Anthea Esther Joseph ( Hodson; 6 March 1924 – 23 January 1981), also known by her second married name Hastings, was a British publisher.

Life

Anthea Joseph was born in London as Anthea Esther Hodson, daughter of Charles and Susan Hodson. During the war, she was employed at the American Embassy. She married the recently widowed publisher Michael Joseph in 1946 who had been her employer. For eight years she was mother to his four children and two of their own until her husband died.Victor Morrison, ‘Joseph, Anthea Esther (1924–1981)’, rev. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 9 April 2017
/ref> Joseph started to run the publishing business although her primary interest was not profit. She wanted to publish books even those that might not be financially profitable. It was she who phoned Alfred Wight to tell him that they would publish his books. Wight was not allowed to use his name and chose the name,

James Herriot James Alfred Wight (3 October 1916 – 23 February 1995), better known by his pen name James Herriot, was a British veterinary surgeon and author. Born in Sunderland, Wight graduated from Glasgow Veterinary College in 1939, returning to Engl ...

, for his popular books. Authors that were also popular were

Miss Read Dora Jessie Saint Order of the British Empire, MBE (17 April 1913 – 7 April 2012), née Shafe, best known by the pen name Miss Read, was an English novelist and, by profession, a Schoolmaster, schoolmistress. Her pseudonym was derived from her ...

,Miss Read
''The Guardian''. Retrieved 9 April 2017.

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Stan Barstow Stanley Barstow FRSL (28 June 1928 – 1 August 2011) was an English novelist. Biography Barstow was born in Horbury, near Wakefield in the West Riding of Yorkshire. His father was a coal miner and he attended Ossett Grammar School. He work ...

H. E. Bates Herbert Ernest Bates (16 May 1905 – 29 January 1974), better known as H. E. Bates, was an English writer. His best-known works include ''Love for Lydia'', '' The Darling Buds of May'', and '' My Uncle Silas''. Early life H.E. Bates was ...

Dick Francis Richard Stanley Francis (31 October 1920 – 14 February 2010) was a British steeplechase jockey and crime writer whose novels centre on horse racing in England. After wartime service in the RAF, Francis became a full-time jump-jockey, winni ...

Barry Hines Melvin Barry Hines, FRSL (30 June 1939 – 18 March 2016) was an English author, playwright and screenwriter. His novels and screenplays explore the political and economic struggles of working-class Northern England, particularly in his native W ...

Julian Rathbone Julian Christopher Rathbone (10 February 1935 – 28 February 2008) was an English novelist. Life Julian Rathbone was born in 1935 in Blackheath, south London. The son of Christopher and Decima Rathbone he was a member of the Rathbone family ...

and

Alun Richards Alun Morgun Richards (27 October 1929 – 2 June 2004) was a Welsh novelist, best known for his novel '' Ennal's Point'', about the work of a lifeboat crew in South Wales. Richards was born in King Edward Avenue, Caerphilly. He was educated at ...

. Joseph made sure that profits were set aside for other authors. In 1962, Anthea Joseph became deputy chairman of the publishing business. She re-married the following year and had another daughter. Her new husband was

Macdonald Hastings Douglas Edward Macdonald "Mac" Hastings (6 October 1909 – 4 October 1982), known as Macdonald Hastings, was an English journalist, author and war correspondent. Early life and education Hastings was born in Camberwell, South London, the son o ...

and her step-children now included

Max Hastings Sir Max Hugh Macdonald Hastings (; born 28 December 1945) is a British journalist and military historian, who has worked as a foreign correspondent for the BBC, editor-in-chief of ''The Daily Telegraph'', and editor of the ''Evening Standard' ...

. She became chairman in 1978 of Michael Joseph Ltd.

Death

Joseph died on 23 January 1981, aged 56, of cancer, at Brown's Farm in

Old Basing Old Basing is a village in Hampshire, England, just east of Basingstoke. It was called ''Basengum'' in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and ''Basinges'' in the Domesday Book. Etymology The root ''Bas'' derives from the Latin word '' basilīa'' - the no ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joseph, Anthea 1924 births 1981 deaths Publishers (people) from London Deaths from cancer in England 20th-century publishers (people) Daughters of life peers People from Old Basing 20th-century English businesspeople