Thomas Moult

Biography

Thomas Moult (McKellen) was born on September 23, 1885 to Samuel Dunseith McKellen and his second wife, Eliza Ann Moult. While little is known about his relationship with his parents, Thomas frequently chose to publish under his mother’s maiden name (as in the short story “Stucco”), though he did not officially drop his father’s surname until 1936 ("Sally Go Round”). He married Bessie Boltiansky, a Russian-Jewish writer, in 1919, founding the magazine Voices in the same year; their only child, Joy Syllvia, was born in 1924 ("Sally Go Round”). During the family’s time living in London, Thomas built himself a literary reputation, composing mainly poetry with the occasional novel or short story. He is most well-known for his anthology, Best Poems of the Year, which he compiled between 1922-1943, though his novel Sally Go Round the Moon gained significant recognition when it was published in 1931.

With the political turmoil surrounding the start of World War II, and Bessie’s Jewish heritage, the family chose to flee to the United States. They arrived in New York aboard the Georgie in June of 1939 (Passenger Lists). The reason behind Thomas’ return to England less than one month later is shrouded in mystery, along with the remainder of Thomas and Bessie’s relationship. Census records indicate that Bessie and Joy moved to New Mexico, where Bessie began teaching. In one of her lectures, she made reference to a close relationship with the short story author Katherine Mansfield, who may well prove to have influenced both Bessie’s and Thomas’s work ("Sally Go Round”). While Thomas was reunited with his wife and daughter briefly in 1945, the couple seems to have parted ways for the remainder of their lives. Bessie took upon herself the title of widow in the 1947 Santa Fe City Directory, the year after Joy returned to England to live with her father (Santa Fe). During this time, Thomas served as the president of the Poetry Society in England, as well as the role of chairman of the editorial board of Poetry Review. Both Moult and his wife died in 1974; he in Colchester, Essex, England, and her in Chicago, Illinois ("Sally Go Round”).

Moult’s short story “Stucco,” published in the September 1919 issue of Voices in Poetry and Prose, shows traces of biographical influence. The story is inhabited by three characters: a grown man, his elderly mother, and his spinster sister. The lack of a father figure in the home could have stemmed from the troubled relationship Moult had with his own father (implied by his change in surname), or mimic Moult’s relationship with his wife and daughter. The first few pages contrast the main character’s endless work week alongside the solitude he finds in nature on Sundays, describing his goal to one day settle in a small cottage close to his favorite fishing spot. Feelings of obligation to appease his mother and sister prevent him from attaining his dream. As the story was written years before Moult’s immigration to (and from) the United States, it could be a reflection on his own internal struggle, responsibility to care for his family warring with his desire to attain greater intellectual/creative freedom. While the main character fulfills his familial duty, Moult’s return to England to continue his career and separation from his wife indicates that, eventually, he chose otherwise.