Bohemians in St. John's Wood
An Extraordinary History of a London House
Patrizia de Rachewiltz
Poet and Granddaughter of Ezra Pound
Rented 2A Nugent Terrace from Baron Jacob Rothschild
1982-1985
Patrizia de Rachewiltz was born in 1950 in Merano, Italy, to Boris de Rachewiltz, a famous Russian-Italian Egyptologist, and to Mary Rudge, the daughter of poet Ezra Pound and his mistress violinist Olga Rudge. Boris de Rachewiltz served secretly as a domestic spy for the Italian government and was later arrested for far-right political activities.
Mary Rudge de Rachewiltz is a poet and translator of her father Ezra Pound’s literary works. She published two books, Discretions and 500 Poems. Patrizia Rachewiltz is the author of three books of poems, My Taishan (2007), Dear Friends (2008) and Tresspassing (2011); as well as a series of translations into Italian and English.
Regarding Patrizia’s London residence rental from Baron Jacob Rothschild, there is a possible explanation. Baron Rothschild’s grandmother Mary Barnes Hutchison was a resident at 2A Nugent Terrace until her death in 1977. Mary’s brother, James Strachey Barnes, had been a close friend of Ezra Pound in Italy, collaborating together in propaganda for Italian Fascist Benito Mussolini.
Patrizia is married to Pin de Vroom and now lives in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.
The collected papers and works of Ezra Pound were collected into an “Ezra Pound Miscellany” at Yale University, in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. In cooperation with Pound’s daughter Mary de Rachewiltz, it was acquired by gift and purchase from various sources between 1935 and 1983. Mary de Rachewiltz assisted in the organization of the collection.
In early 1980s, Gavin Borden, President of the NYC-based Garland Publishing Company, launched a series of books containing materials from the Yale Ezra Pound Miscellany, with the assistance of Mary de Rachewiltz.
During this time, Gavin Borden met her daughter Patrizia and visited with her at 2A Nugent Terrace, London.
