Jean Lucey Pratt (18 October, 1909–August, 1986) was an English writer and bookseller. She published little during her lifetime and is best known as a diarist. Her anonymous

Mass-Observation Mass-Observation is a United Kingdom social research project; originally the name of an organisation which ran from 1937 to the mid-1960s, and was revived in 1981 at the University of Sussex. Mass-Observation originally aimed to record everyday ...

diaries written in the 1940s were featured in three popular books edited by

Simon Garfield Simon Frank Garfield (born 19 March 1960) is a British journalist and non-fiction author. Biography Garfield was born in London in 1960. and grew up in

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

, where her father was an architect. Her mother, a concert pianist, died when Jean was thirteen and her father remarried two years later. She had one older brother, an engineer who worked for the

Eastern Telegraph Company Cable & Wireless plc was a British telecommunications company. In the mid-1980s, it became the first company in the UK to offer an alternative telephone service to British Telecom (via subsidiary Mercury Communications). The company later offer ...

. She attended

Princess Helena College PHC was a co-educational independent day and boarding school for students aged 11 to 18 in Preston near Hitchin in Hertfordshire, England. The school was housed in a Queen Anne country house, formerly known as Temple Dinsley, which was redes ...

before going to work in her father's architecture office. She took classes in architecture at the Ealing Art School and then entered

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, where she studied first architecture and then journalism. After university Pratt lived in London, where she planned to become a writer. However, she was unable to find publishers for her novels and short stories. In 1939, she moved to a rural cottage in

Burnham Beeches Burnham Beeches is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest situated west of Farnham Common in the village of Burnham, Buckinghamshire. The southern half is owned by the Corporation of London and is open to the public. It is also a Na ...

, which remained her home for the rest of her life. During World War II she worked in the publicity department at High Duty Alloys in

Slough Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4 ...

. In 1952,

Hurst and Blackett Hurst and Blackett was a publisher founded in 1852 by Henry Blackett (26 May 1825 – 7 March 1871), the grandson of a London shipbuilder, and Daniel William Stow Hurst (17 February 1802 – 6 July 1870). Shortly after the formation of their part ...

published her biography of the eighteenth-century actress

Margaret Woffington Margaret Woffington (18 October 1720 – 28 March 1760), known professionally as Peg Woffington, was an Irish actress and socialite of the Georgian era. Peg and Peggy were a common pet name for those called Margaret until the late 20th century ...

. The book, entitled ''Lovely Peggy: The Life and Times of Margaret Woffington'' was published under the pseudonym Janet Camden Lucey. Reviewing it in ''The Spectator'',

C. E. Vulliamy Colwyn Edward Vulliamy (20 June 1886 – 4 September 1971), was an Anglo-Welsh biographer and author. He was mostly credited as C. E. Vulliamy, but he sometimes used the pen name Anthony Rolls for his crime fiction. Born in Glasbury, Radnorshire, ...

remarked on the author's "very detailed and accurate knowledge of stage-life in the eighteenth century" and pronounced that the book merited "a prominent place" in "the special category of theatrical biographies". She also published several articles on architectural subjects, including one in the ''

Architectural Review ''The Architectural Review'' is a monthly international architectural magazine. It has been published in London since 1896. Its articles cover the built environment – which includes landscape, building design, interior design and urbanism � ...

''. In 1955, she opened "The Little Bookshop" in

Farnham Common Farnham Common is a village in Buckinghamshire, England, 3 miles north of Slough and 3 miles south of Beaconsfield, on the A355 road. It adjoins the ancient woodland of Burnham Beeches, has an area of 2.5 miles and a population of around 6,000. ...

. A cat lover herself, she specialized in books about cats. According to an obituary, her shop was "the largest supplier of specialist cat books in the country", with mail order customers around the world. She retired from the bookshop in 1981 and died in August 1986.

Diaries

Beginning in 1939, Pratt kept a diary for

, a British research organization that enlisted volunteers to write about their lives. Her Mass-Observation diaries, which had been archived at the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

, were featured in three books edited by

Simon Garfield Simon Frank Garfield (born 19 March 1960) is a British journalist and non-fiction author. Biography Garfield was born in London in 1960. He described her as "a lyrical and talented writer in her mid-thirties living in a cottage by

, near

". ''Our Hidden Lives'' was adapted into a 2005 television film for

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

by David Eldridge with

Sarah Parish Sarah Parish (born 7 June 1968) is an English actress. She is known for her work on television series including: ''The Pillars of the Earth'', ''Peak Practice'', ''Hearts and Bones'', ''Cutting It'', ''Doctor Who'', ''Mistresses'', ''Merlin'', ' ...

playing the Maggie Joy Blunt character. As well as her Mass-Observation diaries, Pratt kept a personal diary from 1925, when she was fifteen, until shortly before her death in 1986. These diaries, consisting of 45 exercise books and several hundred additional pages, were inherited by her niece, who in 2013 gave Garfield permission to edit them and publish the result in book form. The diaries themselves were given to

Cats Protection Cats Protection, formerly the Cats Protection League, is a UK charity dedicated to rescuing and rehoming stray, unwanted or homeless cats and educating people about cats and cat welfare. The organisation was founded as the Cats Protection Leag ...

, a favourite charity of Pratt's, which holds the copyright. ''A Notable Woman: The Romantic Journals of Jean Lucey Pratt'' was published in 2015 by

Canongate Books Canongate Books (trading as Canongate) is an independent publishing firm based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is named after the Canongate area of the city. It is most recognised for publishing the Booker Prizewinner ''Life of Pi''. Canongate was n ...

. A paperback edition from the same publisher appeared in 2016. It was widely reviewed and well received, with the ''

London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of ...

'' calling Pratt's diaries a "priceless find". In the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

'', both

Hilary Mantel Dame Hilary Mary Mantel ( ; born Thompson; 6 July 1952 – 22 September 2022) was a British writer whose work includes historical fiction, personal memoirs and short stories. Her first published novel, ''Every Day Is Mother's Day'', was releas ...

and

Rachel Cooke Rachel Cooke (born 1969) is a British journalist and writer. Early life Cooke was born in Sheffield, and is the daughter of a university lecturer. She went to school in Jaffa, Israel, until she was 11, before returning to Sheffield, and atten ...

chose it as a favourite book of 2015. Mantel called Pratt "the siren of Slough" and described the book as "wholly absorbing and deeply entertaining", while Cooke called it "the most moving and important book" she had read in 2015.

References

Bibliography

*Garfield,Simon (2005). ''Our Hidden Lives: The Remarkable Diaries of Postwar Britain'', Ebury Press. *Garfield, Simon (2006). ''We Are at War:The Diaries of Five Ordinary People in Extraordinary Times'', Ebury Press. *Garfield, Simon (2007). ''Private Battles: How the War Almost Defeated Us'', Ebury Press. *Lucey, Janet Camden (1952). ''Lovely Peggy: The Life and Times of Margaret Woffington'', Hurst & Blackett. *Pratt, Jean Lucey (2016). ''A Notable Woman: The Romantic Journals of Jean Lucey Pratt''. Garfield, Simon (ed.). Edinburgh: Canongate Books.

External links

Simon Garfield interview with Lauren Laverne on BBC RadioGuardian Books podcast with Simon Garfield discussing Jean Lucey Pratt''A Notable Woman'' at Mass Observation's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pratt, Jean Lucey 1909 births 1986 deaths 20th-century English diarists 20th-century English women writers 20th-century English businesspeople 20th-century English businesswomen English biographers English booksellers English women non-fiction writers Writers from Wembley British women diarists Alumni of University College London