Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Winifred Holtby
-
Standard Name: Holtby, Winifred
Birth Name: Winifred Holtby
WH
's posthumous reputation is based on her final novel, South Riding, published after her death. During her lifetime, she was better known as a prominent journalist, invited by Virginia Woolf
in February 1935 to write her autobiography for the Hogarth Press
.
Shaw, Marion. The Clear Stream: A Life of Winifred Holtby. Virago, 1999.
"Winifred Holtby" by Hulton Archive/Stringer,1930-01-01.Retrieved from https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/writer-winifred-holtby-circa-1930-news-photo/110682071.
At Somerville DW
became a close friend of Dorothy Sayers
(their religious and political disagreements later drove them apart) and in her circle met Vera Brittain
, Winifred Holtby
, and theSitwells
.
Leonardi, Susan J. Dangerous by Degrees: Women at Oxford and the Somerville College Novelists. Rutgers University Press, 1989, 254 p.
57
Education
Margaret Kennedy
With the onset of war, the town had largely been emptied of male students, making women a more visible presence around the university. Somerville had a tradition of turning out successful women writers; in entering...
Family and Intimate relationships
Vera Brittain
After Brittain returned to London, Catlin continued teaching at Cornell
, and together they pursued their semi-detached marriage: she lived in London, sharing her household with Winifred Holtby
, while he spent four and...
Family and Intimate relationships
Vera Brittain
VB
was devastated when Winifred Holtby
died, at 6:25 am on 29 September 1935. Holtby died after a long illness (renal sclerosis, whose seriousness Brittain had found it difficult to accept), at the Elizabeth Fulcher...
Family and Intimate relationships
Vera Brittain
VB
met Winifred Holtby
at Somerville College
, Oxford, where each was studying after war service.
Gorham, Deborah. Vera Brittain: A Feminist Life. Blackwell, 1996.
152-3
Berry, Paul, and Mark Bostridge. Vera Brittain: A Life. Chatto and Windus, 1995.
SJ
wrote to Vera Brittain
(who had recently reviewed her), thereby initiating a close friendship which, however, was neither wholly relaxed nor in the long run lasting. Jameson and Winifred Holtby
, both Yorkshirewomen, more...
Friends, Associates
Doreen Wallace
DW
's close friendships with Winifred Holtby
and Leon Geach
lasted until their untimely deaths. But that with Dorothy Sayers
ended in estrangement on religious and political grounds: the final straw was apparently DW
's...
Friends, Associates
Stella Benson
This summer she spent a holiday at Varengeville in Normandy, with Naomi Mitchison
. She also met Sydney Schiff
(at Chesham in Buckinghamshire), and on 31 August 1925 had her first meeting with...
Friends, Associates
Annie S. Swan
During the 1930s ASS
became a friend and correspondent of Winifred Holtby
. They exchanged copies of their books. After Holtby's early death a correspondence developed between ASS
and Vera Brittain
.
Swan, Annie S. The Letters of Annie S. Swan. Editor Nicoll, Mildred Robertson, Hodder and Stoughton, 1945.
164-5, 171, 249
Friends, Associates
Una Marson
UM
was delighted to meet Winifred Holtby
, for whom she had great admiration, at a British Commonwealth League
conference.
Jarrett-Macauley, Delia. The Life of Una Marson, 1905-65. Manchester University Press, 1998.
76
Friends, Associates
Phyllis Bentley
PB
stayed with Vera Brittain
and Winifred Holtby
at the house in Glebe Place in Chelsea where they and Brittain's husband, George Catlin
, all lived.
Bentley, Phyllis. "O Dreams, O Destinations". Gollancz, 1962.
174
Brittain, Vera. Chronicle of Friendship. Editor Bishop, Alan, Gollancz, 1986.
38, 56
Friends, Associates
Phyllis Bentley
PB
began one of the most important friendships of her life when she met Winifred Holtby
in this same year, when Holtby came to Yorkshire to give a lecture.
Friends, Associates
Phyllis Bentley
The Bentley-Brittain friendship lasted throughout this year, interrupted by emotional quarrels. Their final falling out, some time after Brittain had stayed in Yorkshire with Bentley and her mother, is variously attributed to a blurb or...
Friends, Associates
E. M. Delafield
EMD
had many literary friends, some of whom were associated with Time and Tide magazine, including Lady Rhondda, Winifred Holtby
, L. A. G. Strong
, A. B. Cox
, Mary Agnes Hamilton
, and...
Timeline
1 December 1881: The Schoolmistress, devoted to the furtherance...
Writing climate item
1 December 1881
The Schoolmistress, devoted to the furtherance of female education, began weekly publication in London.
Harrison, Royden et al. The Warwick Guide to British Labour Periodicals, 1790-1970: A Check List. Harvester Press, 1977.
480
14 May 1920: Time and Tide began publication, offering...
Building item
14 May 1920
Time and Tide began publication, offering a feminist approach to literature, politics, and the arts: Naomi Mitchison
called it the first avowedly feminist literary journal with any class, in some ways ahead of its time...
May 1922: Madeline Linford launched the Manchester...
Building item
May 1922
Madeline Linford
launched the Manchester Guardian women's page, which she produced on her own, with no editorial assistant. It was temporarily suspended during the Second World War.
Stott, Mary. Forgetting’s No Excuse. Faber and Faber, 1973.
75
John, Angela V. Evelyn Sharp: Rebel Woman, 18691955. Manchester University Press, 2009.
144
September 1929: The Open Door, campaigning for the economic...
Building item
September 1929
The Open Door, campaigning for the economic emancipation of the woman worker, began publication in London.
Harrison, Royden et al. The Warwick Guide to British Labour Periodicals, 1790-1970: A Check List. Harvester Press, 1977.
385
10 September 2003: Guardian Unlimited Books named as Site of...
Writing climate item
10 September 2003
Guardian Unlimited Books named as Site of the Week a website entitled Poetry Landmarks of Britain: a map of poetic assocations plotted on an interactive map of Britain, searchable by region or category.
“Poetry Society News: News Archive”. The Poetry Society, London.
Texts
Holtby, Winifred. Anderby Wold. John Lane, 1923.
Holtby, Winifred. “Foreword”. Pavements at Anderby, edited by Hilda Stewart Reid and Vera Brittain, Collins, 1937, pp. 9-11.
Cadogan, Mary, and Winifred Holtby. “Introduction”. Anderby Wold, Virago, 1981, p. ix - xix.
Hardisty, Claire, and Winifred Holtby. “Introduction”. The Crowded Street, Virago, 1981, p. ix - xiii.
Shaw, Marion, and Winifred Holtby. “Introduction”. Mandoa, Mandoa!, Virago, 1982, p. ix - xix.
Davidson, George, and Winifred Holtby. “Introduction”. Poor Caroline, Virago, 1985, p. xi - xvii.
Holtby, Winifred. Letters to a Friend. Editors Holtby, Alice and Jean McWilliam, Collins, 1937.
Holtby, Winifred. Mandoa! Mandoa!: A Comedy of Irrelevance. Collins, 1933.
Holtby, Winifred. Mandoa! Mandoa!: A Comedy of Irrelevance. Virago Press, 1982.
Holtby, Winifred. My Garden, and Other Poems. A. Brown, 1911.
Holtby, Winifred. Pavements at Anderby. Editors Reid, Hilda Stewart and Vera Brittain, Collins, 1937.
Holtby, Winifred. Poor Caroline. Jonathan Cape, 1931.
Holtby, Winifred, and George Davidson. Poor Caroline. Virago, 1985.
Holtby, Winifred. South Riding: An English Landscape. Collins, 1936.
Holtby, Winifred. South Riding: An English Landscape. Fontana/Collins, 1986.
Holtby, Winifred et al. Take Back Your Freedom. Editor Ginsbury, Norman, Jonathan Cape, 1939.
Brittain, Vera, and Winifred Holtby. Testament of a Generation. Editors Berry, Paul and Alan Bishop, Virago, 1985.
Holtby, Winifred. The Astonishing Island. Lovat Dickson, 1933.
Holtby, Winifred. The Crowded Street. John Lane, 1924.
Holtby, Winifred. The Crowded Street. Virago, 1981.
Holtby, Winifred. The Frozen Earth, and Other Poems. Collins, 1935.
Holtby, Winifred. The Land of Green Ginger. Jonathan Cape, 1927.
Holtby, Winifred. Truth Is Not Sober. W. Collins, 1934.
Holtby, Winifred. Virginia Woolf: A Critical Memoir. Wishart, 1932.
Holtby, Winifred. Women and a Changing Civilisation. John Lane, 1934.