Frieda Lawrence (August 11, 1879 – August 11, 1956) was a German author and wife of the British novelist
D. H. Lawrence
David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, literary critic, travel writer, essayist, and painter. His modernist works reflect on modernity, social alienation ...
.
Life
Emma Maria Frieda Johanna Freiin (Baroness) von Richthofen (also known under her married names as Frieda Weekley, Frieda Lawrence, and Frieda Lawrence Ravagli) was born at
Metz
Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...
into the Heinersdorf line of the . Her father was Baron Friedrich Ernst Emil Ludwig von Richthofen (1844–1916), an engineer in the
Imperial German Army
The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the leadership of Kingdom o ...
, and her mother was Anna Elise Lydia Marquier (1852–1930). Her elder sister was the economist and social scientist
Else von Richthofen
Else Freiin von Richthofen (October 8, 1874 – December 22, 1973) was among the early female social scientists in Germany.
Life and career
Elisabeth Helene Amalie Sophie Freiin (Baroness) von Richthofen (also known as Else Jaffé) was born into ...
.
In 1899, she married a British
philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...
and professor of modern languages,
Ernest Weekley
Ernest Weekley (27 April 1865 – 7 May 1954) was a British philologist, best known as the author of a number of works on etymology. His ''An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English'' (1921; 850 pages) has been cited as a source by most author ...
, who was some fourteen years her senior, with whom she had three children, Charles Montague (born 1900), Elsa Agnès (born 1902) and Barbara Joy (born 1904). They settled in
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...
, where Ernest was an
academic
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
at the university. During her marriage to Weekley she began to translate
German literature
German literature () comprises those literature, literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy ...
, mainly fairy tales, into English.
In 1912 she met
D. H. Lawrence
David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, literary critic, travel writer, essayist, and painter. His modernist works reflect on modernity, social alienation ...
, a former student of her husband; she and Lawrence soon fell in love and eloped to Germany. During their stay Lawrence was arrested for spying; after the intervention of Frieda's father, the couple walked south over the
Alps
The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia.
...
to Italy. In 1914, following her divorce, Frieda and Lawrence married. She had to leave her children with Weekley, because, as the adulterous respondent to a divorce instigated by her husband, she was not legally able to gain custody unless he consented.
They had intended to return to the continent, but the outbreak of war kept them in England, where they endured official harassment and
censorship
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...
. They also struggled with limited resources and Lawrence's already frail health.
Leaving postwar England at the earliest opportunity, they traveled widely, eventually settling at the
Kiowa Ranch near
Taos, New Mexico
Taos () is a town in Taos County, New Mexico, Taos County, in the north-central region of New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Initially founded in 1615, it was intermittently occupied until its formal establishment in 1795 by Santa Fe ...
, and in Lawrence's last years at the Villa Mirenda, near
Scandicci
Scandicci () is a ''comune'' (municipality) of c. 50,000 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region Tuscany, located about southwest of Florence.
Scandicci borders the following municipalities: Campi Bisenzio, Floren ...
in
Tuscany
Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence.
Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...
. After her husband's death in
Vence
Vence (; ) is a commune set in the hills of the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France, north of Nice and Antibes on the Mediterranean coast.
Ecclesiastical history
The first known Bishop ...
, France, in 1930, she returned to Taos to live with her third husband,
Angelo Ravagli. The ranch is now owned by the
University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...
at
Albuquerque
Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...
.
Georgia O'Keeffe
Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 March 6, 1986) was an American Modernism, modernist painter and drafter, draftswoman whose career spanned seven decades and whose work remained largely independent of major art movements. Called the "M ...
, who knew her in Taos, said in 1974: "Frieda was very special. I can remember very clearly the first time I ever saw her, standing in a doorway, with her hair all frizzed out, wearing a cheap red calico dress that looked as though she'd just wiped out the frying pan with it. She was not thin, and not young, but there was something radiant and wonderful about her."
Joseph Glasco
Joseph Glasco (January 19, 1925 – May 31, 1996) was an American abstract expressionist painter, draftsman and sculptor. He is most known for his early figurative drawings and paintings and in later years for deconstructing the figure to develop ...
became close friends with Frieda when he and
William Goyen lived together in Taos in the 1950s. At one point, Frieda asked Glasco to arrange an exhibition of
D. H. Lawrence
David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, literary critic, travel writer, essayist, and painter. His modernist works reflect on modernity, social alienation ...
's paintings. They remained friends until her death in 1956.
Mainly through her
elder sister, Frieda became acquainted with many
intellectual
An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...
s and authors, including the
socioeconomist Alfred Weber
Carl David Alfred Weber (; 30 July 1868 – 2 May 1958) was a German economist, geographer, sociologist, philosopher, and theoretician of culture whose work was influential in the development of modern economic geography. His other work ...
and
sociologist Max Weber
Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German Sociology, sociologist, historian, jurist, and political economy, political economist who was one of the central figures in the development of sociology and the social sc ...
, the radical
psychoanalyst
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious processes and their influence on conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on dream interpretation, psychoanalysis is also a talk th ...
Otto Gross
Otto Hans Adolf Gross (; 17 March 1877 – 13 February 1920) was an Austrian psychoanalyst. A maverick early disciple of Sigmund Freud, he later became an anarchist and joined the utopian Ascona community.
His father Hans Gross was a judge tur ...
(who became her lover), and the writer
Fanny zu Reventlow
Countess Fanny "Franziska" zu Reventlow (''Fanny Liane Wilhelmine Sophie Auguste Adrienne'') 18 May 1871 – 26 July 1918) was a German writer, artist and translator, who became famous as the "Bohemian Countess" of Schwabing (an entertainment dis ...
.
''Lady Chatterley's Lover''
Lawrence's ''
Lady Chatterley's Lover
''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' is the final novel by English author D. H. Lawrence, which was first published privately in 1928, in Florence, Italy, and in 1929, in Paris, France. An unexpurgated edition was not published openly in the United Ki ...
'' is thought to be based partly on her relationship as an
aristocrat
The aristocracy (''from Greek'' ''ἀριστοκρατία'' ''aristokratía'', "rule of the best"; ''Latin: aristocratia'') is historically associated with a "hereditary" or a "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the ...
with the
working-class
The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...
Lawrence. John Harte's dramatisation led to its being Lawrence's only novel to be staged. She loved the play when she read it and supported its staging, but the copyright to Lawrence's story had already been acquired by
Baron Philippe de Rothschild, a close friend. He did not relinquish it until 1960, after
the film version had been released. John Harte's play was first produced at the
Arts Theatre
The Arts Theatre is a theatre in Great Newport Street, in Westminster, Central London. It opened on April 20, 1927.
History
It opened on 20 April 1927 as a members-only club for the performance of unlicensed plays, thus avoiding theatre cen ...
in London in 1961, five years after her death.
Death
Frieda Lawrence died on her seventy-seventh birthday in Taos.
In popular culture
Frieda Lawrence's life inspired the biographical novel ''Frieda: The Original Lady Chatterley'' (
Two Roads, 2018), by
Annabel Abbs. The novel was a ''Times Book of the Month'', then a ''Times Book of the Year'' 2018. Abbs also wrote about Lawrence's love for walking and the great outdoors in ''Windswept: Walking in the Footsteps of Remarkable Women'' (Two Roads, 2021).
In the 1985 British television movie ''
Coming Through'' about Weekley and Lawrence's affair,
Helen Mirren
Dame Helen Mirren (; born Ilyena Lydia Vasilievna Mironov; 26 July 1945) is an English actor. With a career spanning over six decades of Helen Mirren on screen and stage, screen and stage, List of awards and nominations received by Helen Mirre ...
portrayed Frieda Weekley.
She is an important character in ''
On the Rocks
Various unique terms are used in bartending.
Definitions and usage
Straight, up, and straight up
In bartending, the terms "straight up" and "up" ordinarily refer to an alcoholic drink that is shaken or stirred with ice and then strained and ...
'', a play by
Amy Rosenthal
Amy Rosenthal (born 1974) is a British playwright from Muswell Hill, London. She is a recipient of ''The Sunday Times'' Drama Award.
Biography
Amy Rosenthal was born in 1974, the daughter of dramatist Jack Rosenthal and actress Maureen Lipman. ...
that deals with her sometimes difficult relationship with D. H. Lawrence.
Lawrence was the inspiration for the character Harriet Somers, played by
Judy Davis
Judith Davis (born 23 April 1955) is an Australian actress. In a career spanning over four decades of both List of Judy Davis performances, screen and stage, she has been commended for her versatility and regarded as one of the finest actresses ...
in the Australian film ''
Kangaroo
Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...
'' (1986). The film is based on D. H. Lawrence's semi-autobiographical
novel of the same name.
Bibliography
Autobiography
*Lawrence, Frieda von Richthofen. ''Not I, but the Wind...'' With an afterword by Harry T. Moore. New York:
Viking
Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...
, 1934.
**Reprint. Carbondale:
Southern Illinois University Press
Southern Illinois University Press or SIU Press, founded in 1956, is a university press located in Carbondale, Illinois, owned and operated by Southern Illinois University.
The press publishes approximately 50 titles annually, among its more th ...
, 1974. .
Biographies
* Byrne, Janet. ''A Genius for Living: The Life of Frieda Lawrence''. New York:
HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...
, 1995. .
* Crotch, Martha Gordon. ''Memories of Frieda Lawrence''. Edinburgh: Tragara Press, 1975. .
* Green, Martin. ''The von Richthofen Sisters: The Triumphant and the Tragic Modes of Love: Else and Frieda Von Richthofen, Otto Gross, Max Weber, and D.H. Lawrence, in the Years 1870–1970''. New York:
Basic Books
Basic Books is a book publisher founded in 1950 and located in New York City, now an imprint of Hachette Book Group. It publishes books in the fields of psychology, philosophy, economics, science, politics, sociology, current affairs, and his ...
, 1974. .
* Jackson, Rosie. ''Frieda Lawrence'' (Including ''Not I, But the Wind'' and other autobiographical writings). London and San Francisco: Pandora, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 1994.
* Lawrence, Frieda von Richthofen, Harry T. Moore, and Dale B. Montague, eds. ''Frieda Lawrence and Her Circle: Letters from, to, and About Frieda Lawrence''. London:
Macmillan, 1981. .
* Lucas, Robert. ''Frieda Lawrence: The Story of Frieda Von Richthofen and D. H. Lawrence''. New York: Viking Press, 1973.
* Squires, Michael, and Talbot, Lynn K. ''Living at the Edge: A Biography of D.H. Lawrence and Frieda Von Richthofen''. Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2002.
* Squires, Michael. ''D. H. Lawrence and Frieda: A Portrait of Love and Loyalty''. London: Welbeck Publishing Group Limited, 2008.
* Squires, Michael. ''The Limits of Love: The Lives of D. H. Lawrence and Frieda Von Richthofen''. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2023 ("originated, in part, from ''D. H. Lawrence and Frieda: A Portrait of Love and Loyalty''").
* Tedlock, Jr., E. W., ed. ''Frieda Lawrence: The Memoirs and Correspondence''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1964.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawrence, Frieda
1879 births
1956 deaths
19th-century German women writers
20th-century German women writers
D. H. Lawrence
German baronesses
Lorraine-German people
Writers from Metz
People from Taos, New Mexico
Frieda von Richthofen
Frieda Lawrence (August 11, 1879 – August 11, 1956) was a German author and wife of the British novelist D. H. Lawrence.
Life
Emma Maria Frieda Johanna Freiin (Baroness) von Richthofen (also known under her married names as Frieda Weekley, Fr ...