Margaret Lane on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Margaret Winifred Lane (23 June 1907 – 14 February 1994) was a British journalist, biographer and novelist, the author of more than two dozen books. She was the second wife of
Francis Hastings, 16th Earl of Huntingdon
Francis John Clarence Westenra Plantagenet Hastings, 16th Earl of Huntingdon (30 January 1901 – 24 August 1990), Courtesy title, styled ''Viscount Hastings'' until 1939, was a British artist, academic, and later a Labour Party (UK), Labour pa ...
.
Early life
Margaret Lane was born on 23 June 1907, the only child of Edith (née Webb), daughter of a glass dealer, and Harry George Lane, a newspaper editor.
She was educated at
St Stephen's College (sisters of St John Baptist) and
St Hugh's College, Oxford.
Career
After university, she worked as a reporter for the ''
Daily Express'', from 1928 to 1931, and then as a special correspondent for the
International News Service
The International News Service (INS) was a U.S.-based news agency (newswire) founded by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1909. from 1931 to 1932, while there she interviewed the gangster
Al Capone. From 1932 to 1938, she was a journalist for the ''
Daily Mail,'' where she was the UK's highest paid woman journalist.
Lane wrote two biographies of
Beatrix Potter
Helen Beatrix Potter (, 28 July 186622 December 1943) was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as '' The Tale of Peter Rabbit'', which was ...
, ''The Tale of Beatrix Potter: a Biography'' in 1946, and ''The Magic Years of Beatrix Potter'' in 1978. In 1984, the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
produced a two-part television dramatisation of Potter's life based on Lane's books, ''The Tale of Beatrix Potter'' with
Penelope Wilton
Dame Penelope Alice Wilton (born 3 June 1946), styled Penelope, Lady Holm between 1998 and 2001, is an English actress. She is known for starring opposite Richard Briers in the BBC sitcom ''Ever Decreasing Circles'' (1984–1989); playing H ...
in the lead role, that was "praised as a simple yet intense story with just the right touches of unflinching reserve."
Lane also wrote books about the
Brontë sisters (1953) and
Samuel Johnson (1975).
Lane wrote more than two dozen books, including novels, travelogues and children's books.
Personal life
In 1934, she married Bryan Wallace, a film screenwriter and son of the writer
Edgar Wallace
Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1 April 1875 – 10 February 1932) was a British writer.
Born into poverty as an illegitimate London child, Wallace left school at the age of 12. He joined the army at age 21 and was a war correspondent during th ...
. Their marriage was dissolved in 1939. Lane's biography of Edgar Wallace was published in 1938.
On 1 February 1944, she married
Francis Hastings, 16th Earl of Huntingdon
Francis John Clarence Westenra Plantagenet Hastings, 16th Earl of Huntingdon (30 January 1901 – 24 August 1990), Courtesy title, styled ''Viscount Hastings'' until 1939, was a British artist, academic, and later a Labour Party (UK), Labour pa ...
(1901–1990), who had divorced his first wife Cristina (who then married
Wogan Philipps, 2nd Baron Milford
Wogan Philipps, 2nd Baron Milford (25 February 1902 – 30 November 1993) was the only member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) ever to sit in the House of Lords.
Early life
Philipps was the eldest son of Laurence Philipps, 1st Baro ...
) the previous year.
They had two daughters, the writer
Selina Hastings (Lady Selina Shirley Hastings, born 1945), and Lady Caroline Harriet Hastings (born 1946).
She died in
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
on 14 February 1994.
Selected publications
*''Faith, Hope, No Charity'' (1935)
*''At Last, the Island'' (1937)
*''Edgar Wallace, the Biography of a Phenomenon'' (1938)
*''Walk Into My Parlour'' (1941)
*''Where Helen Lies'' (1944)
*''The Tale of Beatrix Potter: a Biography'' (1946)
*''The Brontë Story'' (1953)
*''A Crown of Convolvulus'' (1954)
*''A Calabash of Diamonds'' (1961)
*''Life With Ionides'' (1963)
*''A Night at Sea'' (1965)
*''A Smell of Burning'' (1966)
*''Purely for Pleasure'' (1966)
*''The Day of the Feast'' (1968)
*''Samuel Johnson and His World'' (1975)
*''The Magic Years of Beatrix Potter'' (1978)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lane, Margaret
1907 births
1994 deaths
British women journalists
British biographers
British women novelists
Huntingdon
Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cromwell was born there ...
Alumni of St Hugh's College, Oxford
British children's writers
Women biographers
20th-century English nobility