Robert Harris’s latest novel, Precipice, is an intriguing historical thriller, based on the political and private life of Herbert Asquith, Prime Minister from 1908 to 1916. It offers a fascinating insight into the early stages of the First World War, and is of particular interest due to it’s connection with our former Exmoor Society President, Victor Bonham-Carter.
Victor’s uncle Maurice Bonham-Carter (1880-1960) was Asquith’s Principal Private Secretary throughout this period and appears frequently in the novel. In 1915, Maurice married Asquith’s daughter Violet, known as Lady Violet after her father’s elevation to the peerage in 1925. Lady Violet was a leading figure in Liberal party politics, the first woman to serve as President of the Liberal Party (1945 to 1947). A number of Maurice and Lady Violet’s children also played major roles in the Liberal Party. In 1938, their daughter Laura married Jo Grimond, who would go on to be Liberal Party Leader (1956 to 1967). Maurice and Violet’s son Mark Bonham-Carter, later a life peer, won a sensational victory at the Torridge by-election in 1958, the first of the post war ‘Liberal Revival’. Mark Bonham-Carter was viewed as a potential party leader until losing his seat in the 1959 General Election.
Victor Bonham-Carter, although closely related, was not part of that circle. He decided to forge his own path as writer, farmer and safe guarder of Exmoor. Victor wrote ten works of non-fiction, was secretary of the Society of Authors and the Royal Literary Fund, and for 32 years was the President of the Exmoor Society. Our Archive, originally established by Victor himself, contains an extensive collection of his papers, letters and books.
Graeme Horne, Archivist
