Morna Stuart (19051972) was a writer of several plays and books. Her best-known work today is ''Marassa and Midnight'', a young-adult novel that tells the story of twin boys from Haiti separated during the French Revolution. During her lifetime, however, she received the most publicity for her play ''Traitor's Gate'', a work on the life of

Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, theologian, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VII ...

Biography

Information on Stuart's life is sparse. She was born in

Nainital Nainital (Kumaoni language, Kumaoni: ''Naintāl''; ) is a town and headquarters of Nainital district of Kumaon division, Uttarakhand, India. It is the judicial capital of Uttarakhand, the Uttarakhand High Court, High Court of the state being ...

, Kumaon, India in 1905 and attended St. Michael’s School and St Anne's College (both in Oxford). Her first book, ''The Children of Aries,'' was published under the pseudonym C.J. Campbell in 1925. Between 1937 and 1962 Stuart was a teacher as well as a scriptwriter for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. She served as a warden for the

Civil Defence Service The Civil Defence Service was a civilian volunteer organisation in Great Britain during World War II. Established by the Home Office in 1935 as Air Raid Precautions (ARP), its name was officially changed to the Civil Defence Service (CD) in 1941. ...

from 1942-1945. She was an Incident Officers Clerk for the

Belgravia Belgravia () is a district in Central London, covering parts of the areas of the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Belgravia was known as the 'Five Fields' during the Tudor Period, and became a dangerous pla ...

Relief Control Team in 1943 and for

Flying Squad The Flying Squad is a branch of the Serious and Organised Crime Command within London's Metropolitan Police Service. It is also known as the Robbery Squad, Specialist Crime Directorate 7, SC&O7 and SO7. It is nicknamed The Sweeney, an abbrevia ...

in 1944.

Works

Stuart is listed as a writer for 72 plays, screenplay adaptations, and lectures on literature, that aired on either television or radio for the

from March 1937 through May 1967. The topics of these programs included literary interpretations of historical figures ( Thomas Paycocke, St. Francis of Assisi), adaptations of novels ('' Cry, the Beloved Country'', '' Moonfleet''), and lectures on the ''

Pickwick Papers ''The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club'' (also known as ''The Pickwick Papers'') was the first novel serialised from March 1836 to November 1837 by English author Charles Dickens. Because of his success with ''Sketches by Boz'' published ...

'' and the

Bayeux Tapestry The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidery, embroidered cloth nearly long and tall that depicts the events leading up to the Norman Conquest, Norman Conquest of England in 1066, led by William the Conqueror, William, Duke of Normandy challenging H ...

. ''Marassa and Midnight'', written in 1966 and published in 1968, is the story of two twins from

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

separated during the French and Haitian revolutions. ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

'' found the title characters to be "magnificent", but opined that the story itself was "not strong enough to sustain them". Stuart dedicated the book to Harry Lockwood West, a British actor. ''Traitor's Gate'' was produced at the

Duke of York's Theatre The Duke of York's Theatre is a West End theatre in St Martin's Lane, in the City of Westminster, London. It was built for Frank Wyatt and his wife, Violet Melnotte, who retained ownership of the theatre until her death in 1935. Designed by ...

in London. In a modern critique of reviews of the time, Maggie Gale states that it was criticized for taking "liberties with the facts" while simultaneously being lauded for its "theatrical value". The play was adapted into a TV movie in 1939, starring

Margaretta Scott Margaretta Mary Winifred ScottBrian McFarlane, "Scott, Margaretta Mary Winifred (1912–2005)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, Jan 201available online Retrieved 30 August 2020. (13 February 1912 – 15 Apr ...

and

Basil Sydney Basil Sydney (23 April 1894 – 10 January 1968) was an English stage and screen actor. Career Sydney made his name in 1915 in the London stage hit ''Romance (Sheldon play), Romance'' by Edward Sheldon, with Broadway star Doris Keane, and he c ...

, and was translated into Indonesian in 1968. Stuart's other works include the books ''Till She Stoop'' (1935) and ''Nightrider'' (1934), as well as ''Michaelangelo's Confession of Faith'', a poem set to music by William H Harris (1935). Other works include the plays ''Mesmer: A fantasy based on the legend of Franz Anton Mesmer'' (1946) and ''The Masque of the King's Making'' (1949). The latter was written specially for a festival held in October 1949 in honor of

Alfred the Great Alfred the Great ( ; – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who both died when Alfr ...

and was performed by the College Dramatic Society of King's College, Taunton.

Personal Life

Stuart married Montagu Richmond Nicholas in Jul-Sep 1927 in Brixworth, Northamptonshire. He was a barrister and then a judge in the civil court of London. They had one son Oliver Richmond Nicholas born 1928. In 1962 they visited Haiti so that she could gather material about the period of the Haitian Revolution for her book ''Marassa and Midnight''."Haiti Sun" newspaper 19 Aug 1962, p.2 https://original-ufdc.uflib.ufl.edu/AA00015023/00121/2x

References

External links

Listing of works by Morna Stuart at the British Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stuart, Morna 1905 births Year of death missing English women writers Civil Defence Service personnel British people in colonial India Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford