Item 213 - Letter from Bertrand Russell to Elizabeth Trevelyan

1 item.

Deudraeth Castle Hotel, Portmeirion Peninsula, Penrhyndeudraeth, North Wales. - Thanks Elizabeth for her letter, but thinks she does not quite know the facts: that he and Dora have an agreement which give them equal rights in the children, and he has only asked that this continue, but Dora wants 'sole rights & complete custody'; she is petitioning for divorce and representing herself as a 'completely blameless wife', concealing the existence of Harriet and Roderick [her children with Griffin Barry]. Does not see why Elizabeth talks of both his and Dora's suffering: 'Does the tiger suffer when it kills the deer'?; Dora knows that if she deprives him of John and Kate, 'the whole of the rest of [his] life will be one of unbearable misery', and that to stop her doing so he will probably have to give up hope of divorce. This is very hard on Peter [Spence], 'who wants children, but not bastards', as he himself does. Asks if Elizabeth could let him know 'what version of the facts' she has heard.

5/212 and 5/214 are also letters from Russell to Elizabeth Trevelyan relating to his divorce.
5/291: draft statement by Elizabeth Trevelyan
5/293: draft letter from Elizabeth Trevelyan to Russell, 26 May 1934, written in response to this letter.

Published in Russell, B., & Griffin, N. (2001). The selected letters of Bertrand Russell. London: Routledge, vol. 2, p. 329.