Women of the Century Database Display

Surname	Holtby
Forename/s	Winifred
Other Names
Dates	(1898 - 1935)

Biographical Notes	Feminist writer. Born in 1898, at Rudston House, near Bridlington, Daughter of Yorkshire farmer, David Holtby, and his wife Alice Winn (the first woman alderman in the East Riding of Yorkshire). Died in 1935. Educated at Queen Margaret's School, a boarding school in Scarborough. Went to Somerville College, Oxford in 1927, but left a year later to join the Women's Auxiliary Corps in WWI. Joined the Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps in 1918, serving first as a domestic worker in a New Zealand's Officer's Club in Mayfair and later as a hostel forewoman in France. Returned to Oxford University in 1919 to finish her studies in Modern History. There she met and became close friends with Vera Brittain. After graduating in 1921, both left Oxford to share a flat in Bloomsbury, London. Became a prolific journali,st|| writing for more than 20 newspapers, periodicals and magazines, including Manchester Guardian, Journal of the National Union of Women Teachers, Daily Express, Good Housekeeping, Radio Times, Yorkshire Post, and Time and Tide. Became director of Time and Tide in 1926. Author of several books, she is best known for her last novel South Riding, published after her death, partly drawing on her mother's experience as the first woman alderman in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Joined the League of Nations and lectured widely as an anti-war propagandist. Toured Europe in 1922 investigating post war conditions. Visited South Africa for over five months in 1926. Appalled by the racism, she worked against it the rest of her life, as well as giving extensive financial support to the Black trade union move,ment. An equal-rights feminist, she was one of the few active feminists in the 1920s and 1930s. Publications include: 1923 Anderby World 1924 The Crowded Street 1927 Land of Green Ginger 1931 Poor Caroline 1932 Virginia Woolf, a critical study 1933 Mandoa|| Mandoa! 1933 This Astonishing Island 1934 The Truth is not Sober and other stories 1934 Women and a changing civilisation 1935 The Frozen Earth, a collection of poems 1936 South Riding Also published posthumously: 1937 Volume of short stories 1937 Selection of correspondence 1939 Take Back Your Freedom, published posthumously 1960 Another, selection of correspondence
Sources Used	J.Legget, Local heroines (1988); J Shattoc,k (1994)
Further Sources	The Winifred Holtby Collection, Local Studies Library, Hull City Centra,l Library,
Associated Places	Rudstone