Lyn Lloyd Newman (née Irvine; 3 May 1901 – 19 May 1973) was a literary journalist and writer. She was born in

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census re ...

, the daughter of John A. Irvine, a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their n ...

minister, and his Irish wife Lilian; Andrew Irvine, who died on Mount Everest, was her first cousin. After studying at the

University of Aberdeen , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

and

Girton College, Cambridge Girton College is one of the 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college in Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college statu ...

, she moved to London and published poems and reviews. Some of these were published by

Leonard Woolf Leonard Sidney Woolf (; – ) was a British political theorist, author, publisher, and civil servant. He was married to author Virginia Woolf. As a member of the Labour Party and the Fabian Society, Woolf was an avid publisher of his own wo ...

, then literary editor of the '' Nation and Athenaeum'', with whom Lyn formed a long friendship. In 1931, the

Hogarth Press The Hogarth Press is a book publishing imprint of Penguin Random House that was founded as an independent company in 1917 by British authors Leonard Woolf and Virginia Woolf. It was named after their house in Richmond (then in Surrey and n ...

published her first book, ''Ten Letter Writers'', increasing her recognition within the

Bloomsbury Group The Bloomsbury Group—or Bloomsbury Set—was a group of associated English writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the first half of the 20th century, including Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster and Lytton St ...

and beyond. In 1934, she started a literary subscription journal, ''The Monologue'', which she very largely wrote, printed and published herself. Subscribers included

Clive Clive is a name. People and fictional characters with the name include: People Given name * Clive Allen (born 1961), English football player * Clive Anderson (born 1952), British television, radio presenter, comedy writer and former barrister * ...

and

Julian Bell Julian Heward Bell (4 February 1908 – 18 July 1937) was an English poet, and the son of Clive and Vanessa Bell (who was the elder sister of Virginia Woolf). The writer Quentin Bell was his younger brother and the writer and painter Angelica ...

Elizabeth Bowen Elizabeth Bowen CBE (; 7 June 1899 – 22 February 1973) was an Irish-British novelist and short story writer notable for her books about the "big house" of Irish landed Protestants as well her fiction about life in wartime London. Life ...

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

, Maynard Keynes,

Vita Sackville-West Victoria Mary, Lady Nicolson, Order of the Companions of Honour, CH (Birth name, née Sackville-West; 9 March 1892 – 2 June 1962), usually known as Vita Sackville-West, was an English author and garden designer. Sackville-West was a su ...

, and Leonard and

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born ...

, Irvine ended the journal in February 1935. In 1934, Irvine married the Cambridge mathematician

Max Newman Maxwell Herman Alexander Newman, FRS, (7 February 1897 – 22 February 1984), generally known as Max Newman, was a British mathematician and codebreaker. His work in World War II led to the construction of Colossus, the world's first operatio ...

; they had two sons, Edward (born 1935) and

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, later a computer scientist (1939). They bought Cross Farm, in the village of

Comberton Comberton is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, just east of the Prime Meridian. History Archaeological finds, including a Neolithic polished stone axe (found to the south of the current village) and a Bronze Age ba ...

five miles from the city, as a family house, and Lyn considered this home for the rest of her life. When Max visited

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

in 1937, Lyn and the infant Edward accompanied him there for six months; in 1940, she evacuated with both sons to the US while Max remained in Cambridge. After Max had started working at

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years following ...

, they returned to live with him, and then moved with Max when he became Professor of Mathematics at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The university owns and operates majo ...

in 1945. It was Max who was instrumental in bringing

Alan Turing Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical ...

to Manchester. Turing at first lived near to the Newmans and Max and Lyn both became close friends; only Lyn joined Turing's mother and brother at his funeral. She never enjoyed Manchester and returned permanently to Cross Farm in 1952 while Max remained in Manchester during term-times. Lyn published three more books under her maiden name. The first was a memoir of her childhood, followed by a piece of nature writing based on her life at Cross Farm. She formed Monologue Books to market these and to self-publish a memoir of her friend Alison Cairns. She also wrote a foreword to Sara Turing's biography of her son Alan. The dovecote of Cross Farm was converted for her and from there she maintained prolific correspondences with friends and family.

Works

*''Ten Letter Writers'' (1931) *''The Monologue'' (1934–1935) *''So Much Love So Little Money'' (1957) autobiography *''Field With Geese'' (1960) *''Alison Cairns and Her Family'' (1967)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irvine, Lyn 1901 births 1973 deaths English women journalists Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Anglo-Scots English women non-fiction writers People from Berwick-upon-Tweed English biographers Women biographers English autobiographers Women autobiographers 20th-century English women writers 20th-century English writers People from Comberton

Works

Archives

References