Arthur Wesley Wheen

Arthur Wesley Wheen (9 February 1897 – 15 March 1971), MM & 2 Bars, was an Australian who chose to live his adult life in England. His brilliance as a writer, linguist and historian was matched by his warmth and affection for family and friendsWho|date=July 2007, amongst whom were artists and critics such as David Jones, T. S. Eliot and Herbert Read. Arthur’s unassuming manner, reluctance to accept accolades and his gift as a listener endeared him to all who knew him. In 1920 he arrived in England on a Rhodes Scholarshipcite web |url=http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120511b.htm |title=Wheen, Arthur Wesley (1897 - 1971)|accessdate=2007-05-05|work=Australian Dictionary of Biography, Online Edition|author=Sally O'Neill] , awarded on the basis of academic excellence and the Military Medal with two bars which he received in World War I. [Wheen is one of only 15 Australians to have been awarded a second bar to the Military Medal (which represents a third award of the medal)cite web |url=http://www.awm.gov.au/honours/honours/results-medal.asp?m=98|title=Honours and awards (gazetted)|accessdate=2007-05-05|work=Australian War Memorial Hall of Fame] After graduating from Oxford, Arthur joined the Victoria and Albert Museum where he became Keeper of the Library for more than twenty years; meantime also translating the work of Erich Maria Remarque (notably "All Quiet on the Western Front") and other German writers.

There is some speculation that Wheen worked as a spy in World War I, based on his excellence in the German language and his novella, "Two Masters", which may have been autobiographical.Fact|date=May 2007

Living in a small village outside London from which he commuted to work, Arthur was above all a husband, father and observer of nature. Although his war injuries and his contemplative, scholarly habits made him unsuited to the role of occasional farm-hand, he assisted his wife Aldwyth with the care of animals and other farm chores. Their partnership, in which exasperation, temperamental differences, respect and attachment created an unusual domestic environment and drew many visitors and admirers to their homeWho|date=July 2007. European refugees, prisoners-of-war and Australian relations stayed for extended periods.Fact|date=May 2007

Early life

1897 - Born 9 February at Sunny Corner, New South Wales, second son of Harold (Wesleyan Minister) and Clara Wheen.

1910 - Gordon Public School

1911 - 1914 Sydney Boys High School

1915 - Won an Exhibition to Sydney Teachers College and studied Arts at the University of Sydney.

World War I

1915 - October Enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (13th/1st Battalion Infantry Brigade) 1915 - December Embarked for Egypt

1916 - February Posted as a Signaller to the 54th Battalion at Tel-el-Kebir

1916 - June Posted to France

1916 - July At Petillon - awarded Military Medal for repairing cut telephone lines and maintaining communications in the midst of enemy artillery barrages "at great personal risk and self sacrifice."cite web |url=http://www.awm.gov.au/honours/honours/person.asp?p=4386|title=Honours and awards:Arthur Wesley Wheen|accessdate=2007-05-05|work=Australian War Memorial Hall of Fame]

1917 - March At Beaulencourt - awarded first bar to Military Medal."

1917 - September Wounded in action

1918 - January Promoted to Lance Corporal

1918 - April At Villers-Bretonneux awarded second bar to Military Medal, although originally recommended for the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

1918 - May Commissioned Second Lieutenant after attending an Officers' Training Course at Oxford

1918 - August Promoted to Lieutenant

1918 - September Again wounded in action and invalided home

Post-war

1919 - March Arrived Sydney - returned to Sydney University, Awarded a Rhodes Scholarship

1920 - July Left Australia to read Modern History at New College, Oxford

1923 Graduated B.A. (3rd Class Honours)

1923 -24 Shared digs with Frank Morley — Bedford Place and EffinghamFact|date=May 2007

1924 - January Appointed Assistant Librarian V & A Museum, London.

1924 - November Novella "Two Masters" first published in the London Mercury

1926 - December Met Aldwyth Lewers returning on the SS Esperance to England from Australia, where he had visited his family after the death of his father.

1928 - September Travelled to the United States.Fact|date=May 2007

1928 - October Married Aldwyth Lewers at Kensington Registry Office and moved to “Further Pegs” in the village of Jordans, Buckinghamshire.

1929 Translation of All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque published

1929 - October Daughter Gretchen born

1931 - Translation of The Road Back by Erich Maria Remarque is published

1933 - February Second daughter Aldwyth Elizabeth Wheen (Sally) born

1939 - January Sally died of meningitis

World War II and beyond

1939 Appointed Acting Keeper of the Library, V & A Museum, London

1940 - July Gretchen was sent to family in Australia for the duration of the war.

1945 - Appointed Keeper of the Library, V & A Museum, London

1945 - June Gretchen came back to Jordans

1951 - Gretchen returned to Australia to live

1950 - March Visited Bordeaux and the Dordogne

1954 - October Again visited France

1956 - Studied etching

1960 - March Visited Australia to see his mother who died later that year

1962 - Retired. Declined the 'honour offered' by the Prime Minister; (requested to be 'excused'): “It has been a great honour to have been keeper of the Library, where I have been most happy. I would ask no more.”Fact|date=May 2007

1962 - 71 Continued writing (articles for magazines). Became an intermittent potter. Assisted with farm work at “Further Pegs”. Continued to hold court for the many visitors who came to pay homage and to enjoy his wit and erudition.Fact|date=May 2007

1971 - 15 March Arthur died.

See also

*Erich Maria Remarque

Notes

Online Sources

* [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120511b.htm "Australian Dictionary of Biography"]
* [http://nla.gov.au/nla.ms-ms3656 The Wheen papers in the "National Library of Australia"]