Townley Searle’s Strange Newes From China – Part 1

Posted: February 1st, 2022 | No Comments »

Some time ago I posted a number of articles about London’s Chinese restaurant scene in the 1930s (as part of my research for an article for the Cleaver Quarterly). I relied heavily on an excellent and detailed piece from The Queenslander newspaper on the subject, listing the best and most popular Chinese establishments in the West End at the time. The article was anonymous so i could never credit any author, only the newspaper.

Anyway, I am most grateful to a commenter on the blog – “Yanli” – for the following information –

“You may find it interesting that the author of the article you cite here from the The Queenslander seems to be Townley Searle. He published a book titled Strange news from China in 1932, which was basically a gourmet’s note on Chinese food. The book is an interesting read showing a lot of thoughts on Chinese culture by the author, though Mr Searle has never been to China himself, according to the Spectator. The section that appears on The Queenslander’s article is recited from this book.’

And so….

This rather delightful edition of the book was first published in 1932 by EP Dutton in New York (US$2.85) and by Alexander Ouseley Limited in London. Townley Searle also illustrated the book of 101 recipes throughout, with simple line drawings and caricatures as well as the lovely dust jacket, and ‘endpapers in five colours with a pattern of Chinese lanterns’, which were beautiful…

Charming as the book looks i’m not convinced it’s totally accurate. It does indeed seem Searle never visited China and some of his recipes might be a bit questionable – Drunken Sparrows in a Rice Trap maybe, but also several hedgehog recipes (I’ve never come across hedgehog recipes or ingestion at all in China?).

And what of Mr Townley Searle himself. Surprisingly quite a few Townley Searle’s pop up in the newspaper archives who might be a pre-Strange news from China Searle but our one was a curator of a London curios exhibition (possibly), and definitely a London artist of the late 1920s. Searle, born in or around 1887, does seem to have been an artist and the owner of the Montmartre Gallery on Soho’s Wardour Street (#39), which seems to have been in business throughout the 1930s. The gallery was not so much a art space as a dealers in books, prints, autographs and curios. Searle was the Secretary of the London Collectors’ Club and, reportedly, scoured places like North London’s Caledonian Market, for discarded or unrecognised treasures

Wardour Street was an intgeresting location – Bohemian and also a centre of the early British film industry – Searle is recorder as a collector of early films from the 1890s, a specialist dealer in the works of WS Gilbert (of Gilbert & Sullivan fame) and self-published a complete bibliography of his work in 1931, The Guardian interestingly noting that Searle had dug out previously foprgotten works from the Lord Chamberlain’s (censors) cellars, and of chess sets.

Also, incidentally, Searle’s residence was #30 Gerrard Street in the West End, now of course London’s Chinatown, but then a more Bohemian Street of clubs, restaurants etc without any particularl Chinese elements. Though, living there, he was walking distance close to all the Chinese restaurants in the West End mentioned in his article in The Queenslander. Later, aroiund 1939, it seems Searle moved to West Street, even closer to Soho and the cluster of Chinese retaurants there.

And then Strange Newes from China which was generally reviewed as a curiosity rather than a serious cookbook or food history. Tomorrow I’ll post some recipes…but, for now, here’s some more pages…

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