Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Margaret Haig, Viscountess Rhondda
-
Standard Name: Rhondda, Margaret Haig,,, Viscountess
Birth Name: Margaret Haig Thomas
Pseudonym: Candida
Married Name: Margaret Haig Mackworth
Titled: Margaret Haig Mackworth, Viscountess Rhondda
MHVR
, is remembered for her leading role in the struggle for suffrage and equality, as a founder of the Six Point Group
, and the woman who made possible the very influential Time and Tide: An Independent Non-Party Weekly Review. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography calls her the leading feminist during a long stretch of the twentieth century. She wrote letters, pamphlets, editorials, a memoir, and two collections of essays, travel writing and reviews.
Her trip set off a flurry of activity at the Foreign Office. Charles Peake
, Head of the News Department at the Foreign Office and Chief Advisor to the Ministry of Information, had been informed...
Literary responses
Vera Brittain
The book was widely and favourably reviewed. Lady Rhondda
found it [e]xtraordinarily interesting. I sat up reading it till long past my usual bedtime and have been reading it again all this morning.
Gorham, Deborah. Vera Brittain: A Feminist Life. Blackwell.
She refused the request of Lady Rhondda
, founder and proprietor of Time and Tide, that she should use a male pseudonym for her work on it. Circulation rose steeply during her years in this job.
Dedications
E. M. Delafield
EMD
's novel Thank Heaven Fasting was published with a dedication to Margaret Rhondda which praises the sincerity and strength of [her] own work, both in Time and Tide and elsewhere.
Delafield, E. M. Thank Heaven Fasting. Macmillan.
v
McCullen, Maurice. E. M. Delafield. Twayne.
136
Powell, Violet. The Life of a Provincial Lady. Heinemann.
103
Publishing
E. M. Delafield
EMD
began writing book reviews for Margaret Haig Rhondda
's journal Time and Tide.
McCullen, Maurice. E. M. Delafield. Twayne.
chronology, 8
Occupation
E. M. Delafield
While her husband, who could not find engineering work, took a position as an estate agent, EMD
largely supported her family as a free-lance journalist and novelist.
McCullen, Maurice. E. M. Delafield. Twayne.
8-10
She also soon began writing book reviews...
Intertextuality and Influence
E. M. Delafield
Lady Rhondda
, the editor of Time and Tide, had approached EMD
earlier in 1929 about writing a light serial for the journal. EMD
then attended a lunch with Lady Rhondda, at which George Bernard Shaw
Intertextuality and Influence
E. M. Delafield
The diary abounds with references to contemporary literature, including several internal allusions to Time and Tide. The Provincial Lady engages in friendly rivalry over its competitions for readers and describes social encounters with the...
Textual Features
E. M. Delafield
The object of EMD
's satire is often upper-middle-class social mores. Styles of dress play a prominent role: those with artistic pretensions, for instance, are marked by their sandals and horn-rimmed glasses, sack dresses and...
politics
Cicely Hamilton
During the Second World War, CH
took part in the war effort by joining the ChelseaFire Service
. Lady Rhondda
, in her obituary of CH
, tells the story of Hamilton, nearly seventy...
Occupation
Beatrice Harraden
BH
undertook various kinds of public service. She sat on the English committee for awarding the Femina Vie Heureuse
prize, and became a governor of Bedford College
in 1929. During the 1930s she was a...
Occupation
Winifred Holtby
WH
accepted Margaret Haig, Lady Rhondda
's invitation to become a director of Time and Tide.
Shaw, Marion. The Clear Stream: A Life of Winifred Holtby. Virago.
xii, 136-7
Dedications
Winifred Holtby
WH
published Truth Is Not Sober, a collection of short stories dedicated to Lady Rhondda
.
Shaw, Marion. The Clear Stream: A Life of Winifred Holtby. Virago.
xiii
Timeline
7 May 1915: The Cunard liner Lusitania was sunk by a...
National or international item
7 May 1915
The Cunard
liner Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine.
23 December 1919: The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act received...
National or international item
23 December 1919
The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act received royal assent. It removed restrictions based on sex or marriage which prevented women from entering professions, universities, and civic posts.
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.
Mitchison, Naomi. You May Well Ask: A Memoir 1920-1940. Gollancz.
168
2 February 1927: Margaret Rhondda, as Chairman of the Equal...
National or international item
2 February 1927
Margaret Rhondda
, as Chairman of the Equal Political Rights Campaign Committee
, with many other suffrage veterans, signed a letter to the editor of The Times pressing for women to vote on equal terms with men.
1928: Members of the British Federation of University...
