Du Maurier’s study © Jamaica Inn

Daphne du Maurier 1907 - 1989

If you were asked to think of an author who has written books with storylines based in Cornwall then Daphne du Maurier is the name most likely to spring to mind.

Daphne seized every opportunity to spend time at

Ferryside and it was here in 1931 that she wrote The

Loving Spirit, her first novel. This book, whilst not leading

to literary fame, led to her marrying the then Major

Tommy ‘Boy’ Browning who was so taken by the book

that in 1932 he sailed his motor boat to Fowey where he

met du Maurier, wooed her and married her three months

later in Lanteglos Church.

Browning had a stellar army career which at the end

of it saw him Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Arthur

Montague ‘Boy’ Browning, GCVO, KBE, CB, DSO. Early

in 1948 he became Comptroller and Treasurer to HRH

Princess Elizabeth and after she became Queen in 1952 he

became treasurer in the Office of the Duke of Edinburgh.

He retired in 1959 having suffered a nervous breakdown a

couple of years earlier and died at Menabilly in 1965.

The du Maurier family had holidayed in Cornwall throughout Daphne’s childhood and in 1926 her parents Sir Gerald and Lady Muriel du Maurier bought Ferryside, a house on the Bodinnick side of the river Fowey on the south coast of Cornwall.

Daphne Du Maurier

24

BEST OF CORNWALL 2020

In 1936 Daphne du Maurier joined her husband in

Alexandria where he had been posted and where by all

accounts she spent an unhappy 4 years. She returned to

England in 1940 and stayed with friends in Hertfordshire

where, in 1941, she wrote Frenchman’s Creek a tale of a

love affair between an English lady and a French pirate.

Frenchman’s Creek is a real creek on the Helford River which

is one of the most beautiful rivers in the country and well

worth a visit. (Boat hire available from Sailaway St Anthony

01326 231357).

On her return to Cornwall she rented a cottage at

Readymoney Cove in Fowey before, in 1943, moving two

miles to the west of Fowey to the magnificent Menabilly

on the Rashleigh estate which has been the inspiration

for Rebecca with the opening line ‘Last night I dreamt I

went to Manderley again.”. It was here that she wrote

The King’s General, My Cousin Rachel, The Apple Tree and

The Scapegoat. Daphne du Maurier lived at Menabilly until

1969 when she moved down the coast to Kilmarth which

was another house owned by the Rashleighs and where

she lived until her death in 1989. In a similar way that

Manderlay in Rebecca was based on Menabilly, the history

of Kilmarth was reflected in House on the Strand.

The book that established du Maurier as an author

was Jamaica Inn which was published in 1936. The tale

set high on Bodmin Moor was made into a film by Alfred

Hitchcock in 1938 since when there have been radio, stage

and television adaptations, the most recent being in 2014

when BBC One ran a prime time three-parter starring Jessica

Brown Findlay, Matthew McNulty and Sean Harris.

Daphne du Maurier’s novels with their romance, crime,

psychological intrigue and, in the case of The Birds, horror

have been much loved by filmmakers who to date have

adapted them into works for the cinema or television

screens well in excess of fifty times.

Jamaica Inn still exists and is situated literally just a

stone’s throw off the A30 at Bolventor (PL15 7TS). The Inn

was the inspiration for the novel when in 1930 Daphne du

Maurier stayed the night and went riding with a friend the

following day only to get lost when mist descended in the

late afternoon. Luckily their horses led them back to Jamaica

Inn where du Maurier stayed for a few more nights and

learned of the inn’s smuggling history which proved the

inspiration for her novel, Jamaica Inn.

In Jamaica Inn’s Daphne du Maurier Museum there are

many of the author’s personal items including her desk,

typewriter and several recently acquired letters written to

du Maurier or her husband by Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip,

Prince Charles and Field Marshall Montgomery. If you are

interested in the life and work of du Maurier then a stop at

Jamaica Inn is highly recommended.

The complete list of du Maurier novels is:

1931 The Loving Spirit

1932 I’ll Never be Young Again

1933 Julius

1936 Jamaica Inn

1938 Rebecca

1941 Frenchman’s Creek

1943 Hungry Hill

1946 The King’s General

1949 The Parasites

1951 My Cousin Rachel

1954 Mary Anne

1957 The Scapegoat

1962 Castle Dor

1963 The Glass Blowers

1965 The Flight of the Falcon

1969 The House on the Strand

1972 Rule Britannia

Jamaica Inn

Part of a letter from HM Queen Elizabeth II to du Maurier’s husband Tommy ‘Boy’ Browning © Jamaica Inn

25

BEST OF CORNWALL 2020