Mother

Abstract This chapter outlines in depth Rose Grainger's history, from her birth until her tragic suicide in 1922. Her aesthetic impressions and values are provided, and Grainger's abilities are attributed to these. Grainger outlines his close affinity in fields of art and literature with his mother, in particular Kipling, Dickens, and Walter Scott, and her abilities in foreign languages, particularly Danish. Her support of the underdog and dislike of snobbery or pretentiousness, and her moral flexibility are all lauded. Rose's relationship with Percy's friends, especially Cyril Scott and Roger Quilter is addressed. The chapter ends in an examination of the family tendency to worship bodily beauty, to prefer the emotional to the brilliant in art, and to subscribe to the conviction that geniuses, like Percy himself, flourished in immunity and isolation, not as a product of wider life experience.