Anthony Powell - Biography

Biography

Powell was born in Westminster, England, to Philip Lionel William Powell and Maud Mary Wells-Dymoke. His father was an officer in the Welch Regiment. His mother came from a land-owning family in Lincolnshire. Because of his father's career and World War I, the family moved several times, and mother and son sometimes lived apart from Powell's father.

Powell attended Gibbs's pre-prep day-school at the Square end of Sloane Street for a brief time. He was then sent to New Beacon School near Sevenoaks, which was popular with military families. Early in 1919, Powell passed the Common Entrance Examination for Eton where he started that autumn. There he made a friend of a fellow pupil, Henry Yorke, later to become known as the novelist Henry Green.

At Eton Powell spent much of his spare time at the Studio, where a sympathetic art master encouraged him to develop his talent as a draftsman and his interest in the visual arts. In 1922 he became a founding member of the Eton Society of Arts. The Society's members produced an occasional magazine called The Eton Candle.

In the autumn of 1923, Powell went up to Balliol College, Oxford. Soon after his arrival he was introduced to the Hypocrites Club. Outside that club he came to know Maurice Bowra, then a young don at Wadham College. During his third year Powell lived out of college, sharing digs with Henry Yorke. Powell traveled on the Continent during his holidays. Powell was awarded a third-class degree at the end of his academic years.

He married Lady Violet Pakenham (1914–2002), sister of Lord Longford, on 1 December 1934 at All Saints, Ennismore Gardens, Knightsbridge. Powell and his wife relocated to 1 Chester Gate in Regent's Park, London, where they remained for seventeen years.

Powell's first son, Tristram, was born in April 1940, but Powell and his wife spent most of the war years apart. A second son, John, was born in January 1946.

In 1950, using funds from a small legacy, Powell purchased a house called The Chantry at Frome, Somerset, about sixteen miles from Bath.

Powell was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1956, and during 1973 he declined an offer of knighthood. He was appointed Companion of Honour (CH) in 1988. He served as a trustee of the National Portrait Gallery from 1962 to 1976. With Lady Violet, he traveled to the United States, India, Guatemala, Italy, and Greece.

Anthony Powell died at The Chantry on 28 March 2000.