[vii] Wise’s New Zealand [post office] Directory 1911 on ancestry.com. In 1911, the Kochs were living at 95 Tinakori Road. This was presumably due to the street renumbering in 1908 rather than to moving house. No 95 was demolished for the motorway in 1968. 

[viii] Alpers, p. 401 and p. 403 

[ix] Alpers, p. 403 

[x] Elizabeth Koch told the author that her father August and family had lived across the road from the Beauchamps. The location of the Koch’s now demolished home at 95 Tinakori Road appears to have been on the corner of Tinakori Road and Molesworth Street, across from 47 Fitzherbert Terrace (now also demolished and the site of the US Embassy). 

[xi] Wise’s New Zealand [post office] Directory 1901 on ancestry.com. Augustus Carl Ferdinand Koch (1834-1901) was living in Hill Street, Thorndon in 1901. 

[xii] Evening Post. (1901, 31 December). Death of Mr Koch. Retrieved from Papers Past. 

[xiii] Reports in Wellington newspapers, the Evening Post, New Zealand Times, New Zealand Daily and Free Lance show the Koch and Beauchamp families at a number of the same social functions between 1880 and 1914. Retrieved from Papers Past 

[xiv] Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Harold Beauchamp. Retrieved from Te  Ara.Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Annie Burnell Dyer and Harold Beauchamp were married on 18 February 1884. 

[xv] Evening Post. (1884, 12 September). The Oriental Bazaar. Retrieved from Papers Past.
Janet Koch (born 1861) was the eldest daughter and therefore referred to as Miss Koch 

[xvi] New Zealand Mail. (23 July 1902). Retrieved from Papers Past   

[xvii] Evening Post. (1905, 4 November). Social Gossip. Retrieved from Papers Past. 

[xviii] Evening Post. (1909, 16 October). Children’s Party. Retrieved from Papers Past. 

[xix] Alpers, p.101. 

[xx] Evening Post. (1908, 27 June). Ladies Column. Retrieved from Papers Past and Evening Post. (1908, 4 July). Ladies Column. Girls Gossip. Retrieved from Papers Past. 

[xxi] Evening Post. (1908, 1 July). Personal Matters. Retrieved from Papers Past. 

[xxii] Evening Post. (1909, 27 April).  About People. Notes from Home.  Retrieved from Papers Past. 

[xxiii] Evening Post. (1909, 27 July). Personal Matters. Retrieved from Papers Past. 

[xxiv] Alpers, p. 404. [Alpers’ chronology] 

[xxv] Evening Post. (1909, 23 September). Wedding at St Paul’s. Retrieved from Papers Past. 

[xxvi] The families moved in the same social circles which included the Dyers (Kathleen’s aunt and uncle), Bendalls (the family of Kathleen’s friend, Edith ‘Edie’ Bendall) and the Kings (Linda Koch’s friends Una and Marjorie King were two of the six fairies in the 1902 play). Various reports in Wellington newspapers. Retrieved from Papers Past. 

[xxvii] As told to Elizabeth Alexander by her father (Janet’s brother) August Koch. 

[xxviii] Elizabeth Alexander was told by her father (Janet’s brother), August Koch, that Janet didn’t marry despite having some wonderful prospects − she couldn’t make up her mind. 

[xxix] Alpers, p. 53. 

[xxx] Evening Post (1909, 30 Jan). The Education of Audrey. Retrieved from Papers Past. 

[xxxi] Evening Post. (1912, 9 January). About People. Personal Notes from London. Retrieved from Papers Past. 

[xxxii] Annie Beauchamp (née Dyer) was born 24 March 1864; Ethel Koch (née Beale) was born 24 May 1868  

[xxxiii] Alpers p. 95. 

[xxxiv] Alpers, p. 296.