Vera Brittain

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Standard Name: Brittain, Vera
Birth Name: Vera Mary Brittain
From her university days before the First World War, VB was determined to be a writer. Her career as a novelist never fulfilled her own expectations; it was not until the publication of Testament of Youth, the first of her volumes combining autobiography with social and cultural history, that she achieved significant success. She also wrote both poetry and pamphlets. Much of her oeuvre is politically engaged, from her feminist journalism and social criticism of the 1920s to her pacifist writings of World War II.
Black and white, head-and-shoulders photo of Vera Brittain, looking straight at the camera, wearing a white shirt and a white scarf wrapped around her head.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
politics Margaret Haig Viscountess Rhondda
The group's agenda was to obtain legislative improvements in child-assault laws, the position of unmarried mothers, equality of both parents in guardianship rights, equal pay for teachers, equal civic service opportunities for women and men...
Occupation Margaret Haig Viscountess Rhondda
Women contributors ranged widely: Rebecca West , Stella Benson , Cicely Hamilton , Members of Parliament Lady Nancy Astor and Ellen Wilkinson , Virginia Woolf , Naomi Mitchison , E. M. Delafield , Rose Macaulay
Literary responses Margaret Haig Viscountess Rhondda
Virginia Woolf liked the work, but observed that MHVR was not subtle.
Woolf, Virginia. The Letters of Virginia Woolf. Editors Nicolson, Nigel and Joanne Trautmann, Hogarth Press, 1975–1980, 6 vols.
5: 167
Close friend Winifred Holtby , journalist and novelist, thought that the autobiography was splendidly free from bunk,
qtd. in
Eoff, Shirley. Viscountess Rhondda: Equalitarian Feminist. Ohio State University Press, 1991.
103
a sentiment that...
Textual Production Simone de Beauvoir
A valedictory volume of SB 's autobiography appeared under the title of Tout compte fait (translated into English in 1974 by Patrick O'Brian as All Said and Done).
The original title is bound to...
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...
Residence Stella Benson
During this visit to London, SB met many cultural, political, and social figures, including Wyndham Lewis (who drew a sketch of her), David Garnett , Kingsley Martin , Charles Morgan , Phyllis Bottome ,...
Literary responses Stella Benson
Forty-six years after Benson's death, Naomi Mitchison acknowledged that her work had ceased being read, that her fantasy was misunderstood as whimsy. She felt, however, that in 1979 a revival was due.
Mitchison, Naomi. You May Well Ask: A Memoir 1920-1940. Gollancz, 1979.
127
It is...
Reception Phyllis Bentley
A Modern Tragedy is one of PB 's better-known novels.
Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford, 1990.
She was somewhat offended when her friend Vera Brittain told her that she thought that the character of Elaine from this novel was based on...
Textual Production Phyllis Bentley
Most of PB 's manuscripts are held by Halifax Central Library . The Royal Society of Literature in London holds a collection of her letters, while her correspondence with Vera Brittain is held by McMaster University
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
At a dinner party at Vera Brittain 's Chelsea house, PB met Naomi Mitchison , Cecil Roberts , and Ellen Wilkinson .
Brittain, Vera. Chronicle of Friendship. Editor Bishop, Alan, Gollancz, 1986.
39-40
Friends, Associates Phyllis Bentley
Vera Brittain introduced PB , during her stay in Chelsea, to birth-control crusader Marie Stopes .
Brittain, Vera. Chronicle of Friendship. Editor Bishop, Alan, Gollancz, 1986.
41
Occupation Muriel Box
She had in fact discussed this venture with Sydney, and he had encouraged her. She had formerly been a non-active director of his publishing company Triton Books . She was able to capitalise her new...
Literary responses Muriel Box
Its recent editors call it very much a beginner's piece of work with regard to dialogue and stage impact. Yet they feel it is valuable for exemplifying the way that feminist ideas survived and continued...
Textual Production Muriel Box
MB 's first contact with her future second husband arose out of correspondence about legal matters canvassed in this book.
Box, Muriel. Rebel Advocate. Victor Gollancz, 1983.
195
The work itself fulfilled the aim of Femina Books : to produce titles with...

Timeline

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...

14 October 1920: A week after the university statutes had...

National or international item

14 October 1920

A week after the university statutes had finally made women eligible for degrees, women graduates of Oxford gathered for the belated award of degrees which they had earned, most of them, years before.

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, 1869–1955. Manchester University Press, 2009.
144

24 February 1934: The National Council for Civil Liberties...

National or international item

24 February 1934

The National Council for Civil Liberties was founded by journalist Ronald Kidd , who had witnessed the treatment of hunger marchers in London in November 1932.
Liberty: A Brief History. http://web.archive.org/web/20080807173131/http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/about/1-history/index.shtml.
Blondel, Nathalie. Mary Butts: Scenes from the Life. McPherson & Company, 1998.
443n8

7 March 1936: Hitler marched into and appropriated the...

National or international item

7 March 1936

Hitler marched into and appropriated the Rhineland: neither France nor Britain opposed him.
Woolf, Virginia. The Letters of Virginia Woolf. Editors Nicolson, Nigel and Joanne Trautmann, Hogarth Press, 1975–1980, 6 vols.
6: 19 and n4
Brittain, Vera. Testament of a Peace-Lover: Letters from Vera Brittain. Editors Eden-Green, Winifred and Alan Eden-Green, Virago, 1988.
5

27 September 1939: Warsaw fell to Hitler's invading army after...

National or international item

27 September 1939

Warsaw fell to Hitler 's invading army after twenty days' siege and bombardment.
“Poland 1939”. University of San Diego: World War II Timeline: 1939.
Brittain, Vera. Testament of a Peace-Lover: Letters from Vera Brittain. Editors Eden-Green, Winifred and Alan Eden-Green, Virago, 1988.
9

September 1943: The Women's Publicity Planning Association...

Building item

September 1943

The Women's Publicity Planning Association sponsored a mass meeting at Central Hall, Westminster, in support of the proposed Equal Citizenship (Blanket) Bill which would end all forms of sex discrimination.
Smith, Harold L. “The Effects of the War on the Status of Women”. War and Social Change: British Society in the Second World War, edited by Harold L. Smith, Manchester University Press, 1986.
224

6 August 1945: The US dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima:...

National or international item

6 August 1945

The US dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima: by early twenty-first century the best estimate of those killed on the spot stood at approaching 140,000 people, plus many thousands more with obvious, serious...

17 February 1958: CND, or the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament,...

Building item

17 February 1958

CND, or the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament , was founded at a public meeting in London; it held its first march that spring, at the Easter weekend.
Williams, Neville et al. Chronology of the 20th Century. Helicon, 1996.
299
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.

October 1958: Women Speaking began publication, covering...

Building item

October 1958

Women Speaking began publication, covering work, religion, education and peace from a feminist angle.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
63

March 1981: Breakaway Labour members of parliament—Roy...

National or international item

March 1981

Breakaway Labour members of parliament—Roy Jenkins , Shirley Williams (daughter of Vera Brittain ), David Owen , and William Rodgers —left the party to found the Social Democratic Party, or SDP .
Conradi, Peter J. Iris Murdoch. A Life. HarperCollins, 2002.
572n59
Marquand, David. “Roy Jenkins”. Guardian Weekly, 9–15 Jan. 2003, p. 19.
19

November 1981: Shirley Williams (daughter of Vera Brittain)...

Women writers item

November 1981

Shirley Williams (daughter of Vera Brittain ) became the first member of the Gang of Four, leaders of the newly-founded Social Democratic Party , to win a seat in Parliament : for Crosby, Lancashire.
Brakeman, Lynne, and Susan Gall, editors. Chronology of Women Worldwide: People, Places and Events that Shaped Women’s History. Gale Research, 1997.
363
British Library Catalogue. http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1489778087340&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&fromLo.
“Baroness Williams of Crosby (Shirley Williams)”. Liberal Democrats: People.

December 1982: Women Speaking, covering work, religion,...

Building item

December 1982

Women Speaking, covering work, religion, education and peace from a feminist angle, ended publication in London.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
63

Texts

Brittain, Vera. "One of These Little Ones. . .": A Plea to Parents and Others for Europe’s Children. Andrew Dakers, 1943.
Catlin, Sir George Edward Gordon et al. Above All Nations. V. Gollancz, 1945.
Brittain, Vera. Account Rendered. Macmillan, 1945.
Brittain, Vera. Born 1925. Macmillan, 1948.
Brittain, Vera. Chronicle of Friendship. Editor Bishop, Alan, Gollancz, 1986.
Brittain, Vera. England’s Hour. Macmillan, 1941.
Holtby, Winifred. “Foreword”. Pavements at Anderby, edited by Hilda Stewart Reid and Vera Brittain, Collins, 1937, pp. 9-11.
Brittain, Vera. Halcyon. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1929.
Brittain, Vera. Honourable Estate. Gollancz, 1936.
Brittain, Vera. Humiliation with Honour. Andrew Dakers, 1942.
Eden-Green, Winifred, and Vera Brittain. “Introduction”. Testament of a Peace-Lover: Letters from Vera Brittain, edited by Winifred Eden-Green et al., Virago, 1988.
Brittain, Vera. Lady into Woman. Andrew Dakers, 1953.
Brittain, Vera. Not Without Honour. Grant Richards, 1924.
Holtby, Winifred. Pavements at Anderby. Editors Reid, Hilda Stewart and Vera Brittain, Collins, 1937.
Brittain, Vera. Pethick-Lawrence: A Portrait. George Allen and Unwin, 1963.
Brittain, Vera. Radclyffe Hall. Femina, 1968.
Brittain, Vera. Search After Sunrise. Macmillan, 1951.
Brittain, Vera. Seed of Chaos. The Bombing Restriction Committee, 1944.
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.
Brittain, Vera. Testament of a Peace-Lover: Letters from Vera Brittain. Editors Eden-Green, Winifred and Alan Eden-Green, Virago, 1988.
Brittain, Vera. Testament of Experience. Gollancz, 1957.
Brittain, Vera. Testament of Friendship. Macmillan, 1940.
Brittain, Vera, and Rosalind Delmar. Testament of Friendship. Virago, 1980.
Brittain, Vera. Testament of Youth. Gollancz, 1933.