Muriel St. Clare Byrne OBE (1895–1983) was a historical researcher, specialising in the Tudor period and the reign of

Henry VIII of England Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

Family

Born Hoylake, Cheshire, England 31 May 1895. She was the granddaughter of the naval architect and yacht designer

St Clare John Byrne St Clare John Byrne (1831-1915) was a British naval architect, who specialized in the design of luxury yachts during the late Victorian and early Edwardian period. Family background His father, Charles Holtzendorf Byrne (1781-1853), was an Irish s ...

with whom she and her mother lived when her father (Henry) died in 1905. Her mother was Artemisia Desdemona Burtner (1868–1923) from

Muscatine, Iowa Muscatine ( ) is a city in Muscatine County, Iowa, United States. The population was 23,797 at the time of the 2020 census, an increase from 22,697 in 2000. The county seat of Muscatine County, it is located along the Mississippi River. The lo ...

, USA. Her life partner was Marjorie 'Bar' Barber, and she was also lovers with Mary Aeldrin Cullis.

Education

Belvedere School, Liverpool;

Somerville College Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Ir ...

, Oxford, B.A. 1916, M.A 1920. Oxford did not grant degrees to women until 1920, but she would have completed the academic requirements in 1916.

Career

She was assistant tutor in English at Somerville College in 1919 and lecturer at the Army Education School, Rouen, France, 1918–19. She then taught at Morley College and the University of London. From 1920 to 1925 she served as coach for final honours at Oxford and from 1920 to 1927 she lectured at Oxford's University Extension in London. She held a lectureship at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London, specialising in Elizabethan theatre and eventually became a governor of the

Royal Shakespeare Theatre The Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST) (originally called the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre) is a grade II* listed 1,040+ seat thrust stage theatre owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company dedicated to the English playwright and poet William Shakespe ...

Published works

Byrne devoted a lifetime to the study of Tudor England, gathered together and edited primary sources and published these, including the ''

Lisle Letters The Lisle Papers are the correspondence received in Calais between 1533 and 1540 by Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle (c.1480-1542), Lord Deputy of Calais, an illegitimate son of King Edward IV and an uncle of King Henry VIII, and by his wife, ...

'', and the ''Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII'', as well as publishing books which were entirely her own work, such as ''Elizabethan Life in Town and Country'', ''Elizabethan Home'' and ''Common or Garden Child. A not-unfaithful record.'' The Lisle letters are the correspondence of

Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle, KG (died 3 March 1542) was an illegitimate son of the English king Edward IV, half-brother-in-law of Henry VII, and an uncle of Henry VIII, at whose court he was a prominent figure and by whom he was app ...

, consisting of 3000 letters. These were seized on the orders of Henry VIII when Lisle was accused of treason and sent to the Tower of London. They were discovered by Byrne in the London Public Records Office, neglected and largely undiscovered down the centuries. She felt these works, that detailed an important period in the reign of Henry VIII, should be made available to the public. However, the difficulties with deciphering the handwriting and the inconsistent spelling, resulted in Byrne spending almost 50 years producing the six volumes of her work. It has been described as the masterpiece of Byrne's career, woven together by her commentary. It required donations from many people including Queen Elizabeth II, to get the work published in 1981 on Byrne's 86th birthday. A friend of

Dorothy L. Sayers Dorothy Leigh Sayers (; 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was an English crime writer and poet. She was also a student of classical and modern languages. She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between th ...

from their days at Somerville, she co-wrote the play upon which Sayers's novel ''

Busman's Honeymoon ''Busman's Honeymoon'' is a 1937 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, her eleventh and last featuring Lord Peter Wimsey, and her fourth and last to feature Harriet Vane. Plot introduction Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane marry and go to spend thei ...

'' was later based. She was credited within the book as one of the contributors to material published a
The Wimsey Family
by

Wilfrid Scott-Giles Charles Wilfrid (or Wilfred) Scott-Giles (24 October 1893 – 1982) was an English writer on heraldry and an officer of arms, who served as Fitzalan Pursuivant Extraordinary. Life Charles Wilfrid Giles was born in Southampton on 24 October 1893, ...

, a mock-history of the Wimsey family. She died 2 December 1983 and was buried in Marylebone Cemetery, London. She left a collection of her papers, correspondence and photographs to

Somerville College Library Somerville College Library is the college library of Somerville College, one of the 38 colleges of the University of Oxford. The library is one of the largest college libraries at the University of Oxford and has achieved 100% student satisfact ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, Muriel Saint Clare English women writers 1895 births 1983 deaths First women admitted to degrees at Oxford Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford English LGBT writers 20th-century English LGBT people