Violet Part III

World War One affected the Liberals badly. Asquith was not an effective wartime leader, and he was ousted by Lloyd George. At the end of the war, the Liberal party split between followers of Lloyd George and followers of Asquith and the split pushed the party almost to extinction. Violet was loyal to her father. She never held a seat in Parliament herself but she was involved in politics all her life. She and her husband, Maurice Bonham Carter, had 2 sons and 2 daughters... Violet was not unsympathetic to Labour but she remained a faithful liberal. She was anti appeasement.... and she and Winston Churchill were close friends. She later wrote a book about him. She fought for many good causes, and was also interested in the arts; her brother Antony was a film director... and her sister Elizabeth Asquith, Princess Bibesco, was a novelist. Her grand daughter Helena Bonham Carter is a well known actress. She died in 1969 of heart trouble.

Violet Asquith

Violet was born in 1887, the 4th child of Henry Asquith and his first wife Helen. Her mother died when she was a child, and the 5 children were left motherless. Asquith had been devoted to his wife, but he was also busy with his political career. He fell in love soon after Helen's death with Margot Tennant, a socialite, and the daughter of a millionaire. Margot was flirtatious and attractive and had many suitors. But she was unsure about marrying Asquith, since he was not that well off and had 5 children. However she married him, and took pleasure in furthering his career. Violet did not get on well with her new stepmother who was jealous of Henry's affection for his daughter. Violet was educated privately by governesses, and then went to a finishing school in Dresden, to improve her languages. She came out in society, and had some offers of marriage. Her best friend was Venetia Stanley, who later would become a love of Asquith's. Violet was living in No 10 Downing St as her father had become Prime minister, and she was a keen supporter of the Liberals, though her friends included many Tories. Violet fell in love with Archie Gordon, son of the Liberal peer, Lord Aberdeen. He was injured in a car accident. She became engaged to him but he died - and Violet was very depressed. But in due course, she married Maurice Bonham Carter, her father's private secretary, and a Liberal.

Lady Violet Asquith

Violet Asquith (married name Bonham Carter) was the only daughter of Henry Asquith, Prime Minister, by his first wife, Helen Melland. She was an activist in the Liberal Party, for most of her life though she never held a seat in Parliament. I'm reading a book of her diary for the later years of her life and hope to blog about her soon. Asquith was a highly intelligent man, and a successful Prime Minister for some years. Then the war broke out. He was unsuited to being a wartime Prime minister and ended up being replaced by Lloyd George. Violet took a keen interest in politics and was devoted to her father...

Jack Whyte

Jack Whyte was born in 1940 in Scotland. As a young man, he emigrated to Canada where he worked as a teacher and an actor. He turned to writing and wrote a series of Arthurian novels. His novels are not about the magical aspects of the legend but based on Dark Ages history and are more about battles and politics of the time. He was very successful with his writing and he died in Canada in 2021.

Beds and Blue Jeans by Nadine Sutton. Available on Amazon

Beds and Blue Jeans is a story, of novella length about a young bar singer in Nashville in the 2010s.. who has found himself being pursued by a lot of lady fans. He has a girlfriend who has just had his baby, but the relationship with Patty isn't going too well. Sam lets himself be caught by various ladies but can he learn to appreciate Patty and settle down with her and their baby. It is available on Amazon.

Penelope Mortimer

She was a novelist and journalist, who wrote several autobiographical works, and a controversial biography of the queen Mother. She suffered from depression and mental health problems at times. She was married twice, and her second husband was John Mortimer, barrister and writer who created Rumpole of the Bailey. She had several children, but John was a very unfaithful husband and their marriage ended in divorce. In later life, she went to the USA to teach creative writing and took up gardening. One of her novels is Daddy's gone A Hunting... which is about a married, middle class woman, Ruth whose husband is selfish and unkind and unfaithful. Ruth has a breakdown, but she manages to help her 18 year old daughter, Angela, to end a pregnancy by her dull and selfish boyfriend... this was before abortion was legalised...... She thinks of leaving her husband but stays.... It is a rather bleak book.....with a very jaundiced view of men....

Harriet Martineau

Harriet was a Unitarian, a social activist.. and writer. She was born to a family of Unitarians who were well to do and used their position to do good. She supported herself as a writer, and bought a property in the North where she was visited by Charlotte Bronte who was a friend for a time, Charlotte noted that the local gentry did not like her, because of her radical views, but the poor admired her. However, she was an atheist as well which shocked the religous Charlotte. She visited America, where she was critical of slavery. She and Charlotte had a dispute over her disliking Charlotte's novel Villette.