- T. A. Leonard, Adventures in Holidaymaking, 1934, Internationalism.
- Franz Adickes 1848 - 1915 See Liberalism and the city in 19th century, James J Sheehan, Past and Present, Vo 51, pp 116 -137, 1971
- Letters from Karl Breul to Oscar Browning, 1905 - 1908 King's College Cambridge, OB/1/208/C
- B/CHA/ PUB/5/2, GMCRO, B/CHA/PUB/6/1/2, GMCRO
- Auguste Lory, Ferienheimgesellschaft, Comradeship, spring 1911, B/CHA/5/2, GMCRO
- Fred's leisure wear and Frank's camera seem to have been sourced in Germany. In 1911, the summer of the Morocco crisis, over 700 C.H.A. members enjoyed holidays in Kelkheim and in the Black Forest. B/CHA/5/2, GMCRO
- Ramsay Macdonald's letter on this subject is published in Comradeship, 1911, B/CHA/5/2 GMCRO
- 'Visit from German Garden City Friends', Sir William Lever, 'Progress', Vol 11, www.unilever.com
- Bernhard Seib's last letter is published in 'Adventures in Holidaymaking'.
The first archivist who examined the 1912 book reached for the obvious cliche. The Nomads' account of their adventures in France is, of course, 'a letter from the lost generation'. Dismissing the cliche, one French historian sees their story as 'a glimpse of the twentieth century as it might have been'. Spending his early childhood in a multinational household in Hackney and his schooldays in Heidelberg, Arthur Leonard believed that studying modern languages was crucial to the international movement. State elementary or 'board' schools did not teach languages. Many young people who joined the original Cooperative Holidays Association learned their first words of French and German from the songbook known as 'le petit livre vert', including in the French section, 'C'etait Anne de Bretagne', followed immediately by 'Ma Normandie'. (1)
The Nomads' determination to speak French and understand the response too is one of the most striking aspects of their personal 'entente cordiale'. Throughout their travels, they observe and respect French etiquette. Preparing for the holiday, they've evidently studied the history of Brittany and Normandy. Such preparation reflects Arthur Leonard's approach to visiting another country. Meeting local people, learning their language and sharing experiences was integral to the spirit of C.H.A holidays in Europe. As the movement became international, members were reminded to behave as guests, treating their hosts with courtesy.
The first German record of a C.H.A. holiday is Adolf Reusch's engaging 1903 account of his holiday in Whitby, recommending the experience to all language students. Reviewing 'Ein Studienaufenthalt in England', Franz Cramer of Dresden published the C.H.A. address. Franz Cramer would become closely involved in the international project, attending meetings in Manchester, Bradford and Halifax. As the international situation became increasingly difficult, the C.H.A.'s activities in Germany became explicitly diplomatic. Previously based at guest houses in the Eifel, the C.H.A. chose Kelkheim, near Frankfurt as its new headquarters. The season began in early June, continuing until mid September. Guests stayed at the Hotel Taunusblick. Detailed preparations began in September, 1908, many months before the first Kelkheim-based holiday. Leonard worked with Dr Max Walter, Direktor of the Musterschule, Oberlehrer August Lorey, the city architect, Julius Hulsen and the British Consul General, Sir Francis Oppenheimer. Leonard also wrote to newspaper editors in Frankfurt and Cologne, inviting local people to join their visitors, for hill-walking, lectures and music. 1909 reports in the Frankfurter Allgemeine confirm that the invitations were accepted. When the first C.H.A. party arrived in Frankfurt in June, 1909, they were welcomed by OberBurgermeister Franz Adickes and invited to sing in the new Stadel concert hall. (2)
For language teachers in the leading schools and universities of Britain, France and Germany, war wasn't on the agenda at all. Anticipating the multilingual community of Europe and a very different twentieth century, they recognised the value of studying and understanding other cultures. Nation could speak peace unto nation far more effectively if they could actually speak the same language.
In Germany, secondary education had been radically reformed, focusing not on the classics, but on the sciences and modern languages. Following this 'modern' curriculum at Christ's Hospital School, Frank Bourne had been the top maths student of his year, an excellent linguist, achieving a high standard in sciences too. At Cambridge, Karl Breul, the university's first professor of German, was working to reform and revitalise language teaching in British secondary schools. Professor Breul emphasised not just language learning per se, but the importance of understanding another culture. Young people should meet, spending time at each other's schools and universities. (3)
Arthur Leonard's friend, the linguist, Lewis Paton, High Master of Manchester Grammar School, was introducing his pupils to Germany. Lewis Paton had spent part of his own schooldays at the Halle Gymnasium. School exchange visits began, originally between Manchester Grammar School and Frankfurt's Musterschule. Interest spread quickly to other Frankfurt schools and to Berlin. Knowing that Leonard was already arranging C.H.A. holidays in Germany, Lewis Paton suggested linking the school exchanges with C.H.A. holidays.Schoolboys from Germany began to stay at C.H.A. centres and with host families. The C.H.A. journal Comradeship published many accounts of these holidays, including letters from boys and from the parents who had acted as hosts. In Frankfurt, the Ferienheimgesellschaft was founded as a sister movement. (4)
Publishing articles and letters in German, the C.H.A. journal, 'Comradeship' evidently assumes that enough members could read articles in German. The C.H.A. headquarters had moved from their original base at in Scotland to Brunswick St in Manchester, opposite the main university buildings. Here and in the city centre, young working people could study French and German at a modest cost. Joseph Findlay, Manchester's Professor of Education, worked closely with Leonard, regularly attending C.H.A. meetings. Every January from 1908 until 1914, Professor Findlay directed a study week based in Hayfield,focusing on the understanding of German culture. (5)
On July 2nd, 1910, four parties from Frankfurt's Ferienheimgesellschaft arrived in Britain. Frank Bourne was one of the hosts for the third group. Accommodation had been arranged for them in university hostels, with host families, and at C.H.A. centres all over the UK. According to which tour they chose, the visitors could explore Britain from Beachy Head to Arran and the Scottish glens. In Wales, led by Arthur Leonard, they could climb Snowdon. In Scotland, Ernest Breul, Professor Karl Breul's elder son, led ascents of Ben Ime and Ben Lomond. Many distinguished professionals welcomed and travelled with the German visitors. In Oxford, their host was the Professor of German, Hermann Fiedler. In Stratford, their guide was the director of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre. In one photo taken in Hayfield, Frank, who had joined them for the first week, is standing in the back row. Frank's hopes for another holiday together next year could mean they planned to meet in Kelkheim. Evidence in the 1912 book indicates that they did. (6)
In 1911, throughout the Morocco crisis which brought Europe to the brink of war, the successful exchange holidays continued. Together, Arthur Leonard and Ernest Breul made the arrangements for the June 1911 visit of over seventy German academics to Westminster, ostensibly to study parliamentary democracy. Their host was the Labour leader, Ramsay Macdonald. Speaking in his Leicester constituency in July 1911, Macdonald urged that the international movements such as the Anglo-German exchange holidays could prevent war. (7)
The most intriguing aspect of the 1910 holiday is the time the visitors spent at Port Sunlight. Two of the Ferienheimgesellschaft parties spent a whole day at the garden city. Spies would be wasting their time. Lever Brothers made soap, not battleships or even explosives. Why on earth would so many young people in their teens and early twenties visit a place where the inhabitants made soap? Why not stay longer in Oxford or Stratford, enjoying Britain at its best? Like C.H.A. programmes, the Ferienheimgesellschaft's itineraries confirm that these were holidays with a distinctive agenda, attracting travellers interested in more than sightseeing. In 1887, wretched living conditions, rampant disease and alcohol abuse in Barrow inspired Arthur Leonard's radical career move. In 1910, youngsters visiting garden cities might not remember the ravages of cholera and typhoid. Their parents certainly would and T.B. was still a scourge. Industrialisation had spawned filthy rookeries, cellar dwellings, back to back houses and foetid tenements, first in Britain, then across Northern Europe. The slums of Manchester became an international byword for the disease and misery of the industrial revolution, inspiring a gamut of political treatises and harrowing novels.
Industrialists learned, slowly, that a sick and poorly housed workforce isn't cost effective. In 1887, the same year twenty-three year old Arthur Leonard confronted the 'rough, tough and insanitary' urban wilderness of Barrow, Lever Brothers founded their 'garden village' of Port Sunlight. Here, employees enjoyed the highest possible standard of living. Financially, high welfare made no economic sense. As an investment in their employees, the return was incalculable. In the first decade of the twentieth century, finance ministers, former prime ministers, engineers, doctors and architects from all over the world came to Port Sunlight. Approaching the first global war, they were all, including Frank's friends in the Ferienheimgesellschaft, studying the art of living well, creating good environments for work and leisure. (8)
In 1913, Frank enjoyed another C.H.A. holiday with German friends. More photos were taken and shared. In 1916, rather than deny his conscience and betray those friendships, he chose disgrace, facing the harshest punishment the state could impose.
For three summers, exchange student Bernard Seib of the Musterschule worked at the Newlands hostel near Keswick. One August night in 1912, Bernhard helped to retrieve a party of English and German youngsters who came to grief returning from climbing Great Gable and Green Gable in atrocious weather. In pitch darkness and torrential rain, Bernhard led them back to Newlands, reaching the hostel after 10.30 p.m. Met Office records confirm that 1912 matched the summer of 2008 for rainfall, but 1912 was colder, with a July snowfall and early August frosts. Drying out next day, the young hostellers stayed indoors, creating their own 'newspaper'. 'Herr Seib' features often and affectionately. The youngsters also express their opinion of the healthy menu, grace before meals and the sedate conduct their elders hoped for. Bernhard would never forget the friends he made in Britain. Called up and facing the 'enemy' near Rheims, he pleaded that he couldn't shoot his friends. Conscientious objection wasn't an option in Germany, but he was transferred to the eastern front, where he later died. His last letter to his friends in the C.H.A. reached England via his friend 'Mick' Michaelsen, in neutral Denmark. (9)
