Carola Oman

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(11 May 1897 – 11 June 1978) was an English historical novelist, biographer and children's writer. She was best known for her retelling of the

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is dep ...

legend and for a 1946 biography of Admiral Lord Nelson.Entry for Carola Oman in ''The Cambridge Guide to Women's Writing in English'
Retrieved 8 July 2012. Pay-walled.
/ref>

Background

Carola Mary Anima Oman was born on 11 May 1897 in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, the second of three children of the military historian Sir

Charles Oman Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman, (12 January 1860 – 23 June 1946) was a British military historian. His reconstructions of medieval battles from the fragmentary and distorted accounts left by chroniclers were pioneering. Occasionally his ...

(1860–1946) of All Souls and his wife Mary (1866–1950), daughter of General Robert Maclagan of the Royal Engineers. She described her sumptuous upbringing in her final book, illustrated with photographs: ''An Oxford Childhood''. As a child, Oman wrote several plays that were performed by friends. Another early interest was photography. She was sent in 1906 to Miss Batty's, later

Wychwood School Wychwood School is an independent school for girls aged 11–18, located in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England. The school is a member of the Girls' Schools Association and is a registered charity. The school is located on the southern corner of Bard ...

. She would have liked to have gone to boarding school, but her parents would not agree, and she continued at Miss Batty's until the spring of 1914.ODNB entry by Mark Bostridge
Retrieved 8 July 2012. Pay-walled.
/ref>Orlando project
Retrieved 8 July 2012.
/ref> The family moved in 1908 into Frewin Hall, now part of Brasenose College, Oxford. Her brother Charles (C. C. Oman) became a keeper of the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

and wrote several books on silverware and other domestic metalwork. The set designer Julia Trevelyan Oman (1930–2003) was her niece. Carola Oman worked as a VAD in England and then in France in 1918–1919: soon after her 1919 discharge, she met Gerald Foy Ray Lenanton (1896–1952), a soldier returning from France who would join his family business as a timber broker. After marrying Lenanton on 26 April 1922, Oman became Lady Lenanton when her husband was knighted in 1946 for his World War II service as director of home timber production. The couple, who remained childless, lived from 1928 at Bride Hall, a Jacobean mansion in

Ayot St Lawrence Ayot St Lawrence is a small English village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, west of Welwyn. There are several other ''Ayots'' in the area, including Ayot Green and Ayot St Peter, where the census population of Ayot St Lawrence was included ...

, Hertfordshire. In 1965, Oman produced ''Ayot Rectory – A Family Memoir'', about the Sneade family, who had lived in the village from 1780 to 1858. Oman has been quoted as speaking warmly of fellow villager

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

, who had been the Lenantons' first caller at Bride Hall in 1928. Gerald Lenanton died in 1952 after a period of incapacitation from a stroke. The novelist

Georgette Heyer Georgette Heyer (; 16 August 1902 – 4 July 1974) was an English novelist and short-story writer, in both the Regency romance and detective fiction genres. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story for her younger brother ...

was a lifelong friend, who compiled a 16-page index for Oman's ''Britain against Napoleon'', published in 1942 by Faber. Another writer friend in Oxford was

Joanna Cannan Joanna Maxwell Cannan (27 May 1896 – 22 April 1961) was an English writer of pony books and detective novels, the former aimed mainly at children. She belonged to a family of prolific writers. Life Herself the youngest daughter of Charles Can ...

, who dedicated her 1931 novel ''High Table'' to Oman.

Writings

In her writing career of over half a century, Oman produced over 30 books of fiction, history and biography for adults and children. Her first publication, a book of verse entitled ''The Menin Road and Other Poems'' (1919), drew on her war work as a probationary VAD nurse in Oxford, Dorset, London and France in 1918–1919. She was included in the 1931 edition of ''The Bookman Treasury of Living Poets'', edited by Arthur St. John Adcock. However, Oman largely abandoned poetry for the genre of historical fiction; her 1924 debut novel ''The Road Royal'' focused on

Mary Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Sco ...

. It was followed by '' Princess Amelia'' (1924),''King Heart'' (on James IV of Scotland/ 1926), ''Crouchback'' (on the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought bet ...

/ 1929),''Major Grant'' ( Colquhoun Grant/ 1931), ''The Empress'' (on Empress Matilda/ 1932),''The Best of His Family'' (on Shakespeare, 1933), and ''Over the Water'' (on

Bonnie Prince Charlie Bonnie, is a Scottish given name and is sometimes used as a descriptive reference, as in the Scottish folk song, My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean. It comes from the Scots language word "bonnie" (pretty, attractive), or the French bonne (good). That ...

/ 1935). Oman also had two novels published under the pseudonym C. Lenanton, though her identity was an open secret: ''Miss Barrett's Elopement'' (1929) focusing on Elizabeth Barrett Browning and ''Fair Stood the Wind'' (1930), an early venture of hers into the genre of contemporary fiction. While Oman's historical novels were well received, she would herself later speak of them as "very bad" and from the mid-1930s channelled her interest into the past, writing biographies, beginning with ''

Henrietta Maria Henrietta Maria (french: link=no, Henriette Marie; 25 November 1609 – 10 September 1669) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland from her marriage to King Charles I on 13 June 1625 until Charles was executed on 30 January 1649. She was ...

'' (1936), followed by one of Elizabeth of Bohemia: ''The Winter Queen'' (1938). However, Oman produced several historical novels for younger readers, notably ''

: Prince of Outlaws'' (1937), cited as "one of the most influential of the juvenile literary publications", which remained continuously in print for at least 40 years. Oman's first novel for younger readers: ''Ferry the Fearless'' (focusing on the

Third Crusade The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt by three European monarchs of Western Christianity (Philip II of France, Richard I of England and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor) to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by ...

), had been published in 1936. Her later output in that genre included '' Alfred, King of the English'' (1939) and ''Baltic Spy'' (1940) (focusing on James Robertson). Oman also wrote two more contemporary novels for adults – her last: ''Nothing to Report'' (1941) and ''Somewhere in England'' (1943). Oman's signature work was a 1946 biography of Horatio Nelson that drew on a wealth of material unavailable to

Alfred Thayer Mahan Alfred Thayer Mahan (; September 27, 1840 – December 1, 1914) was a United States naval officer and historian, whom John Keegan called "the most important American strategist of the nineteenth century." His book '' The Influence of Sea Powe ...

, author of the hitherto definitive biography of Nelson, published in 1897. Oman notably gained access to the papers of Lady Nelson assembled by the founder of the Nelson Museum, Monmouth. ''Nelson: a Biography'' won for Oman the '' Sunday Times'' Prize for English Literature, Oman's 1953 biography of the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

general '' Sir John Moore'' was awarded the

James Tait Black Memorial Prize The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Uni ...

. The academic standing of this is clear from the way she was called upon on 10 July 1954 to lecture on Moore to the Anglo-American Conference of Historians at the

Institute of Historical Research The Institute of Historical Research (IHR) is a British educational organisation providing resources and training for historical researchers. It is part of the School of Advanced Study in the University of London and is located at Senate Hou ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. Her later biographical output covered '' David Garrick'' (1958), '' Mary of Modena'' (1962) and Sir

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...

: ''The Wizard of the North'' (1973). The warm reviews of the last include one by the English poet Elizabeth Jennings in ''

The Catholic Herald The ''Catholic Herald'' is a London-based Roman Catholic monthly newspaper and starting December 2014 a magazine, published in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and, formerly, the United States. It reports a total circulation of abo ...

''. According to an obituary, "She did not so much popularise history as elevate the level of popular history."

Honours

Carola Oman was appointed a trustee of the

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unite ...

and later of the National Portrait Gallery. She was appointed a

in 1957. She died at Ayot St Lawrence on 11 June 1978. There is a memorial to her and her husband in the village church.

References

External resources

*The full text of the David Garrick biography online
Retrieved 8 July 2012.
*Carola Oman's World War I poem "Unloading Ambulance Train", on a school website
Retrieved 1 August 2012.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oman, Carola 1897 births 1978 deaths English children's writers English biographers English historians English historical novelists English women novelists 20th-century English women writers 20th-century biographers 20th-century English novelists James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients People from Ayot St Lawrence Women historical novelists English women non-fiction writers Writers of historical fiction set in the Middle Ages Writers of historical fiction set in the early modern period Women biographers Writers from Oxford