The House of Special Purpose

by John C. Trewin

s/t: an intimate portrait of the last days of the Russian imperial family compiled from the papers of their English tutor, Charles Sydney Gibbes
This book is a good read for both newbies to the Romanovs as well as buffs. It is lushly illustrated with rare photos, first hand accounts from Gibbes as well as the children's other tutors, and gets into the imprisonment better than most books about the Romanovs.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Romanovs, Biography

148 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1975

About the author

John Courtenay Trewin, OBE, was a British journalist, writer and drama critic. Since 2000, an award has been given by the Critics' Circle for the best Shakespearean performance of the Year: "The John And Wendy Trewin Award For Best Shakespearian Performance".

Trewin was born in Plymouth, although both his parents were Cornish. He was educated at Plymouth College and in 1926 joined the Western Independent as a cub reporter. He moved to London in 1932 and joined the Morning Post, transferring to The Observer in 1937. He served as drama critic on the paper for over sixty years.

He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1981.

He married Wendy Monk (1915–2000) in 1938 and they had two sons, Mark Antony Trewin and Ion Trewin (Literary Editor of The Times, Editorial Director of Hodder and Stoughton, Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director of Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1997–2007, and Administrator of the Man Booker Prize from 2006).

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the story of the last days of the Romanov's, the Russian royal family, as told, substantially, from the perspective of the childrens' English tutor. It is also the biography of the tutor himself, taking his story until his death decades later. The author's sympathies are with the royals, no effort being made to represent the views of the revolutionaries. Still, it's well written and illustrated with relevant maps and photographs.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually owned this book back in the 1970s (long lost it though) it was interesting because is was about Sidney Gibbs the English tutor to the Romanov children and at that time nothing was known of him and although later Frances Welsh wrote a short biography of she added little to what we already knew from this book which came out after he died and a treasure trove Romanov ephemera was found amongst his belongings.

Neither this book nor the later one ny Welsh deals what an odd character Gibbs was - clearly he was gay but in 1975 things like that were not said unless the fact was established to the standard of proof required in English libel court. Although Frances Welsh's book hints she avoids the issue but then she has a poor record on issues like this which almost homophobic. It wouldn't surprise me if he was, royal courts have attracted large numbers of gays amongst their employees - often deliberately, not having 'family' meant they could be i posed mercilessly.

Great pictures as I recall, but this Romanov fan book, not history.

[Adele · Rating 3 out of 5]

I believe the people who have already reviewed it have done a credible job. This is the April 2014 choice of my book club. I will be interested to hearing their reviews. I liked it and am glad I read it. I had a difficult time, because of his lack of experience, accepting the fact that a peasant farmer was given such an important position with the Romanovs; and, since I know how their story ended, I had a hard time accepting Boyne's rendition. I believe it may have been appreciated most by readers who read it before the DNA results were published. The way Boyne presented the story's time line was distracting until I really got into the book. If I had realized it early on, I would have read the book when I had longer periods of time rather than in bits and pieces.

[Cat. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very short, about 150 pages so NOT encyclopedic, but a different perspective. This man tutored the children in St. Petersburg, went to Tobolsk to tutor them there, and traveled to Ekaterinburg with the family, although he wasn't permitted into the Ipatiev house until months after their murders. He was at the mine shaft while they dredged up the remains, however. He met Anna Anderson and said definitely she wasn't Anastasia, a fact recently borne out by DNA tests--his reasons included the fact that her hair was too coarse (after 30 years!!) and that she didn't appear to know Russian OR English

[Helen Azar · Rating 5 out of 5]

A look at the last few months of life of the last Russian imperial family in Ekaterinburg, just before their execution. Lots of rare photos and interesting info!