Kathleen Rosalind Dobbs Muggeridge (née Dobbs;Albin Kreb

''New York Times'', 15 November 1990. ''The Independent'' obituary (below) of Kitty Muggeridge appears to be the main source to identify her first name as 'Kathleen'. 8 December 1903 – 11 June 1994) was a British writer and translator. She was born in

Château d'Oex A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions. Nowaday ...

Vaud Vaud ( ; french: (Canton de) Vaud, ; german: (Kanton) Waadt, or ), more formally the canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts and its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms b ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, where her parents, the former Rosalind Potter (

Beatrice Webb Martha Beatrice Webb, Baroness Passfield, (née Potter; 22 January 1858 – 30 April 1943) was an English sociologist, economist, socialist, labour historian and social reformer. It was Webb who coined the term ''collective bargaining''. She ...

's sister) and George Dobbs, were then living.

Stafford Cripps Sir Richard Stafford Cripps (24 April 1889 – 21 April 1952) was a British Labour Party politician, barrister, and diplomat. A wealthy lawyer by background, he first entered Parliament at a by-election in 1931, and was one of a handful of La ...

was a cousin.Nicholas Flyn
Obituary: Kitty Muggeridge
''The Independent'', 20 June 1994 The family returned to England when hostilities in the

Great War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

began. She attended

Bedales School Bedales School is a co-educational, boarding and day independent school in the village of Steep, near the market town of Petersfield in Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1893 by John Haden Badley in reaction to the limitations of conventio ...

and, briefly, in her early 20s, the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

. In 1927, she married the journalist

Malcolm Muggeridge Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge (24 March 1903 – 14 November 1990) was an English journalist and satirist. His father, H. T. Muggeridge, was a socialist politician and one of the early Labour Party (UK), Labour Party Members of Parliament (for Romfo ...

, and the couple eventually had three sons and a daughter. The Muggeridges were posted to the Soviet Union in 1932 by the ''

Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. Then admiring the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

, the couple described it as "a wondrous development" but quickly became completely disillusioned when both saw what was happening in the country. Kitty's aunt,

, who, with her husband,

Sidney Webb, 1st Baron Passfield Sidney James Webb, 1st Baron Passfield, (13 July 1859 – 13 October 1947) was a British socialist, economist and reformer, who co-founded the London School of Economics. He was an early member of the Fabian Society in 1884, joining, like Geo ...

, had recently defended the Soviet Union in their book ''Soviet Communism: A New Civilization?'', called Muggeridge's ''Manchester Guardian'' articles "an hysterical tirade" but was more restrained in her private communications with the couple. With

Ruth Adam Ruth Augusta Adam, née King (14 December 1907 – 3 February 1977), was an English journalist and writer of novels, comics and non-fiction feminist literature. Early life She was born on 14 December 1907 in Arnold, Nottinghamshire, daughter of ...

, she wrote ''Beatrice Webb: A Life 1858–1943'' (1967), which although more a memoir than a scholarly book, was positively reviewed at the time. Her 1967 remark about the broadcaster

David Frost Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was a British television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ' ...

("he rose without trace") has been much quoted over the years. Like her husband, she became an admirer of the

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

-based nun

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, MC (; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa ( sq, Nënë Tereza), was an Indian-Albanian Catholic nun who, in 1950, founded the Missionaries of Charity. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu () was bo ...

, about whom she wrote a book, ''Bright Legacy'' (1983), a work published the year after the couple had become

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

.Karl Schmud
"G.K. Chesterton and Malcolm Muggeridge: A balance of opposites"
Catholic Education Resource Center In that period, she translated two books by

Jean Pierre de Caussade Jean Pierre de Caussade (7 March 1675 – 8 December 1751) was a French Jesuit priest and writer. He is especially known for the work ascribed to him known as ''Abandonment to Divine Providence'', and also his work with the Nuns of the Visitation in ...

, the 18th-century French Jesuit priest. Following the death of her husband in 1990, Kitty Muggeridge lived with her son John and daughter-in-law in

Welland Welland is a city in the Regional Municipality of Niagara in Southern Ontario, Canada. As of 2021, it had a population of 55,750. The city is in the centre of Niagara and located within a half-hour driving distance to Niagara Falls, Niagara-o ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, where she died in June 1994.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muggeridge 1903 births 1994 deaths British writers English Roman Catholics Roman Catholic writers Converts to Roman Catholicism People from Château-d'Œx British expatriates in Canada