Georgina Battiscombe facts for kids

Georgina Battiscombe (born 21 November 1905 – died 26 February 2006) was a British writer. She was best known for writing biographies. A biography is a book about someone's life. Georgina mainly wrote about people from the Victorian era, which was a time in British history when Queen Victoria ruled.

Who Was Georgina Battiscombe?

Georgina Battiscombe was a talented writer. She focused on telling the life stories of important people. She was born as Esther Georgina Harwood. She lived to be 100 years old!

Her Family and Early Life

Georgina came from a family that was very involved in politics. Her father, George Harwood, was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolton. An MP is a person elected to represent a group of people in the government. He was also a cotton spinner and an author.

Many other people in her family were also MPs. This included her grandfather, Sir Alfred Hopkinson. He was the first Vice-Chancellor of Manchester University. Her stepfather, John Murray, was also an MP.

Education and Adventures Abroad

Georgina went to school at St Michael's School in Oxford. She also studied at Lady Margaret Hall, which is part of Oxford University. For a while, she thought about becoming a politician herself.

In 1932, she married Christopher Battiscombe. He was a lieutenant-colonel in the Grenadier Guards, a famous army regiment. They lived in interesting places. For some time, they lived in Zanzibar, an island off the coast of Africa. There, her husband worked for the Sultan, who was the ruler of Zanzibar.

Later, they moved to Durham in England. After that, they even lived in the Henry III Tower at Windsor Castle. This was because her husband became the honorary secretary for the Society of the Friends of St George's.

Writing About Famous Lives

Georgina Battiscombe became famous for her biographies. She wrote about many well-known people. Her books helped readers understand the lives of these historical figures.

Some of her most famous biographies include:

• A book about Charlotte Mary Yonge (1943). Charlotte Yonge was a popular Victorian novelist.
• A book about Catherine Gladstone (1956). She was the wife of Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone.
• A book about John Keble (1963). He was an important English churchman. This book won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, a major award for literature.
• A book about Alexandra of Denmark (1969). She was the Queen Consort to King Edward VII.

A Special Connection: Deafness

One interesting reason Georgina wrote about Queen Alexandra was that they both had the same type of deafness. This condition is called otosclerosis. Georgina was very deaf for much of her life. Later, surgery and a hearing aid helped her hear better.

She said that her own experience with deafness helped her understand Queen Alexandra's challenges. This personal connection made her biography of the Queen very special.

Georgina also believed that many royal biographies were not always correct. She felt that writers should treat royal figures with more politeness.

Her Other Books

Besides her famous biographies, Georgina Battiscombe wrote other books too. These include:

• A biography of Christina Rossetti (1965), a famous poet.
• A biography of Shaftesbury (1974), a social reformer.
• Two on Safari (1946)
• English Picnics (1949)
• Reluctant Pioneer: The Life of Elizabeth Wordsworth (1978)
• The Spencers of Althorp (1984)
• Winter Song (1992), which was a book of poems.

Later Life and Legacy

Georgina Battiscombe became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1964. This is an honor given to writers who have made a great contribution to literature. She passed away in 2006, at the age of 100. Her books continue to be important sources for learning about Victorian history and its famous people.