ABSTRACT
British Women Writers 1914-1945: Professional Work and Friendship is primarily concerned with the lives and writings of Stella Benson, Vera Brittain, Winifred Holtby, Storm Jameson, Naomi Mitchison (who were all at some point connected to Time and Tide) and of Lady Rhondda, the journal's founder and editor from 1926. Lady Rhondda inherited her title and her wealth and made Time and Tide her life's work, sustaining it financially also through her own subsidy.7 Benson, Brittain, Holtby, Jameson and Mitchison all made writing their profession and, with the exception of Benson who spent most of her writing career in China, during the period of this study were for the most part based in London. It is, then, professional writing that chiefly defines the 'work' that is a key element of this study. Apart from Lady Rhondda (who regularly contributed signed and unsigned articles to Time and Tide) all these writers were authors of novels, but were prolific also in other genres. Benson, Brittain, Holtby and Mitchison all published poetry. Benson also published articles (in journals and two single-authored book collections) on her travels in America, China, India and Japan. Both Brittain and Holtby established high reputations for themselves as journalists, Jameson and Mitchison as essayists and critics. All were active in such political movements as feminism and socialism and wrote on these subjects.8 All these writers were also known to each other through friendship links and it is the nature of these relationships that constitutes the second key element of this study. Specifically, what form did these friendships take, what were their meanings, and what was their significance?
