​JulianBreamGuitar.com

Biographical Timeline

1933 - 1939

Julian Bream - Here begins his journey! 
"Setting out on the voyage to Ithaca, you must pray that the way be long."

                                                                                                                     C.P. Cavafy (1911) 



1933

Julian Alexander Bream

Born on July 15, 1933, at the Battersea Borough Maternity Home, 19 Bolingbroke Grove, Battersea, a large district in south-west London, England.[1]
He is the son of Henry George Bream and Violet Jessie Wright.

As Bream would recount on many occasions, ‘I was born in Battersea, halfway between the dog’s home and the power station.’[2]

Webmaster’s note: Julian Bream’s official birth certificate lists the address as 19 Bolingbroke Grove, Battersea, England. This was the address of the Battersea Borough Maternity Home, located within a short distance from Bolingbroke Hospital, also on Bolingbroke Grove. Bolingbroke Hospital did not have a maternity ward and managed only complicated deliveries requiring surgery. The maternity ward buildings at 19 and 20 Bolingbroke were very old and were no longer in use by 1939. These buildings also suffered severe structural damage during WWII and were demolished in the early post-war years. Unlike most children in Britain at the time, Julian knew he was not born at home—where most children were born—and his birthplace was 19 Bolingbroke Grove. By the time Julian could remember the area, he no longer lived in Battersea, the maternity ward no longer existed, and Bolingbroke Hospital had no building number. No building stood at 19 Bolingbroke; the hospital was just nearby. Julian always assumed he was born at the hospital on Bolingbroke, but he was actually born in the maternity ward down the street, which did not appear to be directly associated with the hospital. While Julian Bream does not mention the hospital or the address of his birth, a short clip from an interview for the documentary film Julian Bream: A Life in Music (2006 ), taken under the direction of Bream, shows the front of the older section of the hospital, leading many to assume he was born at Bolingbroke Hospital. In a discussion with Paul Balmer, the director of the Bream documentary, he stated Julian simply told him to shoot a short film of the Bolingbroke Hospital in Battersea without giving a specific address. It appears that about 21% of children born in Battersea between 1921 and 1939 were born at this maternity facility. This is a large percentage of births, given that most children in England at the time were born at home.

Henry George Bream (b. June 19, 1906 - d. November 10, 1950)[3] was a commercial artist, book illustrator and amateur musician (piano, banjo and guitar).[4] His friends called him Harry. Violet J. Wright (b. June 6, 1912 - d. February 10, 1972)[5] was a housewife who enjoyed ballroom dancing and reportedly played the piano for enjoyment.[6] Later in life, Julian reported on more than one occasion that his mother had no interest in music.[7]

Henry (25 years old) and Violet (20 years old) were married on 12 June 1932, at St Mary le Park in Battersea, Wandsworth, England, a little over a year prior to Julian’s birth.[8]

The couple lived in a small house in Battersea for a short time while they waited for their new bungalow in Hampton to be built. Julian was born while his parents were living in this house.[9] Violet stayed with her mother, who also lived in Battersea, whenever she was about to give birth and for a short period afterwards.[10] Despite being married in an Anglican church, Henry was essentially agnostic, and Julian does not appear to have been baptised as a child.[11]

Bream remembers his parents:
‘My father was, in a nutshell, a ‘natural’ in whatever he sought to achieve, whether it be drawing, painting, woodwork, designing model aircraft petrol engines, gardening, building radio receivers, or, by no means least, music. Mother, on the other hand, had no such accomplishments. True, she had a warm and loving personality, but she seemed deaf to the beauty of musical sound. She was also chaotic to a degree in domestic matters, and thoroughly indolent in the discipline of her children. Yet now, as I reflect upon my early life, she had one special asset whose influence may have been paramount on my pursuit of music and, in particular, my love of plucked musical sound. She had distant forbears who were Sephardic Jews from Portugal… Could it have been her exotic familial connection (unbeknownst to me at that time) that cradled my passion for the Spanish guitar, and later the Arabic lute?’[12]  Several years later, during an interview for the documentary Julian Bream: My Life in Music, Bream mentions that his mother family was Scottish and that he was very proud to be half-Gaelic. He mentions that it's his mother’s genetic contribution to his ability to play plucked instruments, and does not mention his Sephardic Jewish forebears, as mentioned in the earlier interview.[13]      

1935

Around the time of Henry and Violet’s marriage in 1932, Henry purchased a small semi detached bungalow, a freehold house in Hampton-on-Thames, London, that was available pre-construction costing £ 315 12s. 6d. Early in 1935, eighteen months after the birth of Julian, Henry, who was then a successful commercial artist, resigned from Cinema Signs and opened his own studio on Fetter Lane in London. Around this period, the Bream family moved into their newly constructed home at 25, Cleveland Avenue, Hampton, London, England.[14]

1936

January 2
The birth of Julian's sister, Janice Bream. (Janice Bream studied at Twickenham Art School as a junior student, and later at Banbury College of Art and Brooke’s University, Oxford. She became an accomplished professional painter and is known professionally as Janice George-Allen).[15]

1937
Young Julian's earliest musical memory is being fascinated by the sound of the grand piano his father had just purchased for their new home. He would lie underneath it to feel the vibrations while his father played. The black grand piano was made by C. Bechstein.[16]

Julian has not started playing any instruments at this time. Not having any siblings old enough to play with, he amuses himself in the garden. Julian is accident-prone as a child and has numerous serious incidents that required medical attention.[17]

Endnotes:

[1] GRO Birth Certificate for Julian Bream gives exact address of birthplace. Other sources do not mention the Maternity Home and assume it is Battersea Hospital; BBC Genome - BBC One, This is Your Life, S37, E20, Feb 10, 1997, 6:02 (verified and found more specific information on iMBD); Stuart W. Button, Julian Bream: The Foundations of a Musical Career, (Aldershot:Scholar Press, 1997), p. 16; Lost Hospitals of London, https://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/batterseamaterniry.html.
[2] BBC Genome - BBC One, This is Your Life, S37, E20, Feb 10, 1997, 06:02.

[3] Parish record of baptisms, Battersea, 1906, p. 228. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915; England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007. GRO death certificate.
[4] Julian Bream, "The Guitar, the Lute and I - Part 1", Guitarra Magazine, September-October 1965, p.4 and reprinted in Sept-Oct 1982, p.10; Stuart W. Button, Julian Bream: The Foundations of a Musical Career, (Aldershot:Scholar Press, 1997), p. 16; Julian Bream, My Life in Music, directed and presented by Paul Balmer, produced by Judy Caine (Music of Earth, 2003) 05:54.

[5] Parish record of baptisms, St Peter’s Church, Pimlico, 1912. GRO birth certificate. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915; England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007.
[6] The Falcon, South West Whispers A Pint and a tune on the Spanish guitar, South Western Star, Friday April 8, 1949, p. 4; Conversations with Janice George-Allen 2021. Janice reported, 'I remember as a girl seeing her sit at the piano staring off but not actually playing anything. Julian bought her a small piano later on in life so she could play around.'

[7] Julian Bream, My Life in Music, directed and presented by Paul Balmer, produced by Judy Caine (Music of Earth, 2003), 00:00.

[8] Parish record of marriages, St Mary le Park, Battersea, 1932, p. 196; England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005; London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1932; Stuart W. Button, Julian Bream: The Foundations of a Musical Career, (Aldershot:Scholar Press, 1997), p. 16.

[9] Stuart W. Button, Julian Bream: The Foundations of a Musical Career, (Aldershot:Scholar Press, 1997), p. 16; Conversations with Janice George Allen 2021.  

[10]Conversations with Janice George-Allen

[11] Conversations with Janice George-Allen

[12] Stuart W. Button, Julian Bream: The Foundations of a Musical Career, Aldershot: Scolar Press, 1997, p. x; Ernest Lotinga (1876-1951) music hall star-reputedly related to Violet. Ernest Lotinga | mislaid-comedyheroes (mislaidcomedyheroes.com).

[13] Julian Bream, My Life in Music, directed and presented by Paul Balmer, produced by Judy Caine (Music of Earth, 2003), 00:00.

[14] Stuart W. Button, Julian Bream: The Foundations of a Musical Career, (Aldershot:Scholar Press, 1997), p. 16-17; Julian Bream, My Life in Music, directed and presented by Paul Balmer, produced by Judy Caine (Music of Earth, 2003), 4:54.

[15] England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2007; Stuart W. Button, Julian Bream: The Foundations of a Musical Career, (Aldershot:Scholar Press, 1997), p. 32, 123; https://www.janicegeorge-allen.com/about
[16] Julian Bream, "The Guitar, the Lute and I - Part 1", Guitarra Magazine, September-October 1965, p.4 and reprinted in Sept-Oct 1982, p.10; Stuart W. Button, Introduction by J. Bream, Julian Bream: The Foundations of a Musical Career, (Aldershot:Scholar Press, 1997), p. x; Julian Bream, My Life in Music, DVD, directed and presented by Paul Balmer, produced by Judy Caine (Music of Earth, 2003), 7:22; Conversations with Janice George Allen, 2021. Janis remembered the piano's brand name and make accurately. Julian Bream stated in the introduction to the Button book that the piano was Austrian, but it was German.
[17] Conversations with Janice George Allen, 2021; Thea Abbott