Anne Grey de Courcy ( Barrett; born December 1927) is an English

biographer Biographers are authors who write an account of another person's life, while autobiographers are authors who write their own biography. Biographers Countries of working life: Ab=Arabia, AG=Ancient Greece, Al=Australia, Am=Armenian, AR=Ancient Rome ...

and

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

, including as women's editor on the ''

London Evening News The ''London Evening News'' was an evening newspaper published in London beginning on 14 August 1855. It was cheap, at a halfpenny per issue. It changed its name to ''The Day'' but "gave a poor news service", and had failed by 1859. Sources ...

'', as a columnist for the ''

London Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free of charge in London, England. It is print ...

'' and as a feature writer for the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

''.

Early life and education

Anne Grey Barrett was born in December 1927, daughter of Major John Lionel Mackenzie Barrett (d. 1940), of The Tallat,

Northleach Northleach is a market town and former civil parish, now in parish Northleach with Eastington, in the Cotswold District, Cotswold district, in Gloucestershire, England. The town is in the valley of the River Leach in the Cotswolds, about northe ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, an officer in the

13th/18th Royal Hussars The 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was formed by the amalgamation of the 13th Hussars and the 18th Royal Hussars in 1922 and, after service in the Second World War, it amalgamated wit ...

, and Evelyn Kathleen Frances (1898–1987), daughter of Thomas Stewart Porter, of Clogher Park,

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

(he took his mother's family name, Porter, instead of his father's, Ellison-Macartney, as an heir of the Porter family of Belle Isle,

County Longford County Longford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Longford. Longford County Council is the Local government in the Republic ...

) Her mother was a descendant of

Sir Alan Bellingham, 3rd Baronet There have been three baronetcies created for persons with the surname Bellingham, one in the Baronetage of England, one in the Baronetage of Ireland and one in the Baronetage of Great Britain. As of 2014 one creation is extant. The Bellingham ...

. A brother, Christopher, was born in 1930.''

Contemporary Authors ''Contemporary Authors'' is a reference work that has been published by Gale since 1962. The work provides short biographies and bibliographies of contemporary and near-contemporary writers and is a major source of information on over 116,000 liv ...

'', vol. 121, Gale Group, 2004, p. 111 She was educated at

Wroxall Abbey Wroxall Abbey is a substantial Victorian mansion house situated at Wroxall, Warwickshire which was converted for use as a hotel, spa, wedding venue and conference centre. It is a Grade II listed building. History Built in 1141 by Sir Hugh de ...

, in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

Career

De Courcy worked for the ''

'' as women's editor in the 1970s. In 1980, de Courcy joined the ''

'' as a columnist. Between 1982 and 2003, she was a feature writer for the ''

''. Since 1969, she has produced a number of books, including biographies and social histories. Her stories usually cover women's heroism through historical events (''Debs at War'', ''1939: The Last Season'', ''The Fishing Fleet'').

Personal life

In 1951, she married Michael Charles Cameron Claremont Constantine de Courcy, a journalist and RAF officer, half-brother of John de Courcy, 35th Baron Kingsale. He was killed in a flying accident in 1953, aged 22. She then married, in 1959, barrister Robert Armitage (1921–1998), from a family of landed gentry originally of Milnsbridge House,

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

. Milnsbridge House has been in industrial use for at least a century, and the whole surrounding area is industrial. Anne de Courcy and Robert Armitage had three children.

Bibliography

*''Kitchens'' (1969) *''Plan your Home: Starting from Scratch'' (1970) *''Making Room at the Top'' (1974) *''A Guide to Modern Manners'' (1985) *''1939: The Last Season'' (1989) *''Circe: The Life of Edith, Marchioness of Londonderry'' (1992) *'' The Viceroy's Daughters: The Lives of the Curzon Sisters'' (2000) -

Irene Irene is a name derived from εἰρήνη (eirēnē), Greek for "peace". Irene, and related names, may refer to: * Irene (given name) Places * Irene, Gauteng, South Africa * Irene, South Dakota, United States * Irene, Texas, United States ...

Cynthia Cynthia is a feminine given name of Greek language, Greek origin: , , "from Mount Cynthus" on the island of Delos. The name has been in use in the Anglosphere since the 17th century. There are various spellings for this name, and it can be abbrev ...

and

Alexandra Alexandra () is a female given name of Greek origin. It is the first attested form of its variants, including Alexander (, ). Etymology, Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; genitive, GEN , ; ...

*''

Diana Mosley Diana, Lady Mosley (''née'' Mitford; 17 June 1910 – 11 August 2003), known as Diana Guinness between 1929 and 1936, was a British fascist, aristocrat, writer, and editor. She was one of the Mitford sisters and the wife of Oswald Mosley, lea ...

'' (2003) *''Debs at War 1939–1945'' (2005) *''

Snowdon Snowdon (), or (), is a mountain in Snowdonia in North Wales. It has an elevation of above sea level, which makes it both the highest mountain in Wales and the highest in the British Isles south of the Scottish Highlands. Snowdon i ...

: The Biography'' (2008) *''The Fishing Fleet: Husband-Hunting in the Raj'' (2012) *''

Margot Margot ( , ) is a feminine given name, a French language, French diminutive of Marguerite (given name), Marguerite that has long been used as an independent name. Variant spellings in use include Margo (given name), Margo and Margaux (name), Margaux ...

at War: Love and Betrayal in Downing Street 1912–1916'' (2014) *''The Husband Hunters: Social Climbing in London and New York'' (2017) *''

Chanel Chanel ( , ) is a French luxury fashion house founded in 1910 by Coco Chanel in Paris. It is privately owned by French brothers, Alain and Gérard Wertheimer, through the holding company Chanel Limited, established in 2018 and headquarte ...

's Riviera: Life, Love and the Struggle for Survival on the Côte d'Azur, 1930–1944'' (2019) *''Five Love Affairs and a Friendship – The Paris Life of

Nancy Cunard Nancy Clara Cunard (10 March 1896 – 17 March 1965) was a British writer, heiress and political activist. She was born into the British upper class, and devoted much of her life to fighting racism and fascism. She became a muse to some of the ...

, Icon of the Jazz Age'' (2022)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Courcy, Anne de 1927 births Living people English biographers English women journalists People from Chelsea, London Writers from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea English women biographers Daily Mail journalists Journalists from London