Winifred Peck, née Knox, (1882–1962) was an English novelist and biographer.

Biography

Winifred Frances Knox was born in Headington, England in 1882. Her father was Edmund Arbuthnott Knox, the fourth Bishop of Manchester. Knox was one of the first 40 pupils to attend

Wycombe Abbey School , motto_translation = Go in faith , established = 1896 , type = Independent boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Headmistress , head = J. Duncan , chair_label = Chair ...

, and she went on to read Modern History at

Lady Margaret Hall Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located on the banks of the River Cherwell at Norham Gardens in north Oxford and adjacent to the University Parks. The college is more formall ...

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 ...

.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'' (fou ...

'', 22 November 1962, p.18 Knox's first book, written in 1909, was a biography of

Louis IX Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the d ...

. In 1911 she married James Peck, a British civil servant,. Ten years after writing her first book, Winifred Peck began a novel-writing career which saw the publication of twenty-five books over a period of forty years, including ''House-bound'' (1942), which was reprinted in 2007 by

Persephone Books ''Persephone Books'' is an independent publisher based in Bath, England. Founded in 1999 by Nicola Beauman, Persephone Books reprints works largely by women writers of the late 19th and 20th century, though a few books by men are included. Th ...

. She also wrote two books on the subject of her own childhood, ''A Little Learning'' (1952) and ''Home for the Holidays'' (1955). Peck had three sons (the second predeceased his parents),Year Book of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1963-4, Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1965, p. 32 and when her husband was awarded a knighthood in 1938 she assumed the title of Lady Peck."Peck, Sir James Wallace"
''Who Was Who'', online edition, Oxford University Press, 2014, retrieved 9 May 2014 Peck was the sister of

E. V. Knox Edmund George Valpy Knox (10 May 1881 – 2 January 1971) was a poet and satirist who wrote under the pseudonym Evoe. He was editor of ''Punch'' 1932–1949, having been a regular contributor in verse and prose for many years. Life Knox was ...

, editor of ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

''; Ronald Knox, theologian and writer; Dilly Knox, cryptographer; Wilfred Lawrence Knox, clergyman; and Ethel Knox. Her niece was the

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a Literary award, literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United King ...

-winning author Penelope Fitzgerald who wrote a biography of her father, E. V. Knox, and her uncles, entitled ''The Knox Brothers''. Lady Peck died on 20 November 1962.

Books

In her ''

Who's Who ''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biography, biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a gr ...

'' entry, Peck listed the following books by her:"Peck, Winifred Frances, (Lady Peck)"
''Who Was Who'', online edition, Oxford University Press, 2014, retrieved 9 May 2014 *''The Court of a Saint'', 1909 *''Twelve Birthdays'', 1918 *''The Closing Gates'', 1922 *''A Patchwork Tale'', 1925 *''The King of Melido'', 1927 *''A Change of Master'', 1928 *''The Warrielaw Jewel'', 1933 *''The Skirts of Time'', 1935 *''The Skies are Falling'', 1936 *''They Come, They Go'', 1937 *''Coming Out'', 1938 *''Let Me Go Back'', 1940 *''Bewildering Cares'', 1940 *''A Garden Enclosed'', 1941 *''Housebound'', 1942 *''Tranquillity'', 1943 *''There is a Fortress'', 1945 *''Through Eastern Windows'', 1947 *''Veiled Destinies'', 1948 *''Arrest the Bishop'', 1949 *''A Clear Dawn'', 1949 *''Facing South'', 1950 *''Unseen Array'', 1951 *''Winding Ways'', 1952 *''A Little Learning'', 1952 *''Home for the Holidays'', 1955

Notes and references

;Notes ;References

External links

Author Profile
at Persephone Books *

''at Persephone Books {{DEFAULTSORT:Peck, Winifred 1882 births 1962 deaths 20th-century British novelists Alumni of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford British biographers 20th-century biographers