72-485: Winifred Holtby (23 June 1898 – 29 September 1935) was an English novelist and journalist, now best known for her novel South Riding , which was posthumously published in 1936. Holtby was born to a prosperous farming family in the village of Rudston , East Riding of Yorkshire . Her father was David Holtby and her mother, Alice, was afterwards the first alderwoman on the East Riding County Council . Holtby
144-618: A "gaunt figure with a ragged red brown beard ... a formidable man." Her mother was a noted philanthropist, and her side of the family contained Julia Margaret Cameron , a celebrated photographer, and Lady Henry Somerset , a campaigner for women's rights. Virginia was named after her aunt Adeline, but because of her aunt's recent death the family decided not to use her first name. Both of the Stephens had children from previous marriages. Julia, from her marriage to barrister Herbert Duckworth , had George , Stella, and Gerald ; Leslie had Laura from
216-818: A censored edition of their correspondence. Their letters, along with many of Holtby's other papers, were donated in 1960 to Hull Central Library in Yorkshire and are now held at the Hull History Centre . Other papers are in Bridlington library in Yorkshire, in McMaster University Library in Canada and in the University of Cape Town library in South Africa. A biography of Holtby by Marion Shaw, The Clear Stream ,
288-502: A changing civilisation Holtby linked the 1930s reaction against feminism to a broader "revolt against reason which has affected the intellectual life of the entire Western World". Holtby contextualized the rise of the Nazis, and the Western turn to the political Right in general, as a reaction to the broader upheavals of war and depression: "Just after the [First World] war, society was infected by
360-632: A depression similar to one which she had earlier experienced. The onset of the Second World War, the destruction of her London home during the Blitz , and the cool reception given to her biography of her late friend Roger Fry all worsened her condition until she was unable to work. When Leonard enlisted in the Home Guard , Virginia disapproved. She held fast to her pacifism and criticised her husband for wearing what she considered to be "the silly uniform of
432-715: A guide in human conduct. If we choose an anti-rational philosophy, in this quest, at least, we are defeated. The enemies of reason are inevitably the opponents of 'equal rights.'" Holtby is best remembered for her novel South Riding , edited by Vera Brittain and published posthumously in March 1936, which received high praise from the critics. The book won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for 1936 and has never been out of print. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English claims that, like all Holtby's other novels, it
504-521: A joint lease on it. Located at the end of a tree-lined road, the house was in a Regency-Gothic style, "flat, pale, serene, yellow-washed", remote, without electricity or water and allegedly haunted. The sisters had two housewarming parties in January 1912. Virginia recorded the events of the weekends and holidays she spent there in her Asham Diary , part of which was later published as A Writer's Diary in 1953. In terms of creative writing, The Voyage Out
576-521: A libertarian society with sexual freedom for all. Virginia appears not to have shown interest in practising the group's free love ideology, finding an outlet for her sexual desires only in writing. Around this time she began work on her first novel, Melymbrosia , which eventually became The Voyage Out (1915). In November 1911 Virginia and Adrian moved to a larger house at 38 Brunswick Square , and invited John Maynard Keynes, Duncan Grant and Leonard Woolf to become lodgers there. Virginia saw it as
648-470: A marriage to Minny Thackeray, a daughter of William Makepeace Thackeray . Both former spouses had died suddenly, Duckworth of an abscess and Minny Stephen in childbirth. Leslie and Julia Stephen had four children together: Vanessa , Thoby , Virginia, and Adrian . Virginia lived at 22 Hyde Park Gate until her father's death in 1904. She was, as she described it, "born into a large connection, born not of rich parents, but of well-to-do parents, born into
720-506: A new diary at the start of 1897 and filled notebooks with fragments and literary sketches. Leslie Stephen died in February 1904, which caused Virginia to suffer another period of mental instability from April to September, and led to at least one suicide attempt. Woolf later described the period of 1897–1904 as "the seven unhappy years." As was common at the time, Julia Stephen did not believe in formal education for her daughters. Virginia
792-682: A new opportunity: "We are going to try all kinds of experiments", she told Ottoline Morrell . This arrangement for a single woman living among men was considered scandalous. Several members of the Bloomsbury Group attained notoriety in 1910 with the Dreadnought hoax , in which they posed as a royal Abyssinian entourage (with Virginia as "Prince Mendax") and received a tour of the HMS Dreadnought by Virginia's cousin Commander Fisher , who
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#1733094166470864-409: A previous proposal of marriage from Clive Bell. As a couple, their interest in avant-garde art would have an important influence on Woolf's further development as an author. After Vanessa's marriage, Virginia and Adrian moved into 29 Fitzroy Square , still very close to Gordon Square. The house had previously been occupied by George Bernard Shaw , and the area had been populated by artists since
936-564: A quiet country retreat close to London, for the sake of her still-fragile mental health. In the winter of 1910 she and Adrian stayed at Lewes and started exploring the area of Sussex around the town. She soon found a property in nearby Firle , which she named "Little Talland House"; she maintained a relationship with that area for the rest of her life, tending to spend her time either in Sussex or London. In September 1911 she and Leonard Woolf found Asham House nearby, and Virginia and Vanessa took
1008-541: A rush of idealism to the head. Democracy and reason, equality and co-operation were acclaimed as uncontested virtues. In the new constitutions of Europe and America were incorporated splendid statements about the freedom of opinion, equality of the sexes, accessibility of education. We were about to build a brave new world upon the ruins of catastrophe ... About 1926, after the General Strike in England and its failure, after
1080-401: A scholarship. This article about a 1930s novel is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . See guidelines for writing about novels . Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page . Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf ( / w ʊ l f / ; née Stephen ; 25 January 1882 – 28 March 1941) was an English writer. She
1152-422: A spring of vitality and hope has failed." Holtby perceived feminism as necessarily tied to Enlightenment rationality, progress, and social engineering : "The attempt to create communities where men and women alike share the full stature of humanity is an attempt to do something which has not been done before, and which can only be achieved under certain conditions. And one of these is the acceptance of reason as
1224-500: A stomach pump. Woolf's illness led to Duckworth delaying the publication of The Voyage Out until 26 March 1915. In the autumn of 1914 the couple moved to a house on Richmond Green , and in late March 1915 they moved to Hogarth House, also in Richmond , after which they named their publishing house in 1917. The decision to move to London's suburbs was made for the sake of Woolf's health. Many of Woolf's circle of friends were against
1296-408: A very communicative, literate, letter writing, visiting, articulate, late nineteenth century world." The house was described as dimly-lit, crowded with furniture and paintings. Within it, the younger Stephens made a close-knit group. Virginia showed an early affinity for writing. By the age of five she was writing letters. A fascination with books helped form a bond between her and her father. From
1368-601: A view across the Ouse towards the hills of the South Downs . Leonard Woolf describes this view as being unchanged since the days of Chaucer . The Woolfs would retain Monk's House until the end of Virginia's life; it became their permanent home after their London home was bombed, and it was where she completed Between the Acts in early 1941, which was followed by her final breakdown and suicide in
1440-501: A voluntary basis at Morley College , and would continue intermittently for the next two years. This work would later influence themes of class and education in her novel Mrs Dalloway . She made some money from reviews, including some published in church paper The Guardian and the National Review , capitalising on her father's literary reputation in order to earn commissions. Vanessa added another event to their calendar with
1512-627: A year's leave in 1911 after letters from Lytton Strachey describing Virginia's beauty enticed him back. He and Virginia attended social engagements together, and he moved into Brunswick Square as a tenant in December of that year. Leonard proposed to Virginia on 11 January 1912. Initially she expressed reluctance, but the two continued courting. Leonard decided not to return to Ceylon and resigned his post. On 29 May Virginia declared her love for Leonard, and they married on 10 August at St Pancras Town Hall . The couple spent their honeymoon first at Asham and
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#17330941664701584-528: A young age. From 1897 to 1901, she attended the Ladies' Department of King's College London . There, she studied classics and history, coming into contact with early reformers of women's higher education and the women's rights movement. After her father's death in 1904, the Stephen family moved from Kensington to the more bohemian Bloomsbury , where, in conjunction with the brothers' intellectual friends, they formed
1656-510: Is "staunchly feminist in its use of a strong woman as the central protagonist." In 1938, it was made into a film directed by Victor Saville ; in 1974 it was adapted by Stan Barstow for Yorkshire Television and in 2011, BBC One produced a three-part dramatisation by Andrew Davies . There have also been several radio adaptations, the most recent for BBC Radio Four in 2005. Vera Brittain wrote about her friendship with Holtby in her book Testament of Friendship (1940) and in 1960 published
1728-509: Is considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors. She pioneered the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born into an affluent household in South Kensington , London. She was the seventh child of Julia Prinsep Jackson and Leslie Stephen in a blended family of eight that included the modernist painter Vanessa Bell . She was home-schooled in English classics and Victorian literature from
1800-488: Is dedicated to her life and work. She has been the subject of plays, novels, and films. Woolf is commemorated by statues, societies dedicated to her work, and a building at the University of London . Virginia Woolf was born Adeline Virginia Stephen on 25 January 1882 at 22 Hyde Park Gate in South Kensington , London, to Julia (née Jackson) and Sir Leslie Stephen . Her father was a writer, historian, essayist, biographer, and mountaineer, described by Helena Swanwick as
1872-493: The Cambridge Apostles , an elite university debating society that a number of them had been members of. These rules emphasised candour and openness. Among the 125 memoirs presented, Virginia contributed three that were published posthumously in 1976, in the autobiographical anthology Moments of Being . These were 22 Hyde Park Gate (1921), Old Bloomsbury (1922) and Am I a Snob? (1936). On 14 December 1922 Woolf met
1944-570: The Cambridge Apostles , included Saxon Sydney-Turner , Lytton Strachey , Clive Bell and Desmond MacCarthy . Their social gatherings, referred to as "Thursday evenings", were a vision of recreating Trinity College. This circle formed the nucleus of the intellectual circle of writers and artists known as the Bloomsbury Group . Later, it would include John Maynard Keynes , Duncan Grant , E. M. Forster , Roger Fry , Leonard Woolf, and David Garnett . Virginia began teaching evening classes on
2016-532: The League of Nations Union and was a member of the feminist Six Point Group . She was active in the Independent Labour Party and was a staunch campaigner for the unionisation of black workers in South Africa, during which she had considerable contact with Leonard Woolf . In a 1926 article, Holtby wrote: Personally, I am a feminist … because I dislike everything that feminism implies. … I want to be about
2088-463: The Quantock Hills before travelling to the south of France and on to Spain and Italy. On their return they moved to Clifford's Inn , and began to divide their time between London and Asham. Virginia Woolf had completed a penultimate draft of her first novel The Voyage Out before her wedding, but undertook large-scale alterations to the manuscript between December 1912 and March 1913. The work
2160-588: The Trinity May Ball in 1900. These men formed a reading group they named the Midnight Society, which the Stephen sisters would later be invited to. After their father's death, Vanessa and Adrian decided to sell 22 Hyde Park Gate in South Kensington and move to Bloomsbury . This was a much cheaper area—they had not inherited much and were unsure about their finances. The Duckworth brothers did not join
2232-522: The suffrage movement . Virginia also attended a number of lectures at the King's College Ladies' Department. Although Virginia could not attend Cambridge, she was to be profoundly influenced by her brother Thoby's experiences there. When Thoby went to Trinity in 1899, he befriended a circle of young men, including Clive Bell , Lytton Strachey , Leonard Woolf (whom Virginia would later marry), and Saxon Sydney-Turner , to whom he would introduce his sisters at
Winifred Holtby - Misplaced Pages Continue
2304-522: The "Friday Club", dedicated to the discussion of the fine arts. This introduced some new people into their circle, including Vanessa's friends from the Royal Academy of Arts and Slade School of Fine Art (where she had been studying), such as Henry Lamb and Gwen Darwin , and also the eighteen-year-old Katherine Laird ("Ka") Cox , who was about to attend Newnham College, Cambridge . Cox would become Virginia's intimate friend. These new members brought
2376-467: The Bloomsbury Group into contact with another, slightly younger, group of Cambridge intellectuals who Virginia would refer to as the "Neo-Pagans". The Friday Club continued until 1912 or 1913. In the autumn of 1906 the siblings travelled to Greece and Turkey with Violet Dickinson. During the trip Vanessa fell ill with appendicitis . Both Violet and Thoby contracted typhoid fever ; Thoby died on 20 November. Two days after Thoby's death, Vanessa accepted
2448-558: The Boom, the Slump. News is reported daily of immense catastrophes over which they can have no control, the Japanese and Indian earthquakes, Chinese famine, African drought ... The individual will seems unimportant, the individual personality is dwarfed, by happenings on so large a scale ... This is the slump complex - this narrowing of ambition, this closing-in alike of ideas and opportunities. Somewhere,
2520-463: The Home Guard". After the Second World War began, Woolf's diary indicates that she was obsessed with death, which figured more and more as her mood darkened. On 28 March 1941, Woolf drowned herself by walking into the fast-flowing River Ouse near her home, after placing a large stone in her pocket. Her body was not found until 18 April. Her husband buried her cremated remains beneath an elm tree in
2592-524: The Lighthouse and The Waves . Both at Hyde Park Gate and Talland House, the family socialised with much of the country's literary and artistic circles. Frequent guests included literary figures such as Henry James and George Meredith , as well as James Russell Lowell . The family did not return after 1894; a hotel was constructed in front of the house which blocked the sea view, and Julia Stephen died in May
2664-493: The Stephens in their new home; Gerald did not wish to, and George got married during the preparations, leaving to live with his new wife. Virginia lived in the house for brief periods in the autumn – she was sent away to Cambridge and Yorkshire for her health – and settled there permanently in December 1904. From March 1905 the Stephens began to entertain their brother Thoby's intellectual friends at Gordon Square. The circle, who were largely members of
2736-716: The Virago Modern Classics series in the 1980s. In 1967, the Royal Society of Literature instituted the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize for the best regional novel of the year. In 2003 the award was incorporated into the Ondaatje Prize . On her death, Holtby left a small legacy and her own collection of books to a library in the South African township of Soweto , which was opened in December 1940. It
2808-727: The Woolfs returned to Bloomsbury, taking out a ten-year lease at 52 Tavistock Square , from where they ran the Hogarth Press from the basement, where Virginia also had her writing room. 1925 saw the publication of Mrs Dalloway in May followed by her collapse while at Charleston in August. In 1927, her next novel, To the Lighthouse , was published, and the following year she lectured on Women & Fiction at Cambridge University and published Orlando in October. Her two Cambridge lectures then became
2880-464: The age of 10, with her sister Vanessa, she began an illustrated family newspaper, the Hyde Park Gate News , chronicling life and events within the Stephen family, and modelled on the popular magazine Tit-Bits . Virginia would run the Hyde Park Gate News until 1895, a few weeks before her mother's death. In 1897 Virginia began her first diary, which she kept for the next twelve years. In
2952-551: The artistic and literary Bloomsbury Group . In 1912, she married Leonard Woolf , and in 1917, the couple founded the Hogarth Press , which published much of her work. They rented a home in Sussex and permanently settled there in 1940. Woolf began writing professionally in 1900. During the inter-war period, Woolf was an important part of London's literary and artistic society. In 1915, she published her first novel, The Voyage Out , through her half-brother's publishing house, Gerald Duckworth and Company . Her best-known works include
Winifred Holtby - Misplaced Pages Continue
3024-544: The basis for her major essay A Room of One's Own in 1929. Virginia wrote only one drama, Freshwater , based on her great-aunt Julia Margaret Cameron , and produced at her sister's studio on Fitzroy Street in 1935. 1936 saw the publication of The Years , which had its origin in a lecture Woolf gave to the National Society for Women's Service in 1931, an edited version of which would later be published as "Professions for Women". Another collapse of her health followed
3096-497: The entry of Germany into the League of Nations and the delay by the Powers in making good their promises, the slump in idealism began to set in. Reason, democracy, the effort of the individual human will, liberty and equality were at a discount." Holtby noted that a former politician had explained the apathy of young women with reference to their experience of "huge impersonal events - the War,
3168-580: The feminist journal Time and Tide (also serving on the board of directors) and the Manchester Guardian newspaper. She also wrote a regular weekly column for the trade union magazine The Schoolmistress . Her books during this period included two novels, Poor Caroline (1931), Mandoa! Mandoa! (1933), a critical study of Virginia Woolf (1932) and a volume of short stories, Truth is Not Sober (1934). As well as her journalism, Holtby wrote 14 books, including six novels; two volumes of short stories;
3240-605: The first critical study of Virginia Woolf (1932) and Women and a changing civilization (1934), a feminist survey with opinions that are still relevant. She dedicated the latter book to composer Dame Ethel Smyth and actress and writer Cicely Hamiltion , both strong suffragists who "did more than write " The March of the Women ", the song composed in 1910 for the Women's Social and Political Union . She also wrote poetry, including poems about Vera Brittain's dead brother, Edward . In Women and
3312-535: The following year. In the 1939 essay "A Sketch of the Past" Woolf first wrote about experiencing sexual abuse by Gerald Duckworth at a young age. There is speculation that this contributed to her mental health issues later in life. There are also suggestions of sexual impropriety from George Duckworth during the period that he was caring for the Stephen sisters. Julia Stephen fell ill with influenza in February 1895, and never properly recovered, dying on 5 May, when Virginia
3384-405: The head of the household, and bring Vanessa and Virginia out into society . This was not a rite of passage that resonated with either girl; Virginia's view was that "Society in those days was a very competent, perfectly complacent, ruthless machine. A girl had no chance against its fangs. No other desires—say to paint, or to write—could be taken seriously." Her priority was her writing; she began
3456-441: The instigation of Vera Brittain. Holtby's early novels – Anderby Wold (1923), The Crowded Street (1924) (re-published by Persephone Books in 2008, having been broadcast the previous year as a ten-part BBC Radio 4 dramatisation by Diana Griffiths) and The Land of Green Ginger (1927) – met with moderate success. Holtby's fame was derived mainly from her journalism: she wrote for more than 20 newspapers and magazines, including
3528-478: The literary people of mark...clever young writers and barristers, chiefly of the radical persuasion...we used to meet on Wednesday and Sunday evenings, to smoke and drink and discuss the universe and the reform movement". From 1897 Virginia received private tuition in Latin and Ancient Greek. One of her tutors was Clara Pater , and another was Janet Case , with whom she formed a lasting friendship and who involved her in
3600-521: The nearby River Ouse on 28 March. 1920 saw a postwar reconstitution of the Bloomsbury Group, under the title of the Memoir Club , which as the name suggests focussed on self-writing, in the manner of Proust 's A La Recherche , and inspired some of the more influential books of the 20th century. The Group, which had been scattered by the war, was reconvened by Mary ('Molly') MacCarthy who called them "Bloomsberries", and operated under rules derived from
3672-521: The novel's completion The Years . The Woolf's final residence in London was at 37 Mecklenburgh Square (1939–1940), destroyed during the Blitz in September 1940; a month later their previous home on Tavistock Square was also destroyed. After that, they made Sussex their permanent home. After completing the manuscript of her last novel (posthumously published), Between the Acts (1941), Woolf fell into
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#17330941664703744-403: The novels Mrs Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927) and Orlando (1928). She is also known for her essays, such as A Room of One's Own (1929). Woolf became one of the central subjects of the 1970s movement of feminist criticism . Her works, translated into more than 50 languages, have attracted attention and widespread commentary for inspiring feminism. A large body of writing
3816-735: The period of the First World War in Asham, but were obliged by the owner to leave in 1919. "In despair" they purchased the Round House in Lewes, a converted windmill, for £300. No sooner had they bought the Round House, than Monk's House in nearby Rodmell came up for auction, a weatherboarded house with oak-beamed rooms, said to date from the 15th or 16th century. The Woolfs sold the Round House and purchased Monk's House for £700. Monk's House also lacked running water, but came with an acre of garden, and had
3888-600: The previous century. Duncan Grant lived there, and Roger Fry would move there in 1913. Virginia resented the wealth that Vanessa's marriage had given her; Virginia and Adrian lived more humbly by comparison. The siblings resumed the Thursday Club at their new home, while Gordon Square became the venue for a play-reading society. During this period, the group began to increasingly explore progressive ideas, with open discussions of members' homosexual inclinations, and nude dancing from Vanessa, who in 1910 went so far as to propose
3960-405: The sources of my joy". While at Asham, in 1916 Leonard and Virginia found a farmhouse to let about four miles away, which they thought would be ideal for her sister. Eventually, Vanessa came down to inspect it, and took possession in October of that year, as a summer home for her family. The Charleston Farmhouse was to become the summer gathering place for the Bloomsbury Group. Leonard Woolf
4032-526: The spring of 1882, Leslie rented a large white house in St Ives, Cornwall . The family would spend three months each summer there for the first 13 years of Virginia's life. Although the house had limited amenities, its main attraction was the view overlooking Porthminster Bay towards the Godrevy Lighthouse . The happy summers spent at Talland House would later influence Woolf's novels Jacob's Room , To
4104-653: The suffering soldiers endured during the war. In 1919, she returned to study at the University of Oxford where she met Vera Brittain , a fellow student and later the author of Testament of Youth , with whom she maintained a lifelong friendship. Other literary contemporaries at Somerville College included Hilda Reid , Margaret Kennedy and Sylvia Thompson . After graduating from Oxford, in 1921, Winifred and Vera moved to London , hoping to establish themselves as writers (the blue plaque at No. 82 Doughty Street refers). Holtby was, together with Brittain, an ardent feminist, socialist and pacifist. She lectured extensively for
4176-407: The war, and Woolf herself opposed it from a standpoint of pacifism and anti-censorship. Leonard was exempted from the introduction of conscription in 1916 on medical grounds. The Woolfs employed two servants at the recommendation of Roger Fry in 1916; Lottie Hope worked for a number of other Bloomsbury Group members, and Nellie Boxall would stay with them until 1934. The Woolfs spent parts of
4248-420: The wisdom of allowing a girl of fifteen the free run of a large and quite unexpurgated library. But my father allowed it. There were certain facts – very briefly, very shyly he referred to them. Yet "Read what you like", he said, and all his books...were to be had without asking. Another source was the conversation of their father's friends, to whom she was exposed. Leslie Stephen described his circle as "most of
4320-651: The work in which my real interests lie … But while … injustice is done and opportunity denied to the great majority of women, I shall have to be a feminist. After Brittain's marriage in 1925 to George Catlin , Holtby shared her friend's homes in Nevern Place Earls Court and subsequently at 19 Glebe Place , Chelsea; Catlin resented the arrangement and his wife's close friendship with Holtby, who nevertheless became an adoptive aunt to Brittain's two children, John and Shirley ( Baroness Williams of Crosby ). Shirley describes her as being "tall – nearly 6ft – and slim, she
4392-515: The writer and gardener Vita Sackville-West , wife of Harold Nicolson . This period was to prove fruitful for both authors, Woolf producing three novels, To the Lighthouse (1927), Orlando (1928), and The Waves (1931) as well as a number of essays, including " Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown " (1924) and " A Letter to a Young Poet " (1932). The two women remained friends until Woolf's death in 1941. Virginia Woolf also remained close to her surviving siblings, Adrian and Vanessa. Between 1924 and 1940
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#17330941664704464-455: Was completed there, and much of Night and Day . The house itself inspired the short story "A Haunted House", published in A Haunted House and Other Short Stories . Asham provided Woolf with much-needed relief from the pace of London life, and was where she found a happiness that she expressed in her diary on 5 May 1919: "Oh, but how happy we've been at Asheham! It was a most melodious time. Everything went so freely; – but I can't analyse all
4536-576: Was educated at home by a governess and then at Queen Margaret's School in Scarborough . Although she passed the entrance exam for Somerville College, Oxford , in 1917, she chose to join the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) in early 1918 but soon after she arrived in France, the First World War came to an end and she returned home. During this period, Holtby met Harry Pearson, the only man who stimulated romantic feelings in her, due primarily to his tales of
4608-440: Was educated in a piecemeal fashion by her parents: Julia taught her Latin, French, and history, while Leslie taught her mathematics. She also received piano lessons. She also had unrestricted access to her father's vast library, exposing her to much of the literary canon. This resulted in a greater depth of reading than any of her Cambridge contemporaries. Later, Virginia recalled: Even today there may be parents who would doubt
4680-545: Was incandescent with the radiance of her short and concentrated life". Holtby began to suffer from high blood pressure , recurrent headaches and bouts of lassitude , and in 1931 she was diagnosed as suffering from Bright's disease . Her doctor gave her only two years to live. Aware of her impending death, Holtby put all her remaining energy into what became her most important book, South Riding . Winifred Holtby died on 29 September 1935, aged 37. She never married, though Harry Pearson proposed to her on her deathbed, possibly at
4752-591: Was named the Winifred Holtby Memorial Library. It was the first library to be built in Africa specifically for non-Europeans. South Riding (novel) South Riding is a novel by Winifred Holtby , published posthumously in 1936. The book is set in the fictional South Riding of Yorkshire : the inspiration being the East Riding rather than the modern South Yorkshire ; Holtby's mother, Alice,
4824-598: Was not aware of the joke. Horace de Vere Cole , who had been one of the masterminds of the hoax along with Adrian, later leaked the story to the press and informed the Foreign Office, leading to general outrage from the establishment. During the latter Bloomsbury years Virginia travelled frequently with friends and family, to Dorset and Cornwall as well as further afield to Paris, Italy and Bayreuth. These trips were intended to avoid her suffering exhaustion from extended periods in London. The question arose of Virginia needing
4896-496: Was one of Thoby Stephen's friends at Trinity College, Cambridge, and had encountered the Stephen sisters in Thoby's rooms while visiting for May Week between 1899 and 1904. He recalled that in "white dresses and large hats, with parasols in their hands, their beauty literally took one's breath away". In 1904 Leonard Woolf left Britain for a civil service position in Ceylon , but returned for
4968-524: Was only 13. This precipitated what Virginia later identified as her first "breakdown"—for months afterwards she was nervous and agitated, and she wrote very little for the subsequent two years. Stella Duckworth took on a parental role. She married in April 1897, but moved to a house very close to the Stephens to continue to support the family. However, she fell ill on honeymoon and died on 19 July 1897. Subsequently George Duckworth took it upon himself to act as
5040-505: Was published in 1999 and draws on a broad range of sources. Holtby was buried in All Saints' churchyard in Rudston , East Yorkshire , just yards from the house in which she was born. Her epitaph is "God give me work till my life shall end and life till my work is done". All her novels, together with a collection of short stories and a collection of her journalism, were reprinted by Virago in
5112-460: Was subsequently accepted by her half-brother Gerald Duckworth's publishing house, and she found the process of reading and correcting the proofs extremely emotionally difficult. This led to one of several breakdowns over the subsequent two years; Woolf attempted suicide on 9 September 1913 with an overdose of Veronal , being saved with the help of Maynard Keynes' surgeon brother Geoffrey Keynes who drove Leonard to St Bartholomew's Hospital to fetch
5184-540: Was the first alderwoman on the East Riding County Council . The leading characters are Sarah Burton, an idealistic young headmistress; Robert Carne of Maythorpe Hall, tormented by his disastrous marriage; Joe Astell, a socialist fighting poverty; and Mrs Beddows, the first woman alderman of the district. The book won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for 1936. The rights to the book were given to Somerville College, Oxford by Holtby on her death, which used royalties from South Riding and Pavements at Anderby to fund
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