Margaret Leonora Eyles (née Pitcairn, later Murray; 1 September 1889 – 27 July 1960) was an English novelist, feminist and memoirist. ''Captivity'' (1922) has been described by critics as "her strongest fictional expression of the chains that bind women, body and soul."Virginia Blain, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy: ''The Feminist Companion to Literature in English. Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present Day'' (London: Batsford, 1990), pp. 349–350.

Early life

Eyles was born in

Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, as the eldest of the three children of Andrew Tennant Pitcairn (1861–1905) and his wife Rosa, née Bevan (1863 or 1864–1902). The fortunes of her father's Staffordshire pottery were declining. She grew up at Tunstall near

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

. She was educated at day schools and won a scholarship to stay as a pupil teacher at a local board school when she was 14. After her mother died, her father remarried, but himself died three years later, leaving her in the hands of an uncongenial young stepmother.Maroula Joannou: "Eyles ée Pitcairn; other married name Murray (Margaret) Leonora", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford, 2004
Retrieved 3 June 2018.
/ref> Having been forbidden at home to take up a place at a teacher training college, she fled to London at the age of 18 and found an ill-paid job addressing envelopes. She then sold some objects left to her by her mother and raised the money to move to Australia as a domestic servant. There she married, in about 1909, the medical student Alfred William Eyles (born 1880), son of Sir Alfred Eyles, and had three children in 1910, 1912 and 1914, the last two in London. However, Eyles left her to bring them up on her own. She lived in

Peckham Peckham () is a district in southeast London, within the London Borough of Southwark. It is south-east of Charing Cross. At the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720. History "Peckham" is a Saxon p ...

, south-east London, doing ill-paid work, until she gained a post as an appeals writer for the charity

Barnardo's Barnardo's is a British charity founded by Thomas John Barnardo in 1866, to care for vulnerable children. As of 2013, it raised and spent around £200 million each year running around 900 local services, aimed at helping these same group ...

Writings

Eyles spent the First World War as a munitions worker in Woolwich Arsenal with some 2000 other women. Her deprivations were documented in ''The Woman in the Little House'' (1922), which appeared first as a serial in '' Time and Tide''. In 1928, she married a journalist, David Leslie Murray, who edited ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication i ...

'' in 1938–1944, but she retained the name Eyles for her writings. She became a sought-after trade-union speaker and socialist writer before eventually joining the women's paper ''

Woman's Own ''Woman's Own'' is a British lifestyle magazine aimed at women. Publication ''Woman's Own'' was first published in 1932 by Newnes. In its early years it placed women's rights and social problems firmly in the foreground. Its first "agony aunt" was ...

'' as an "agony aunt". A pacifist, socialist and vegetarian, Eyles also became interested in

theosophy Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion a ...

, but abandoned her pacifism in the Second World War. Her struggles are clear from her autobiographical work ''For My Enemy Daughter'' (1941), addressed to her elder daughter, Vivyan Leonora Eyles (1909–1984), who had remained in Italy with her Italian husband,

Mario Praz Mario Praz (; September 6, 1896, Rome – March 23, 1982, Rome) was an Italian-born critic of art and literature, and a scholar of English literature. His best-known book, ''The Romantic Agony'' (1933), was a comprehensive survey of the decadent ...

. Margaret Leonora Eyles's traumatic childhood was recalled in ''The Ram Escapes'' (1953). The books for which she is best remembered attack and suggest ways of averting the social, economic and sexual subjugation of women: ''Women's Problems of To-Day'' (1926), ''Careers for Women'' (1930), ''Commonsense about Sex'' (1933), and ''Eat Well in War-Time'' (1940). These were supported also by her "slum" novels: ''Margaret Protests'' (1919) contrasts urban deprivation with rural freedom, while exploring the still controversial subject of birth control. ''Hidden Lives'' (1922) centres on a female doctor in general practice. Eyles also wrote some successful crime fiction.

Death

Eyles died on 27 July 1960 at her home in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

, London, at the age of 71. She had been suffering from intestinal problems and

diabetes mellitus Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

Partial bibliography

Taken from the British Library Special Catalogue. These are first editions, all published in London.British Library. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
/ref>

References

Sources

Nicola Beauman Nicola Beauman (née Mann, born 20 June 1944) is a British biographer and journalist, and the founder of Persephone Books, an independent book publisher based in Bath. Early life Beauman was born in London. She attended St Paul's Girls' Schoo ...

: ''A Very Great Profession'' (1983) deals at length with Eyles's "treatment of abortion, birth-control, and desire". {{DEFAULTSORT:Eyles, Leonora 1889 births 1960 deaths 20th-century English women writers British feminist writers English women novelists People from Swindon People from Tunstall, Staffordshire English socialist feminists