In 1924, Eddy Sackville-West wrote:

‘It worries me to think how much I shall regret having published The Ruin. It is so certain to be misunderstood . . . If only I could get through a day or so without thinking of Jack. I don’t think he yet realises what I have gone through. The Ruin does not appear to have enlightened him, as I hoped it would. He never writes to me now.’

What do we know of this ‘Jack’, who was so happily and unhappily dominating Eddy’s thoughts in 1924?

Photograph of Winchester College Officers, 1922—showing J. W. McDougall (centre)
Winchester College Archives, Winchester, G5/8/5
 

© Courtesy of the Warden and Scholars of Winchester College