Ray Strachey

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Though RS published three novels between 1907 and 1927 (and a volume of history in collaboration with her husband ), most of her writing is non-fictional and reflects her deep commitment to women's suffrage, women's employment, and other political issues. Her nonfiction includes biographies of suffrage leaders, countless essays and broadcasts, and The Cause, an excellent history of the women's movement, for which she is best remembered.
Chapman, Wayne K., and Janet M. Manson, editors. Women in the Milieu of Leonard and Virginia Woolf: Peace, Politics, and Education. Pace University Press, 1998.
257-8
Halpern, Barbara Strachey. “Ray Strachey--A Memoir”. Women in the Milieu of Leonard and Virginia Woolf: Peace, Politics, and Education, edited by Wayne K. Chapman and Janet M. Manson, Pace University Press, 1998, pp. 77-86.
86n4
  • BirthName: Rachel Pearsall Conn Costelloe
    These birth names are given in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Other sources give her birth names as Rachel May Costelloe.

  • Nickname: Ray
  • Married: Strachey

Milestones

4 June 1887

Rachel Costelloe (later RS ) was born at 40 Grosvenor Road in London, the elder of the two girls in her family.
Strachey, Barbara. Remarkable Relations: The Story of the Pearsall Smith Women. Universe Books, 1980.
95
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

By 21 November 1907

Under her birth name, Ray Costelloe, RS published The World at Eighteen, a novel.
Strachey, Barbara. Remarkable Relations: The Story of the Pearsall Smith Women. Universe Books, 1980.
232
Chapman, Wayne K., and Janet M. Manson, editors. Women in the Milieu of Leonard and Virginia Woolf: Peace, Politics, and Education. Pace University Press, 1998.
258
TLS Centenary Archive Centenary Archive [1902-2012]. http://www.gale.com/c/the-times-literary-supplement-historical-archive.
306 (21 November 1907): 359

By 25 October 1928

RS published The Cause: A Short History of the Women's Movement in Great Britain, dedicated to Millicent Fawcett , whose life-story was part of its subject.
O’Malley, Ida. “The Women’s Movement”. Times Literary Supplement, No. 1395, 25 Oct. 1928, p. 768.
768
Chapman, Wayne K., and Janet M. Manson, editors. Women in the Milieu of Leonard and Virginia Woolf: Peace, Politics, and Education. Pace University Press, 1998.
257

16 July 1940

RS died in the Royal Free Hospital in London, in her early fifties, of heart failure, following an operation to remove a fibroid tumour.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
Strachey, Barbara. Remarkable Relations: The Story of the Pearsall Smith Women. Universe Books, 1980.
303
Halpern, Barbara Strachey. “Ray Strachey--A Memoir”. Women in the Milieu of Leonard and Virginia Woolf: Peace, Politics, and Education, edited by Wayne K. Chapman and Janet M. Manson, Pace University Press, 1998, pp. 77-86.
85

Biography

Birth and Family

4 June 1887

Rachel Costelloe (later RS ) was born at 40 Grosvenor Road in London, the elder of the two girls in her family.
Strachey, Barbara. Remarkable Relations: The Story of the Pearsall Smith Women. Universe Books, 1980.
95
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

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