Isabel Diana Colegate (10 September 1931 – 12 March 2023) was a British author and

literary agent A literary agent is an agent who represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers, film producers, and film studios, and assists in sale and deal negotiation. Literary agents most often represent novelists, screenwrit ...

Early life and education

Born in

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

in London, England, Colegate was the youngest of her parents' four daughters. Her father was Sir Arthur Colegate, while her mother was Winifred Mary, a daughter of Sir William Worsley, 3rd Baronet, and the widow of Captain Francis Percy Campbell Pemberton of the

2nd Life Guards The 2nd Regiment of Life Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. It was formed in 1788 by the union of the 2nd Troop of Horse Guards and 2nd Troop of Horse Grenadier Guards. In 1922, it was amalgamated ...

, who had been killed in action in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Colegate was a first

cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, " ...

Katharine, Duchess of Kent Katharine, Duchess of Kent, (born Katharine Lucy Mary Worsley, 22 February 1933) is a member of the British royal family. She is married to Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, a grandson of King George V. The Duchess of Kent converted to Roman Cath ...

, who is also a granddaughter of Sir William Worsley, 3rd Baronet. She was educated at Runton Hill School in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

Career

In 1952, Colegate, in partnership with

Anthony Blond Anthony Bernard Blond (20 March 1928 – 27 February 2008) was a British publisher and author, who was involved with several publishing companies over his career, including several he established himself, or in partnerships, from 1952. Biograph ...

, set up the publishing firm, Anthony Blond (London) Ltd. Colegate's novel ''

The Shooting Party ''The Shooting Party'' is a 1984 British drama film directed by Alan Bridges and based on the book of the same name by Isabel Colegate. The film is set in 1913, less than a year before the beginning of the First World War, and shows the soon-t ...

'' (1980) was adapted as an award-winning film of the same name, released in 1985 by Castle Hill Productions Inc. In 2010, the novel was adapted for radio by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

Marriage and children

In 1953, Colegate married

Michael Fenwick Briggs Michael Fenwick Briggs (7 July 1926 – 22 July 2017) was a British businessman who led preservation work in Bath, Somerset. The son of Dennis B. Briggs, of Oxford, and Grace Mary Davey Luke, Briggs was educated at Gresham's School, Holt, and Me ...

. The couple had two sons, Barnaby and Joshua, and a daughter, Emily. From 1961 to 2007, they lived at

Midford Castle Midford Castle is a folly castle in the village of Midford, and the parish of Southstoke south of Bath, Somerset, England. The castle was built in 1775 for Henry Disney Roebuck from designs by John Carter in the shape of the "clubs" symbol u ...

near

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

Death

Colegate died on 12 March 2023, at the age of 91.

Awards and honours

WH Smith Literary Award The WH Smith Literary Award was an award founded in 1959 by British high street retailer W H Smith. Its founding aim was stated to be to "encourage and bring international esteem to authors of the British Commonwealth"; originally open to all res ...

for ''The Shooting Party'', 1981 * Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

(FRSL), 1981 * Honorary MA,

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

, 1988

Bibliography

* ''The Blackmailer'', 1958 * ''A Man of Power'', 1960 * ''The Great Occasion'', 1962 * ''Statues in a Garden'', 1964 * ''Orlando King'', 1968 * ''Orlando at the Brazen Threshold'', 1971 * ''Agatha'', 1973 * ''News from the City of the Sun'', 1979 * ''The Shooting Party'', 1980 * ''A Glimpse of Sion’s Glory'', 1985 * ''Deceits of Time'', 1988 * ''The Summer of the Royal Visit'', 1991 * ''Winter Journey'', 1995 * ''A Pelican in the Wilderness: Hermits, Solitaries, and Recluses'', 2002

References

* Elizabeth Sleeman, ''International Who's Who of Women'', 2002.

External links

"ISABEL COLEGATE, 1931 –"
University of South Carolina.
"The Shooting Party, 1985"
IMDB. * 1931 births 2023 deaths 20th-century English women writers 20th-century English writers 21st-century English women writers Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Literary agents Worsley family Writers from Lincolnshire {{England-writer-stub