Joan Elizabeth Eyres Monsell, Lady Leigh Fermor, formerly Rayner (5 February 1912 – 4 June 2003) was an English photographer and wife of author Sir

Patrick Leigh Fermor Sir Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor (11 February 1915 – 10 June 2011) was an English writer, scholar, soldier and polyglot. He played a prominent role in the Cretan resistance during the Second World War, and was widely seen as Britain's greates ...

Early life

She was born Joan Elizabeth Eyres Monsell in

Dumbleton Dumbleton is a village and civil parish in the English county of Gloucestershire. The village is roughly 20 miles from the city of Gloucester. The village is known to have existed in the time of Æthelred I who granted land to Abingdon Abbey, a ...

, Worcestershire, the second of three daughters of Bolton Eyres Monsell and his wife Sybil (''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

'' Eyres). Her father was

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

Member of Parliament for

Evesham Evesham () is a market town and parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is located roughly equidistant between Worcester, Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon. It lies within the Vale of Evesha ...

from 1910 to 1935. He served as Conservative

Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom ...

from 1923 to 1929, and

First Lord of the Admiralty The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the di ...

from 1931 to 1936. He became Viscount Monsell in 1935. Her brother

Graham Graham and Graeme may refer to: People * Graham (given name), an English-language given name * Graham (surname), an English-language surname * Graeme (surname), an English-language surname * Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer * Clan ...

inherited the viscountcy on her father's death in 1969. Her family home was Dumbleton Hall in Worcestershire, inherited by her mother. She was educated at St James's School in

Malvern Malvern or Malverne may refer to: Places Australia * Malvern, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide * Malvern, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne * City of Malvern, a former local government area near Melbourne * Electoral district of Malvern, an e ...

and before travelling in Europe, attended

finishing school A finishing school focuses on teaching young women social graces and upper-class cultural rites as a preparation for entry into society. The name reflects that it follows on from ordinary school and is intended to complete the education, wit ...

s in Paris and Florence She dabbled with several possible careers. She was a talented photographer of landscapes and architecture, with pictures published in ''

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 ...

'' and ''

Horizon The horizon is the apparent line that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This line divides all viewing directions based on whether i ...

''. She married

John Rayner Rabbi John Desmond Rayner (30 May 1924 – 19 September 2005) was born in Berlin as Hans Sigismund Rahmer. He left Berlin in 1939 on one of the last Kindertransports. There were about 10,000 children on the train. Both his parents, Ferdinand Rahm ...

, features editor of the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

'', in 1939.

Second World War

During the Second World War, she was commissioned to photograph buildings that were likely to be bombed. She also worked as a nurse at the start of the war, but then trained in

encryption In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can decip ...

, and worked in the British embassies in Madrid and Algiers before being posted to Cairo, where she first met her future husband

in 1944. He was then an SOE officer famed for his part in the kidnapping of General Kreipe from Crete. Joan and he quickly fell in love, although she was still married to Rayner. Her marriage to Rayner was dissolved in 1947. She and Leigh Fermor remained close companions (although not exclusively) and were married in 1968, by which time he had published several books. Her private income allowed him to concentrate on his writing.

With Patrick in Greece

Joan had joined Leigh Fermor in Athens in 1946, where he was deputy director of the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

's Institute, and joined him on a lecture tour of Greece. She was also secretary to the cartoonist

Osbert Lancaster Sir Osbert Lancaster, CBE (4 August 1908 – 27 July 1986) was an English cartoonist, architectural historian, stage designer and author. He was known for his cartoons in the British press, and for his lifelong work to inform the general p ...

. She travelled in France with

Cyril Connolly Cyril Vernon Connolly CBE (10 September 1903 – 26 November 1974) was an English literary critic and writer. He was the editor of the influential literary magazine '' Horizon'' (1940–49) and wrote '' Enemies of Promise'' (1938), which comb ...

in 1948, taking photographs to accompany a guidebook that was never finished; Connolly later said that he was distracted by her beauty. Connolly described her in 1949 as "very beautiful: tall, fair, slanting eyes, yellow skin". She accompanied Patrick to the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

after he was invited to write text for a travel book to accompany images by a Greek artist named Costas, published as ''

The Traveller's Tree ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' in 1950. She also accompanied Patrick on visits to remote parts of Greece that were published in his book in ''

Mani Mani may refer to: Geography * Maní, Casanare, a town and municipality in Casanare Department, Colombia * Mani, Chad, a town and sub-prefecture in Chad * Mani, Evros, a village in northeastern Greece * Mani, Karnataka, a village in Dakshi ...

'' (1958) about southern Greece and '' Roumeli'' (1966) about northern Greece, accompanied in the original editions by her photographs. Joan and Patrick lived together in a house designed and built by Patrick in an

olive grove The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' 'M ...

on a cliff top at

Kardamyli Kardamili ( el, Καρδαμύλη, variously transliterated as ''Kardamyle'', ''Cardamyle'', ''Kardhamili'', and ''Kardamyli'', and sometimes called "Skardamoula", especially on old maps) is a town by the sea thirty-five kilometers southeast of ...

, on the

Mani Peninsula The Mani Peninsula ( el, Μάνη, Mánē), also long known by its medieval name Maina or Maïna (Μαΐνη), is a geographical and cultural region in Southern Greece that is home to the Maniots (Mανιάτες, ''Maniátes'' in Greek), who cla ...

, the central peninsula of the three which extend southwards from the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmu ...

. Their circle of friends included

Alberto Giacometti Alberto Giacometti (, , ; 10 October 1901 – 11 January 1966) was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draftsman and printmaker. Beginning in 1922, he lived and worked mainly in Paris but regularly visited his hometown Borgonovo to see his family and ...

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...

Lawrence Durrell Lawrence George Durrell (; 27 February 1912 – 7 November 1990) was an expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer. He was the eldest brother of naturalist and writer Gerald Durrell. Born in India to British colonial pare ...

Stephen Spender Sir Stephen Harold Spender (28 February 1909 – 16 July 1995) was an English poet, novelist and essayist whose work concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry by the ...

Giorgos Seferis Giorgos or George Seferis (; gr, Γιώργος Σεφέρης ), the pen name of Georgios Seferiades (Γεώργιος Σεφεριάδης; March 13 – September 20, 1971), was a Greek poet and diplomat. He was one of the most important G ...

Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas (; February 26, 1906 – September 3, 1994), also known as Niko Ghika, was a leading Greek painter, sculptor, engraver, writer and academic. He was a founding member of the Association of Greek Art Critics, AICA-Hellas, ...

and many others. She loved cats and enjoyed playing chess. After suffering a fall, she died in Mani, and was buried in Dumbleton, where Patrick joined her after his death in 2011. They had no children. A biography by Simon Fenwick, ''Joan'', was published in 2017. Exhibitions: 2018 Benaki Museum, Athens Greece. https://www.benaki.gr/index.php?option=com_events&view=event&id=5601&lang=en

References

Obituary
The Independent, 10 June 2003 (from patrickleighfermor.wordpress.com) (see als

Obituary
The Guardian, 17 June 2003

The Telegraph, 5 July 2003
Joan Leigh Fermor (nee Eyres-Monsell)
Dumbleton Village {{DEFAULTSORT:Fermor, Joan Leigh 1912 births 2003 deaths Photographers from Worcestershire People from Dumbleton Daughters of viscounts Wives of knights

Early life

Second World War

With Patrick in Greece

Further reading

References