Lady Cynthia Asquith is chiefly remembered as a diarist of the First World War, who gives a unique picture on its impact, both detailed and profound, on the lives of the English governing class. She also published novels, literary biographies, anthologies, journalism, plays, ghost stories, and works for children.
Milestones
27 September 1887 Cynthia Charteris, later LCA, was born ("Heigh Presto as the clock struck four," as her
mother wrote in her diary) at
Clouds, near
East Knoyle in
Wiltshire, a family estate.
By April 1915 Some months into the Great War, LCA agreed with Duff Cooper that they would both keep diaries: he bought her a leather-bound, gilt-edged, lockable volume bearing her initials to contain her diary entries.
By 9 May 1968 LCA's personal
Diaries 1915-1918, kept during the First World War, which had remained unpublished during her lifetime, appeared posthumously in print with a foreword by the novelist
L. P. Hartley.
October 1969 LCA's posthumous biographical study entitled
Thomas Hardy at Max Gate was her final work to see print.
