Edna Healey
Edna May Healey, Baroness Healey (née Edmunds; 14 June 1918 – 21 July 2010) was a British writer, lecturer and filmmaker.
Life and career
[edit]Edna May Edmunds was born in the Forest of Dean and educated at Bells Grammar School, Coleford, Gloucestershire, where she was the first pupil to gain a place at Oxford University. Her father, Edward Edmunds, a crane driver, threatened to send her to work in a pin factory if she did not apply herself to reading.[1] While studying English at St Hugh's College she met Denis Healey, who was studying at Balliol College. She then trained as a teacher and married Healey in 1945, following his military service in World War II.[2] She became Baroness Healey in 1992 when her husband received a life peerage.
Although she began her writing career relatively late in life, her books were critically acclaimed and sometimes best-sellers, including biographies of successful women in powerful positions.[3] Lady Healey also produced two award-winning television documentaries.[4]
In 1993, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature[5]
Quotations
[edit]Edna Healey has one entry in the 8th Edition of The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations where she says of Margaret Thatcher, "She has no hinterland; in particular she has no sense of history."[6][7]
Death
[edit]She died on 21 July 2010, aged 92. She was survived by Lord Healey, her husband of 65 years, three children and four grandchildren.[8]
Books
[edit]- Lady Unknown, the Life of Angela Burdett-Coutts (1978)
- Wives of Fame (1986) (subjects were Mary Livingstone, Jenny Marx and Emma Darwin)
- Coutts and Co (1992)
- The Queen's House: A History of Buckingham Palace (1997)
- Emma Darwin (2001)
- Part of the Pattern (2006) (Lady Healey's memoirs)
Documentaries
[edit]- Mrs Livingstone, I Presume (1982)
- One More River, the Life of Mary Slessor in Nigeria (1984)
References
[edit]- ^ "Edna Healey obituary". TheGuardian.com. 22 July 2010.
- ^ Obituary in The Times, 24 July 2010
- ^ Denis Healey's wife, Edna, dies aged 92
- ^ Edna Healey, author, film-maker and Denis's wife, dies at 92
- ^ "Royal Society of Literature All Fellows". Royal Society of Literature. Archived from the original on 5 March 2010. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
- ^ The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. 8th Edition. Page 374
- ^ "The Time of My Life" (1989) by Denis Healey
- ^ The Courier and Advertiser obituary, 24 July 2010
External links
[edit]- Edna Healey obituary in The Guardian
- Lady Healey obit in The Telegraph
- Edna May (née Edmunds), Lady Healey (1918-2010), Author, radio and television writer and broadcaster; wife of Baron Healey: Sitter associated with 3 portraits (National Portrait Gallery)
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