Catherine Irvine Gavin (13 May 1907 – 27 December 1999) was a Scottish academic historian, war correspondent, and historical novelist.

Early life

Gavin was born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), ...

in 1907, and studied history and English at the

University of Aberdeen , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

, graduating with

first-class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

. She completed doctoral work in 1931, with a doctoral thesis on

Louis Philippe Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France. As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary Wa ...

of France; her thesis was published in 1933.

Career

Gavin held positions as a history lecturer at Aberdeen and at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. She stood unsuccessfully as a Unionist candidate in two parliamentary elections in the 1930s. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, she worked in France and the Netherlands for Kemsley Newspapers. She also wrote a biography of

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...

, published in 1941. She was a correspondent in the Middle East and Ethiopia after the war, for the Daily Express. After marriage, she worked a few years on the staff of Time magazine in New York. She wrote about her wartime experiences in ''Liberated France'' (1955). Most of Gavin's literary output was in the genre of historical romance. "Her characters are attractive flesh-and-blood people, her narrative adventurous and suspenseful, and her use of history skillful and unerring," reported one American reviewer in 1957. The University of Aberdeen awarded her an honorary DLitt in 1986. The Catherine Gavin Room there is named in her honour. The university has a 1940 portrait of her, in oil, by Elizabeth Mary Watt. Gavin appeared as a castaway on the

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

programme ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (us ...

'' on 24 June 1978.

Selected works

Gavin's works of historical fiction include the following titles: *''Clyde Valley'' (1938) *''The Hostile Shore'' (1940) *''The Black Milestone'' (1941) *''The Mountain of Light'' (1944) *''Madeleine'' (1957) *''The Cactus and the Crown'' (1962) *''The Fortress'' (1964) *''The Moon Into Blood'' (1966) *''The Devil in Harbour'' (1968) *''The House of War'' (1970) *''Give Me the Daggers'' (1972) *''The Snow Mountain'' (1973) *''Traitors' Gate'' (1976) *''None Dare Call It Treason'' (1978) *''How Sleep the Brave'' (1980) *''The Sunset Dream'' (1984) *''A Light Woman'' (1986) *''A Dawn of Splendour'' (1989) *''The French Fortune'' (1991) *One Candle Burning (1996)

Personal life

In 1948, Gavin married American advertising executive John Ashcraft and moved to the United States with him. She was widowed in 1998, and died in 1999, aged 92.

References

External links

Catherine Gavin
at Fantastic Fiction. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gavin, Catherine 1907 births 2000 deaths Place of death missing Writers from Aberdeen Scottish war correspondents Scottish historical novelists Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Academics of the University of Aberdeen Academics of the University of Glasgow Unionist Party (Scotland) parliamentary candidates Scottish expatriates in the United States Scottish women writers 20th-century British women writers 20th-century Scottish novelists 20th-century Scottish historians British women historians Women historical novelists Scottish women academics Women war correspondents 20th-century Scottish women