Edith Penelope Mary Lutyens(pseudonymEsther Wyndham;31 July 1908 – 9 April 1999)[3]was a British author who is principally known for her biographical works on the philosopherJiddu Krishnamurti.
Mary Lutyens | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Edith Penelope Mary Lutyens 31 July 1908 Bloomsbury Square,London[1] |
| Died | 9 April 1999(aged 90) London[2] |
| Pen name | Esther Wyndham[2] |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Biography,Romantic fiction |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 daughter |
| Parents | Edwin Lutyens Lady Emily Bulwer-Lytton |
| Relatives | Elisabeth Lutyens(sister) Matthew White Ridley, 4th Viscount Ridley(nephew) Nicholas Ridley(nephew) |
Early life
editMary Lutyens was born inLondon,the fourth and youngest daughter of the architectEdwin Lutyens,and his wife,Emily,the daughter ofRobert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton,Viceroy of India,and the granddaughter of the writer and politicianEdward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton.Mary was the younger sister of the composerElisabeth Lutyens,and aunt of the4th Viscount Ridleyand the politicianNicholas Ridley.
As a child, Lutyens spent time with her maternal grandmotherEdith,the former vicereine, who lived atKnebworth,thirty miles from London, with her daughter the suffragetteConstance Bulwer-Lytton.Edwin Lutyens had designed adower housefor his mother-in-law calledHomewood.
As a result of her mother's interest intheosophy,[1]Lutyens met Krishnamurti when she was a child: she knew him from 1911 until his death in 1986.
In the 1920s, her father was working on hisbuildings at Delhi.Lutyens visited India with her mother and went to Australia, staying atThe Manor,a centre run byCharles Webster LeadbeaterinMosman, New South Wales,[4]while Krishnamurti and his brother Nitya stayed at another house nearby. Lutyens stayed there for some time, which eventually provided her with material for her bookKrishnamurti: The Years of Awakening.[5]
Career
editApart from her works on Krishnamurti, Lutyens wrote biographies ofJohn Ruskin,Effie Grayand her own family. In her bookMillais and the Ruskinsshe put forward the controversial argument that Ruskin could not consummate his marriage because he was repelled by his wife's pubic hair.[6]
She wrote novels under the pseudonym "Esther Wyndham" for theMills & BoonandHarlequin Romanceimprints.[2][7]
Personal life
editLutyens married twice. Her first marriage, in 1930, to Anthony Rupert Herbert Franklin Sewell, a stockbroker, produced one daughter, Amanda Lutyens Sewell, but ended in divorce in 1945. Her second marriage, in 1945, was toJoseph Gluckstein Links,art historian and royal furrier, and ended with his death in 1997.
Lutyens was interviewed, in April 1976, by the historian,Brian Harrison,as part of the Suffrage Interviews project, titledOral evidence on the suffragette and suffragist movements: the Brian Harrison interviews[8].She spoke about her mother's disapproval of militancy in the suffrage movement, and her interest in Theosophy and in India, including her influence over her brother(Mary's Uncle)Victor Lytton,as regards Home Rule in India. She also speaks about the life of her Aunt, the suffragette,Constance Bulwer-Lytton.
Works
edit- Perchance to Dream,London: John Murray, 1935.
- To be young: some chapters of autobiography,London: R. Hart-Davies, 1959OCLC568002749,1989 edition:ISBN9780552993364
- Effie in Venice: Effie Ruskin's Letters Home 1849–1852,London: John Murray, 1965, Pallas Athene (UK), 2001 edition:ISBN1-873429-33-9.
- Millais and the Ruskins,London: John Murray, 1967,Vanguard Pressin USA.
- Cleo,London: Michael Joseph, 1973.
- Krishnamurti: The Years of Awakening,London: John Murray, 1975,Shambhala Publicationsreprint edition 1997:ISBN1-57062-288-4.First installment of a three-volume biography, covers the period from Krishnamurti's birth in 1895 to 1933.
- Krishnamurti: The Years of Fulfilment,London: John Murray, 1983,ISBN0-7195-3979-X,Farrar, Straus, Girouxpaperback:ISBN0-374-18224-8,Avon Books 1991 reprint with US spelling "Fulfillment":ISBN0-380-71112-5.Second volume of the Krishnamurti biography, covers the years from 1933 to 1980.
- Krishnamurti: The Open Door,London: John Murray, 1988,ISBN0-7195-4534-X.Final volume of biography covers years 1980 to 1986, the end of Krishnamurti's life.
- The Lyttons in India: An account of Lord Lytton's Viceroyalty, 1876–1880London: John Murray, 1979,ISBN0-7195-3677-4.
- Edwin Lutyens: A Memoir,Academic Pr Canada Ltd, 1980,ISBN0-7195-3777-0,Black Swan,1991 revised edition:ISBN0-552-99417-0.
- The Life and Death of Krishnamurti,London: John Murray, 1990,ISBN0-7195-4749-0,Nesma Books India 1999:ISBN81-87075-44-9,ISBN0-900506-22-9,also published asKrishnamurti: His Life and Death,St Martins Press1991:ISBN0-312-05455-6,an abridgement of her trilogy on Krishnamurti's life.
- The Boy Krishna,1995, Krishnamurti Foundation Trust paperback:ISBN0-900506-13-X.Subtitled, "The First Fourteen Years in the Life of J. Krishnamurti".
- Krishnamurti and the Rajagopals,1996,Ojai, CA:Krishnamurti Foundation of America,ISBN1-888004-08-8.
- J. Krishnamurti: A Life,2005, Penguin Books India,ISBN0-14-400006-7.This book is a compilation ofThe Years of Awakening,The Years of Fulfilment,andThe Open Door.
References
edit- ^abLutyens, (Edith Penelope).Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Subscription or membership of a UK public library required.
- ^abcAnderson, S."Obituary: Mary Lutyens".
- ^"(Edith Penelope) Mary Lutyens (1909–1999)".National Portrait Gallery.Retrieved13 July2016.
- ^The Theosophist(Theosophical Society), August 1997, pp. 460–463
- ^Krishnamurti: The Years of Awakeningby Mary Lutyens (John Murray), 1975, p. 202
- ^Lutyens, M. (1967),Millais and the Ruskins,p. 191
- ^Black Charles.OCLC30162059.
- ^London School of Economics and Political Science."The Suffrage Interviews".London School of Economics and Political Science.Retrieved3 June2024.
Sources
edit- Sarah Anderson.Obituary: Mary Lutyens.The Independent,13 April 1999.
- Eric Page.Obituary: Mary Lutyens, English Editor, Novelist and Biographer, 90The New York Times,17 April 1999.