Gerald Haxton - Deportation

Deportation

Haxton left England shortly thereafter and then on returning in February 1919 he was deported from Britain as an undesirable alien and was never allowed to enter England again. The papers providing reason or reasons for this deportation were placed in a special access category for 100 years and are still closed from the public view.

Because Maugham and Haxton traveled abroad during most of World War I and chose to live on the French Riviera in the villa "Mauresque", they were able to carry on their relationship despite Haxton's deportation. They lived at Mauresque almost exclusively until they were forced to flee the advancing Germans at the commencement of World War II.

It is thought that Haxton’s flamboyant nature, said to be portrayed in the character Rowley Flint in Up at the Villa, was the key to Maugham’s invitational success with the members of society wherever the pair traveled.