Friary Churchyard of St Francis and St Anthony, Crawley, 2017

Dame Una Constance Pope-Hennessy, (née Birch; 21 April 1875 – 16 August 1949) was a British writer, historian, and biographer. She was the daughter of Sir Arthur Birch, and married Major (later Major-General)

Richard Pope-Hennessy Major-General Ladislaus Herbert Richard Pope-Hennessy (1875 – 1 March 1942) was a British Army officer and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician of Irish Catholic descent. Background He was the eldest son of John Pope Hennessy, Sir Jo ...

in 1910. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, she was a member of the Central Prisoners of War Committee of the

British Red Cross Society The British Red Cross Society is the United Kingdom body of the worldwide neutral and impartial humanitarian network the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The society was formed in 1870, and is a registered charity with mor ...

. For this work, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 1920 civilian war honours. Her two sons were both notable in their own right:

James Pope-Hennessy James Pope Hennessy CVO (20 November 1916 – 25 January 1974) was a British biographer and travel writer. Early life Richard James Arthur Pope-Hennessy was born in London on 20 November 1916, the younger son of Ladislaus Herbert Richard Pope ...

was a writer and Sir John Pope-Hennessy an art historian. She died in 1949 and is buried alongside her husband at

Friary Church of St Francis and St Anthony, Crawley The Friary Church of St Francis and St Anthony is a Roman Catholic church in Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. The town's first permanent place of Roman Catholic worship was founded in 1861 next to a friary whose members, fro ...

Writings

Pope-Hennessy's early published works were historical studies of jades and

secret societies A secret society is a club or an organization whose activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence a ...

. Her first biographies were on Anna Van Schurman and

Madame Roland Marie-Jeanne 'Manon' Roland de la Platière (Paris, March 17, 1754 – Paris, November 8, 1793), born Marie-Jeanne Phlipon, and best known under the name Madame Roland, was a French revolutionary, salonnière and writer. Initially she led a ...

. In 1929 she published ''Three English Women in America'', charting American experience of

Frances Trollope Frances Milton Trollope, also known as Fanny Trollope (10 March 1779 – 6 October 1863), was an English novelist who wrote as Mrs. Trollope or Mrs. Frances Trollope. Her book, '' Domestic Manners of the Americans'' (1832), observations from a ...

Fanny Kemble Frances Anne "Fanny" Kemble (27 November 180915 January 1893) was a British actress from a theatre family in the early and mid-19th century. She was a well-known and popular writer and abolitionist, whose published works included plays, poetry ...

and

Harriet Martineau Harriet Martineau (; 12 June 1802 – 27 June 1876) was an English social theorist often seen as the first female sociologist, focusing on race relations within much of her published material.Michael R. Hill (2002''Harriet Martineau: Theoretic ...

. It became one of her best known works, and so did her biographical study of

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wid ...

, published in 1934. Other widely read biographies followed. In 1940 she published a biography of Agnes Strickland, and the exhaustive biography of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

was published in 1945. In 1938 Pope-Hennessy published an account of her visit to

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

during the

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

reign in ''The Closed City''. Her final two books were translations, ''A Czarina's Story'' and ''Canon Charles Kingsley'' both published in 1948 a year before her death.

Selected bibliography

Pope-Hennessy's books, usually published as Una Birch, included: *''Maxims of a Queen'' (1907; writings of Queen

Christina of Sweden Christina ( sv, Kristina, 18 December ( New Style) 1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Queen of Sweden in her own right from 1632 until her abdication in 1654. She succeeded her father Gustavus Adolphus upon his death ...

, selected and translated by Birch) *'' Anna van Schurman: Artist, Scholar, Saint'' (1909) *''Secret Societies and the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

'' (1911; still in print as James Wassermann (ed.): ''Secret Societies: Illuminati, Freemasons and the French Revolution''. Nicolas Hayes, 2007, ) *''

: A Study in Revolution'' (1917) *''Early Chinese Jades'' (1923; about

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

jade

figurine A figurine (a diminutive form of the word ''figure'') or statuette is a small, three-dimensional sculpture that represents a human, deity or animal, or, in practice, a pair or small group of them. Figurines have been made in many media, with clay ...

s, which she collected) *''Three English Women in America'' (1929; about Fanny Trollope,

and

) *''The Aristocratic Journey'' (1931; the edited letters of Margaret Hall in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, 1827–1828) *''The Laird of Abbotsford: An Informal Presentation of

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

'' (1932) *''

, 1809–1849: A Critical Biography'' (1934) *''The Closed City: Impressions of a Visit to

'' (1938; she had visited in 1937) *'' Agnes Strickland: Biographer of the Queens of England'' (1940) *''Durham Company'' (1941; about the literary associations of County Durham) *''

'' (1945) *''A Jade Miscellany'' (1946) *''Sir Walter Scott'' (1948) *''A Czarina's Story'' (1948; by Tsarina Alexandra of Russia; translated and edited by Pope-Hennessy) *''Canon Charles Kingsley'' (1948)

Footnotes

References

*Obituary, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'', 18 August 1949 *Cathy Hartley: ''A Historical Dictionary of British Women''. Psychology Press (Routledge), 2003, , p
357
*James Wassermann (ed.): ''Secret Societies: Illuminati, Freemasons and the French Revolution''. Nicolas Hayes, 2007, , pp
49-50

External links

* Location of Dame Una Pope-Hennessy's papers on th
National Register of Archives
*List of books from th
British Library Catalogue
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pope-Hennessy, Una 1875 births 1949 deaths British biographers British historians Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Place of birth missing Place of death missing British women in World War I