.ltVera Brittain

1893-1970

In 1953 Vera Brittain's book, Lady Into Woman, was published. In it she documented the struggle of women the world over for equality and emancipation. "It is probably true to say", she wrote, "that the largest scope for change still lies in men's attitude to women, and in women's attitude to themselves." At Somerville College, Oxford, Brittain met Winifred Holtby, whose lifelong friend she became. Between the wars Britain and Holtby became two of the most influential journalists in London. In 1922 Brittain joined the Six Point Group to promote the feminist ideals of equal pay and legislative help for unmarried mothers. Brittain advocated looking at feminism from an international standpoint and helped to put together the 1929 Treaty for Equal Rights which proposed "there shall be no discrimination against women in either national or international law". Brittain's experiences as a voluntary nurse in the First World War - to which she lost both her brother and fiancé, were documented in Testament of Youth, published in 1933, which was her most successful book. "For the first time I learnt that one could be tired to the limits of human endurance, and get through more work in a day than I had ever thought possible." A journalist, novelist, lecturer and biographer, Brittain devoted much of her energies to pacifism, feminism and politics. Her daughter, Shirley Williams, has played a prominent role in British politics.

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