Rosamond Lehmann

Vocation

Notable

British novelist. Her first novel, Dusty Answer (1927), was a succès de scandale. The novel's heroine, Judith, is attracted to both men and women, and interacts with fairly openly gay and lesbian characters during her years at Cambridge. Lehmann subsequently became established in the literary world and intimate with members of the Bloomsbury set. Her novel The Ballad and the Source (1944) received particular critical acclaim and both The Echoing Grove (1953) and The Weather In The Streets (1936) were filmed after her death. In December 1923 she married Walter Leslie Runciman (later 2nd Viscount Runciman of Doxford) (1900–1989). It was an unhappy marriage: they separated in 1927 and were divorced later that year. In 1928, Lehmann married Wogan Philipps, 2nd Baron Milford, an artist. They had two children, a son and a daughter. The marriage fell apart during the late Thirties with her husband leaving to take part in the Spanish Civil War. She had a "very public affair" for nine years (1941–1950) with the married poet Cecil Day-Lewis, who eventually left her to marry his second wife. Lehmann was awarded the CBE in 1982. Nearly blind from cataracts, she died at home in Clareville Grove, London on 12 March 1990, aged 89. Link to Wikipedia biography