Lucille d'Oyen Iremonger, née Parks, (June 1915 – January 1989) was a Jamaican writer and politician, active in the United Kingdom. Iremonger was born to Ivy Lucille (Joseph) Parks and Basil Oscar Parks (1882–1947) in

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...

. Both parents were born in Jamaica; her paternal grandparents, however, were from England and Scotland. Iremonger's father was managing director of the '' Jamaica Times'', a literary paper edited by

Thomas MacDermot Thomas MacDermot (26 June 1870 – 8 October 1933) was a Jamaican poet, novelist, and editor, editing the '' Jamaica Times'' for more than 20 years. He was "probably the first Jamaican writer to assert the claim of the West Indies to a distinc ...

(aka Tom Redcam, the first poet laureate of Jamaica). Iremonger won a scholarship to

St Hugh's College St Hugh's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a women's college, and accepte ...

, a constituent college of

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 ...

, where she met

Tom Iremonger Thomas Lascelles Isa Shandon Valiant Iremonger (14 March 1916 – 13 May 1998) was a British Conservative Party politician. The son of Colonel Harold Iremonger and his wife Julia Quarry, he was educated at King's School, Canterbury and Oriel Col ...

. They married in 1939, and she moved with him to the then–British colonies of

Gilbert and Ellice Islands The Gilbert and Ellice Islands (GEIC as a colony) in the Pacific Ocean were part of the British Empire from 1892 to 1976. They were a protectorate from 1892 to 12 January 1916, and then a colony until 1 January 1976. The history of the colony w ...

and

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

, before returning to Britain. There she wrote her first book, ''A Bigger Life'', an account of the author's life in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands (1948). This was followed in short-suit by many other works, including the novels ''Creole'' (1951), ''The Cannibals'' (1952) short stories such as one collected in the Ernest Carr anthology ''Caribbean Anthology of Short Stories'' published in 1953 by Una Marson's Jamaica-based Pioneer Press, ''The Young Traveller in the West Indies'' (1955), a collection of Caribbean folktales for children (1956), the book ''The Ghosts of Versailles'' (1956) debunking her teachers'

Moberly–Jourdain incident The Moberly–Jourdain incident (also the Ghosts of Petit Trianon or Versailles, french: les fantômes du Trianon / ''les fantômes de Versailles'') is a claim of time travel and hauntings made by Charlotte Anne Moberly (1846–1937) and Eleanor J ...

, ''The Young Traveller in the South Seas'' (1959), and the historical works ''Love and the Princesses'' (1960), ''And His Charming Lady'' (1961), ''Yes, My Darling Daughter'' (1964) and ''The Fiery Chariot'' (1970). The last was an influential book addressing the many British prime ministers who were illegitimate or orphaned as children. ''And His Charming Lady'' was a semi-autobiographical work about her position as the wife of a Member of Parliament. In 1978, she produced the third published biography of the 4th Earl of Aberdeen, British Prime Minister 1851-5. At the

1961 London County Council election An election to the County Council of London took place on 13 April 1961. It proved to be the last election to the council, and plans for its replacement by the Greater London Council were already in process. The council was elected by First Past ...

, Iremonger was elected to represent Norwood for the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, serving until the council's abolition three years later.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iremonger, Lucille 1915 births 1989 deaths Alumni of St Hugh's College, Oxford Conservative Party (UK) councillors Jamaican emigrants to the United Kingdom Jamaican people of British descent Members of London County Council Politicians from Kingston, Jamaica Writers from Kingston, Jamaica Women councillors in England Jamaican writers 20th-century Jamaican novelists 20th-century Jamaican women writers Jamaican women novelists Jamaican novelists Jamaican women short story writers British expatriates in British Fiji British expatriates in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands