Early Life and Schooling

Adrian Brunel was born at 58 Claverton Street, Pimlico, London on 4 September 1889. His mother, Frances Lucy Adelaide Brunel Norman (known as Adey Brunel), earned a living giving elocution lessons and delivering poetry recitals, in her ‘rich, soft and musical’ voice (press notices, ABSC 161), as well as writing poems and short stories under the pen name Dale Laurence. Brunel's father also went by different names; born Reginald Brunel Harris, he ran ‘The Concorde Concert Control’ as Reginald Norman-Concorde, promoting his wife's recitals and arranging musical performances of various kinds. His headed notepaper is adorned with commendations of his services but, while he may have been a reliable agent, it seems he was less so as a husband, since Adey divorced him in 1903 over an affair with his secretary. Composer Frederick Delius, one of her ex-husband's clients, subsequently wrote to congratulate her on getting rid of ‘that awful man’ (4 November 1904, ABSC 2/158). From the age of fourteen, Adrian did not see his father and rarely, if ever, mentioned him.

His close relationship with his mother was very important to his formative years and she remained a key influence throughout his life, her love of the arts and circle of literary and musical friends shaping Brunel's sensibilities. He took a great interest in women's issues and campaigned with the suffragettes, submitted plays to the Women's Theatre Company and, in 1931, addressed one of the first gatherings of the Gateway Club, London's famous lesbian haunt. Although Adey was not able to afford the formal education she would have liked for him, she ensured that he engaged in a wide range of artistic pursuits and developed a love of travel.

Brunel attended Harrow only briefly, between 1903 and January 1905, but found the ‘old school tie’ invaluable in later life. He then had an eightmonth stint at Lloyd's Bank, against the advice of Harrow's headmaster Joseph Wood, who wrote: ‘He is a promising boy … but to send him out at … fifteen would be very hard for him, and would spoil his future career’ (15 June 1905, ABSC 5/163).

War Intervenes

The 1911 census records Brunel as unemployed and living with his mother in Portslade, part of Brighton and Hove.