William Plomer
[2] Whilst in South Africa, Edythe Plomer suffered health that was "indifferent from the start", falling ill and taking "some time to recover" from an operation.
[3] Charles Plomer- "an unwanted boy" who grew up into "a nervous, unstable man, prone to sudden, unreasonable fits of rage alternating with a great need for affection shown through hugs and kisses"- was a younger son of Colonel Alfred George Plomer, of the Indian Army, later resident at Mayfair.
Colonel Plomer, "although the youngest son... had inherited a considerable fortune" which he "unwisely and unluckily" attempted to increase by speculation, in one day losing around £100,000 (equivalent to over £3 million in 2024).
"[4] Charles Plomer (assessed by his son as "a non-thinker, with no inclination for analysis and no far-sightedness to look ahead")[5] lived a life of varied occupations; after Sherborne School, despite wanting to go into the Army like his elder brothers, due to asthma his father placed him as an apprentice in the wool trade at Bradford, where he lodged with a clergyman.
The "sociable" Charles fell in with a high-living set of "gilded youth", "sons of rich manufacturers", and ended up surpassing the limits of his allowance when playing cards and billiards.
Having professed his intention to propose to his future wife, Edythe, he went armed with a letter of introduction to Cecil Rhodes, who recommended Charles join the Cape Mounted Rifles, a police regiment.
He was recalled to service, but soon entered the employ of a Pretoria newspaper, the "Press", where he was tasked with visiting State President of the South African Republic Paul Kruger for "snippets of political gossip".
[9] Later, Charles, having reached the rank of Inspector of Native Affairs, left the civil service and took over a trading station in the Zululand region, subsequently becoming a recruiting agent for mine workers at Natal, which his son considered a descent in status.
The father of his great-uncle by marriage, both men being named William Downing Bruce, published a Plomer genealogy in 1847, claiming "traditionally they derive from a noble Saxon knight, who lived in the time of King Alfred"; Plomer looked disdainfully on this claim, calling it "fiddlesticks", based on nothing more than the fact that "Bruce's son... had married my great-aunt Louisa, and he probably wished to make out that this alliance was as distinguished as it was lucrative- for Louisa was something of an heiress".
Lacking interest in "mere names and dates", he much preferred characters like "Christopher Plomer, a canon of Windsor... unfrocked and clapped into the Tower in 1535 for criticizing, as well he might, the behaviour of his royal master, Henry VIII".
[14][15] He started writing his first novel, Turbott Wolfe, when he was just 21, which brought him fame (or notoriety) in the Union of South Africa upon publication in 1925, which had inter-racial love and marriage as a theme.
He was co-founder, editor and major contributor of the short-lived literary magazine Voorslag ("Whiplash") with two other South African rebels, Roy Campbell and Laurens van der Post in 1926.
It included material in both English and Afrikaans, and intended to publish in the Zulu language, and also attempted to portray the more superior standards of European culture, while promoting a racially equal South Africa.
[14] He served as one of three judges with James Baldwin and Noni Jabavu, for a short story competition created by Nat Nakasa, launched in The Classic volume one, issue two (November 1968).
[19] In 1976, the inaugural Mofolo-Plomer Prize, created by Nadine Gordimer and so named in honour of Basotho writer Thomas Mofolo and Plomer,[28] was awarded to Mbulelo Mzamane.
