Lady Cynthia Asquith

Lady Cynthia Mary Evelyn Asquith (1887 – 31 March 1960) was an English writer, now known for her ghost stories and diaries. She also wrote novels and edited a number of anthologies, as well as writing for children and on the British Royal family.

Her father was Hugo Richard Charteris, 11th Earl of Wemyss (1857–1937) and her mother Mary Constance Wyndham (see The Souls). She married Herbert Asquith in 1910.

In 1913 she met D. H. Lawrence in Margate, and became a friend and correspondent.^[1] During World War I, to supplement her husband's income, she took a position as secretary to Peter Pan creator J. M. Barrie, with whom she became close friends, continuing to work for him until his death in 1937. Barrie left the bulk of his estate – minus the Peter Pan works – to her.^[2] The author L. P. Hartley became a lifelong friend after they met in the early 1920s.

Works

• The Ghost Book (1927), editor
• The Black Cap (1928), editor
• Shudders (1929), editor
• When Churchyards Yawn (1931), editor
• My Grimmest Nightmare (1935), editor
• The Spring House (1936), novel
• One Sparkling Wave (1943), novel
• This Mortal Coil (1947), stories
• Haply I May Remember (1950)
• What Dreams May Come? (1951), stories
• The Second Ghost Book (1952), editor
• Portrait of Barrie (1954)
• The Third Ghost Book (1956), editor
• Married to Tolstoy (1960), biography
• Thomas Hardy at Max Gate (1969)

See also

• List of horror fiction authors
• List of science fiction editors

References

1. ^ See Mark Kinkead-Weekes, D. H. Lawrence: Triumph to Exile, 1912-1922 (Cambridge, 1996), pp.69ff.
2. ^ Chaney, Lisa. Hide-and-Seek with Angels - A Life of J. M. Barrie, London: Arrow Books, 2005

Further reading

• The Diaries of Cynthia Asquith 1915-1918 (1968)
• Best Friends: Memories of David and Rachel Cecil, Cynthia Asquith, L. P. Hartley and Others (1991) Julian Fane
• Tuck, Donald H. (1974). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Chicago: Advent. p. 23. ISBN 0-911682-20-1. 

External links

• Cynthia Asquith at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Persondata
Name	Asquith, Cynthia
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1887
Place of birth
Date of death	31 March 1960
Place of death