Caitlin Thomas - Early History

Early History

She was born in Hammersmith, London, to Francis, a would-be poet, and Yvonne Macnamara. The couple had a son and three daughters; she was the youngest. The Macnamaras were descended from an old Irish land-owning family, and her grandfather, Henry Vee Macnamara, was the squire of two estates in County Clare. Francis moved in literary circles, being friendly with a number of artists, but when Caitlin was about four or five, he began to live apart from his family. Yvonne left London, and she and the girls settled in Ringwood, near New Forest, where they were close friends to Welsh artist Augustus John and his family. Macnamara was a precocious child, and was attracting male attention when only twelve years old. In her early teens she fell in love with Caspar John, son of Augustus John, despite the fact that he was almost eleven years her senior. During this period she was brutally initiated into sex by Augustus himself, who seemed to believe that sex with those he painted was an artists privilege. In 1930, at the age of 16, she returned to London and entered a dancing school, and at 18 was a member of a London chorus line. She lived for a brief time in Paris before moving to County Clare in 1934, when her father returned to the Macnamaras' reduced estates.