A Chronology of Brideshead Revisited


I hope that the following chart will be useful for tracing the order of events in Brideshead Revisited or for judging what is happening at the same time. I give two columns, one basically for Charles and Sebastian, and the other for Julia and Rex. Of course their lives do intertwine considerably, but I believe that the division is helpful.

One has also to remember that Evelyn Waugh was not always meticulous about his dates or the ages of his characters, so that some of the points enumerated here could be questioned. For example, Julia’s birth date is not precisely enough indicated for me to be sure that she was born in 1905.

Year Time of Year Charles and Sebastian Julia and Rex
1865/6 Lord Marchmain born
1900 Bridey born
1903 Sebastian born
October Charles born
1905 Julia born
1911 Cordelia born
1914 Lord Marchmain joins the Yeomanry and goes to fight in France
1915 Charles’s mother dies in Bosnia;
Aunt Philippa comes to help in the house
1916 Aunt Philippa opens up her own house in Surrey
1918 Lord Marchmain forms an attachment with Cara and refuses to come back to his family home
1921 Aunt Philippa moves abroad
1922 October Charles & Sebastian go up to Oxford;
Jasper’s visit and advice
1923 March Sebastian sick through Charles’s window; they meet
Easter Charles & Collins holiday in Ravenna
June Eights Week;
Charles visits Brideshead for the first time;
Jasper’s Grand Remonstrance
Julia is enjoying success as a debutante
the next day Anthony Blanche takes Charles to a restaurant in Thame
soon after Charles starts the long vac at home
August Telegram from Sebastian; Charles goes to Brideshead Julia meets Charles at station;
Julia goes to Cap Ferrat & meets Rex
September Charles & Sebastian go to Venice for 2 weeks;
Charles meets Lord Marchmain & Cara
October Charles & Sebastian return to London
the next day Charles & Sebastian go back to Oxford (2nd year)
soon after Charles joins Ruskin School of Art
a little later Charles meets Lady Marchmain on her visit to Oxford to see Samgrass
November Julia brings Rex to Oxford to visit Sebastian
a week later Charles, Sebastian & Boy go to Julia’s ball & to the Old 100th & get arrested; Rex gets the boys out of jail Julia’s charity ball
the next day Charles & Boy are fined 5/-
a week later Sebastian is fined £10 in the magistrate’s court; there is press coverage
a little later Charles, Sebastian & Boy are gated for the rest of term & watched by Samgrass
Christmas Charles goes to his uncle’s
a little later Charles goes to Brideshead
New Year Julia, Rex & party leave to go elsewhere
1924 January 10 ? Charles & Sebastian go to stay at Charles’s house
January 20 ? Charles & Sebastian return to Oxford for a new term
Hilary Term Sebastian’s drinking & behaviour get worse
Easter Week By this time Rex is indispensable to Julia By this time Rex is indispensable to Julia
a week later Sebastian’s drunkenness is apparent to all
the next day Sebastian flees to Charles’s house without Charles;
Lady Marchmain gives Ned’s book to Charles
May Charles & Sebastian return to Oxford; they find it is not the same Julia sees Rex coming out of Brenda Champion’s house & is jealous;
Rex & Julia make love & get engaged
June Charles & Sebastian look for lodgings for the next term
mid-June ? Lady Marchmain visits Oxford;
Sebastian gets very drunk again
two days later Lady Marchmain takes Sebastian away
end of term (late June) Charles goes home & tells his father that he wants to study art
early July ? Lady Marchmain’s letter to Charles;
Sebastian goes to stay with his father
Rex sees Brenda Champion again;
Julia takes against her religion
September Charles goes to Paris to study art
September ? Sebastian & Samgrass start on Tour of the Levant
October ? Sebastian escapes from Samgrass in Constantinople
early December Sebastian meets up with Samgrass in Syria
Christmas Charles goes to his uncle’s;
Sebastian goes missing in London
Julia refuses to make her Christmas Communion
December 27 Charles, Sebastian & Samgrass arrive at Brideshead;
Samgrass shows photos of their Tour
December 28 The hunt; Charles gives Sebastian money; Sebastian cuts the hunt to go drinking Rex arrives at Brideshead with ‘obscene’ tortoise for Julia
December 29 Sebastian tells Charles that he is no help;
Charles sees Lady Marchmain and leaves, he thinks for ever
1925 January Cordelia secretly gets drink for Sebastian;
Julia reveals Samgrass’s deceit
mid-January Charles receives a letter from Cordelia
late January Lady Marchmain asks Rex to take Sebastian to Zurich; Sebastian escapes from Rex; Rex visits Charles & tells him the latest news in Paillard’s;
Sebastian goes to stay with Anthony Blanche in Marseilles
Rex visits Lord Marchmain at Monte Carlo and gets permission to marry Julia
March ? Rex’s instruction starts; Fr Mowbray finds Rex the most difficult convert he has met
April (a week later) Fr Mowbray puzzled by Rex’s odd ideas; Cordelia admits deliberately teasing him
May Engagement of Julia & Rex announced
late May Bridey’s ‘bombshell’
early June Lord Marchmain gives permission for a Protestant marriage
mid-June Julia & Rex are married at the Savoy Chapel
September ? Julia finds out that Rex is still seeing Brenda Champion
late 1925 ? Sebastian and Anthony Blanche move to Tangier;
Sebastian meets Kurt
1926 before May Anthony Blanche goes back to England;
Sebastian & Kurt move to Fez
May Charles returns to London for the General Strike (May 4–12);
Party for the Black Birds; Charles meets Anthony Blanche & hears about Sebastian
May 13 Julia asks Charles to find Sebastian & bring him back to his dying mother
a few days later Charles arrives in Fez & talks to Consul;
Charles meets Kurt
the next day Charles finds Sebastian in hospital, too ill to travel
for a week Charles visits Sebastian every day
May 24 ? Charles hears that Lady Marchmain is dead
late May Charles arranges financial security for Sebastian
soon after Charles takes P&O ship from Tangier;
Lady Marchmain is buried at Brideshead;
the chapel is closed up
early June Charles arrives in London & informs Bridey of the situation; Bridey commissions Charles to paint Marchmain House
June Charles paints four pictures of the House
early July ? Charles dines with Cordelia at the Ritz
summer Julia learns that she needs an operation to have a baby
late 1920s Sebastian & Kurt move to Athens
1930 Charles marries Celia; Julia is at the wedding;
Charles’s first exhibition
1931 ? Johnjohn born
1934 Celia has an affair;
Charles travels to Mexico & central America to paint there for two years
1934 ? Kurt is rounded up and brought back to Germany
1935 Caroline born Julia has stillborn daughter
1935 ? Sebastian finds Kurt in an SA uniform;
Kurt absconds, is caught & put in a concentration camp; Kurt hangs himself after a week
1936 Cordelia goes to Spain;
Sebastian has disappeared
Julia has an affair & goes to New York
Summer Charles meets Celia in New York & they return home on a liner; storm;
Charles meets Julia; they make love
Rex makes Brideshead ‘a nest of party mutiny’
a month later Private view of Charles’s pictures;
Celia finds out about Charles & Julia;
Charles meets Anthony Blanche again;
Charles joins Julia at Brideshead
during the year Sebastian finds out about Kurt’s death & returns to north Africa
1937 Christmas Bridey gives Charles a photo of himself dressed as a Knight of Malta
1938 January Bridey invites Charles to a dining club
Summer Bridey announces his engagement to Beryl;
Julia has an hysterical fit
a little later Charles agrees to the proposed divorce arrangements
September Rex makes a rabid speech in Parliament about the Munich agreement
November Cordelia arrives from Spain with news of Sebastian; he is a hanger-on at a monastery near Carthage
December Bridey marries Beryl; Lord Marchmain meets them in Rome;
Charles’s divorce case is heard in the court
1939 January Lord Marchmain arrives home
end of February Lord Marchmain makes the decision to take a drive in the grounds, but loses interest
Easter Lord Marchmain has no good spells now;
Bridey thinks he should see a priest, but Lord Marchmain declines pointedly to receive him
June Charles’s divorce is made absolute;
Celia marries Robin;
Charles is put on the reserve list at the War Office
mid-July Julia sends for Fr Mackay, who absolves Lord Marchmain;
Lord Marchmain dies;
Charles & Julia separate
September Julia’s divorce is made absolute;
Charles joins the Army
early 1940s Charles becomes a Catholic
1943 or 1944 February/March Charles is weary of the Army;
Charles finds himself at Brideshead again;
the chapel is open again
Rex is Minister for Whatever-it-is;
Julia & Cordelia are nursing in Palestine;
Bridey is also there with the Yeomanry
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