Biographies

D

D'Annunzio, Gabriele (1863–1938). Italian poet, novelist, dramatist, military hero.

Dalton, Hugh (1887–1962). Labour politician. Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1945–46.

Daman, Henry ('Hoppy') (1842–1915). Anglican priest. Eton master 1869–99. Vicar of Moulsford, Berkshire, 1899. Mathematician.

Darling, Charles John (1849–1936). 1st Baron Darling. Judge. In the court of criminal appeal he presided over the Crippen (1910) and Casement (1916) appeals. Known for playing the judicial humorist.

Darling, Joseph (1870–1946). Cricketer. Opening batsman for Australia 1894–1905.

Darwin, Bernard (1876–1961). Lawyer and leading writer on golf, writing a weekly article for The Times. He took a strong interest in murder trials.

David, Richard William (1912–1993). Publisher with the Cambridge University Press. London Manager, 1948–63; Secretary to the Press, 1963–70.

Davidson, Alan Keith (1929–). Australian cricketer. Fast bowler for New South Wales (1949–63) and Australia (1953–63)

Davies, Nicholas ('Nico') Llewelyn (1903–1980). Youngest of the Llewelyn Davies boys. (See Peter Davies, below).

Davies, Peter Llewelyn (1897–1960). Publisher. As a boy, one of the family taken under the wing of J M Barrie. Barrie's chief model for Peter Pan. Founded his own publishing house in 1926, which was acquired by Heinemann in 1937 (as RH-D's firm was also later to be). Committed suicide when suffering from depression, throwing himself under a London Underground train at Sloane Square station.

Davin, Daniel Marcus (1913–1990). New Zealand writer and publisher. Wrote war history, biography and fiction. As publisher, Deputy Secretary to Delegates of the Oxford University Press, 1974–78.

Davson – see Glyn, Anthony.

Dawkins, P M, Rugby player; member of Oxford team in 1960 University match (West Point and Brasenose)

Dawson, Bertrand Edward (1864–1945). 1st Viscount Dawson of Penn. Physician to the Royal Family, 1914–45.

Dawson, (George) Geoffrey né Robinson (1874–1944). Editor of The Times from 1912 to 1919 and again from 1923 until 1941.

Day Lewis, Cecil (1904–1972). Poet, author of detective stories (under the pen name Nicholas Blake). Poet Laureate 1967–1972.

De Beer, Esmond Samuel (1895–1990). New-Zealand-born historian, whose main specialism was the later seventeenth century. He was noted for his editions of the diary of John Evelyn and the correspondence of John Locke. Independently rich, he was a lifelong benefactor of libraries and historical bodies.

De Gaulle, Charles André Joseph Marie (1890–1970) French general who led the Free French Forces during World War II and later founded the French Fifth Republic and served as its first President.

De Haviland, Reginald Saumarez (1861–1921). Eton master, 1889–1920. Mathematician and rowing coach.

De Kock, Charles Paul (1793–1871). French novelist and librettist, well-known in his time for stories of middle class Parisian life.

De La Mare, Walter (1873–1953). Novelist and poet.

De Selincourt, Martin (1864–1950). English businessman; owner of Swan & Edgar in Regent Street. His daughter Dorothy married A A Milne.

Deedes, Sir Wyndham Henry (1883–1956). Army officer, civil administrator, and social worker. As Chief Secretary in the Palestine administration, 1920–23, he worked to reconcile Arab and Zionist aspirations. In 1923 he resigned and took up social work among the poor in the East End of London, with which he continued until his retirement in 1950.

Deeming, Frederick Bailey (1853–1892). Bigamist and murderer.

Deerfoot: alternative name of Lewis Bennett (1828–1897) American Indian athlete and long-distance runner.

Dehn, Paul Edward (1912–1976). Poet and author. Writer of screenplays, opera libretti, book and lyrics for musicals, and sketches.

Delaney, Shelagh (1939–2011) Playwright, who came to prominence at the age of 19 with her play A Taste of Honey (1958), a slice of working-class life in the industrial northwest. Later plays include The House That Jack Built (1977, for television), and several screenplays, including Dance With Strangers (1985).

Dell, Ethel Mary (1881–1939). Novelist, writing 'melodrama, romance, purity, and happy endings… in a genteel setting.' (DNB).

Demosthenes (384–322 BC). Statesman and orator of ancient Athens. The texts of sixty one of his orations have survived.

Denham, Sir John (1615–1669). Poet, best remembered for his 1642 poem, Cooper's Hill, the first example in English of a poem devoted to local description (describing the Thames scenery round his home at Egham in Surrey).

Denman, George (1819–1896). Liberal MP (1859–65 and 1866–72), Judge (1872–1892) and author.

Dennys, Lavinia Mary Yolande, née Lyttelton (1921–2007). Daughter of the 9th Viscount Cobham and Violet Yolande Leonard. Married (1) Captain Cecil Francis Burney Rolt (d. 1945), son of the Very Rev Cecil Henry Rolt, 1945, (2) Major John Edward Dennys, son of Major-general Lance Ernest Dennys, 1949.

Dent, Alan ('Jock') (1905–1978). Theatre critic for The Manchester Guardian, 1935–1943; Punch, 1942–1943 and 1963; and News Chronicle, 1945–1960.

Depew, Chauncey Mitchell (1834–1928). American lawyer and politician. Senator from New York from 1899 to 1911. Known as a skilled orator and after-dinner speaker.

Derry, Warren (1899–1986). Headmaster Wolverhampton Grammar School, 1929–56. Author of Dr Parr, a Portrait of the Whig Dr Johnson, 1966; edited The Journals and Letters of Fanny Burney, vols IX and X, 1982.

Devlin, Christopher (1907–1961). Jesuit priest and scholar. Edited Sermons and Devotional Writings of Gerald Manley Hopkins, and Papers and Journals of Gerald Manley Hopkins, both published in 1959 by the Oxford University Press.

Devlin, William (1911–1987). Actor. Leading man with Old Vic at Theatre Royal, Bristol, 1945–48. Memorial Theatre, Stratford–on-Avon, seasons 1954 and 1955.

Devonshire, Dowager Duchess of: Lady Alice-Mary Gascoyne-Cecil (known as 'Moucher') (1895–1988). First Chancellor of the University of Exeter. Mistress of the Robes to the Queen, 1953–66.

Devonshire, Spencer Compton Cavendish (1833–1908), 8th Duke of. Politician known whilst heir to the dukedom, as Marquess of Hartington (familiarly 'Harty-Tarty'). A strong supporter of Gladstone until they disagreed over Irish Home Rule and Harty-Tarty went on to found the Liberal Unionist Party with Joseph Chamberlain. He kept Catherine Walters ('Skittles) as his mistress.

Devonshire, Victor Christian William Cavendish (1868–1938), 9th Duke of. Governor General of Canada, 1916–21. The Times described him as 'for many years an important exhibitor at the Royal Agricultural Show'.

Dickens, Charles (1812–1870). Novelist.

Dickson, Carter – see Carr, John Dickson.

Dickson, Dorothy (1893–1995). American actress. Member of the Ziegfeld Follies. Co-starred with Ivor Novello in Careless Rapture in 1936.

Dickson, (Horatio Henry) Lovat (1902–1987). Publisher and writer. Director of Macmillan publishing house, 1941–64.

Dilke, Sir Charles Wentworth (1843–1911). Liberal and reformist politician. Helped pass the 1884–85 parliamentary Reform Acts and many important laws reforming social conditions and education. He was seen by some as a future prime minister, but his political career was effectively ended in 1885 by the notorious and well-publicised Crawford divorce case. Though his private life was not above reproach, it is likely that he was in fact innocent in the Crawford case, but he never held office again after it.

Dinesen, Isak – see Blixen.

Dobbs, Francis Wellesley (1876–1965). Eton master, 1899–1934, specialising in mathematics.

Dobrée, Bonamy (1891–1974). Scholar and critic. Publications include Restoration Comedy, 1660–1720 (1924), Restoration Tragedy, 1660–1720 (1929), Rudyard Kipling (1951), English Literature of the Early Eighteenth Century (1959); Alexander Pope (1963), and From Milton to Ouida (1970).

Dobson, Henry Austin (1840–1921). Poet and critic. Biographer of Henry Fielding (1883), Thomas Bewick (1884), Richard Steele (1886), Oliver Goldsmith (1888), Horace Walpole (1890) and William Hogarth (1879–1907).

Docker, Sir Bernard (1896–1978) and Lady (née Norah Turner, 1906–1983). Disreputable businessman and his flashy wife. His financial irregularities led to his dismissal from the board of the Midland Bank and the chairmanship of BSA.

Donaldson, Stuart Alexander, (1854–1915). Anglican priest, Eton master and finally Master of Magdalene, 1904–15. (Mistakenly called S. P. Alexander in GWL's letter of 19 July 1960)

Donnelly, Desmond Louis (1920–1974). Politician and journalist noted for moving from the left to the right; a member of four different political parties during the course of his career. As a journalist he specialised in book reviews.

Dostoevsky, Fyodor (1821–1881). Russian novelist. Author of Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov.

Douglas, Lord Alfred Bruce ('Bosie') (1870–1945). Poet, translator and prose writer, best known as the lover of Oscar Wilde. Son of the 9th Marquess of Queensberry.

Douglas, Norman (1886–1952). Author, now best known for his mildly shocking 1917 novel South Wind, for his collections of indecent limericks, and for his influence on the great writer on food, Elizabeth David, who wrote about him memorably in her An Omelette and a Glass of Wine.

Douglas-Home – see Home.

Dover Wilson, John (1881–1969). Regius Professor of English literature at Edinburgh, and chief editor of the Cambridge University Press's New Shakespeare between 1921 and 1969.

Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan (1859–1930). Physician, novelist, and detective-story writer, best known for his novels and short stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes.

Draper, Ruth (1884–1956). American diseuse and monologist.

Dreiser, Theodore Herman Albert (1871–1945) American novelist. GWL might or might not have rejoiced that in addition to RH-D's dismissive comments, F R Leavis observed that Dreiser wrote as if he did not have a native language.

Drew, Elizabeth (Elsie Ada Downs) (1887–1965). Academic. Professor of English Language and Literature at Smith College, Massachusetts, USA, where she is commemorated in three annual prizes named in her honour.

Drew, Mary, née Gladstone (1847–1927). Private secretary and author. The third of the four daughters and fifth in the family of eight children of W E Gladstone, to whom she became unofficial private secretary.

Driberg, Thomas Edward Neil (1905–1976). Baron Bradwell. Left-wing journalist and politician. Widely thought to be a model for the protagonist of Compton Mackenzie's Thin Ice.

Drinkwater, John (1882–1937). Playwright and poet of the rustic Georgian school of the early twentieth century.

Drogheda, Garrett: Charles Garrett Ponsonby Moore (1910–1989) 11th Earl of Drogheda. Managing Director, The Financial Times, 1945–70, Chairman 1971–75. Chairman, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 1958–74. Married, 1935, Joan Eleanor Carr, daughter of William Henry Carr and Lillian Marie White.

Druon, Maurice (1918–2009). French novelist and member of Académie Française. Minister of Cultural Affairs in 1973–74 and a deputy of Paris from 1978 to 1981. Awarded the 1948 Prix Goncourt for his novel Les grandes familles. Best known for his series of six historical novels published between 1955 and 60 (a seventh was added in 1977) under the title Les Rois Maudits. RH-D published the English versions of the first six: The Iron King, The Strangled Queen, The Poisoned Crown, The Royal Succession, The She-wolf of France, and The Lily and the Lion.

Du Maurier, Sir Gerald (1873–1934). Actor-manager, son of the novelist George Du Maurier and father of the novelist Daphne Du Maurier.

Dudeney, Mrs Henry, née Alice Whiffin (1864–1945). Wife of Henry Ernest Dudeney (1857–1930) author and mathematician noted for his logic puzzles and mathematical games. She published fifty volumes of fiction between 1898 and 1937, mostly dealing with emotional problems and domestic life among the lower orders.

Duff, Patrick William (1901–1991). Fellow of Trinity College., Cambridge, 1925; Lecturer, 1927; Tutor, 1938; Senior Tutor, 1945; Dean, 1950; Vice-master, 1960; Regius Professor of Civil Law, Cambridge, 1945–68; Fellow of Winchester College, 1948–76; Warden, 1959–62. 3rd son of James Duff Duff (sic) (1860–1940), classicist, latinist and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, an editor of Pharsalia by Lucanus.

Dulles, John Foster (1888–1959). American political functionary. Secretary of State (foreign minister), 1953–59. Despised in the UK for sabotaging the Anglo-French defence of Suez in 1956.

Dumas, Alexandre (père), né Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (1802–1870). French writer, best known for his historical novels including The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, and The Man in the Iron Mask.

Dunbar, Sir George Cospatrick Duff Sutherland (1906–1963). Barrister.

Dundy, Elaine, née Brimberg. (1927–2008). American writer. Her first novel, The Dud Avocado, published in 1958, was a success on both sides of the Atlantic.

Dunglass, Lord: David Alexander Cospatrick Douglas-Home (1943–). From 1995, 15th Earl of Home. Son of the 14th Earl of Home and his wife née Elizabeth Hester Alington. From the 14th Earl's succession to the earldom in 1951 until he renounced it in 1963 his eldest son had the courtesy title of Lord Dunglass.

Dunsany, Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron (1878–1957). Author. Publications include, A Dreamer's Tales; The Chronicles of Rodriguez; The Travel Tales of Mr Joseph Jorkens; The Laughter of the Gods; The Aurora Borealis.

Durnford, Sir Walter (1847–1926). Eton master, 1870–1899. Provost of King's College, Cambridge, 1918–26.

Durrell, Gerald Malcolm (1925–1995). Naturalist, zookeeper, conservationist, author, and television presenter. He founded the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Jersey Zoo in 1958, but is known to a wider audience for his books about on his life as an animal collector and enthusiast. He was the younger brother of the novelist Lawrence Durrell.

Duveen, Joseph (1869–1939). 1st Baron Duveen of Millbank. Art dealer.

Dykes, John Bacchus (1823–1876). Anglican priest and composer of hymn tunes. Hymns Ancient and Modern Revised (1951) contains more of his hymn tunes than any other composer's. As well as his tune ('Horbury'), mentioned by GWL, for Nearer my God to Thee his well-known hymns include 'Nicaea' (Holy, holy, holy), 'Hollingside' (Jesu, lover of my soul), and 'Melita' (Eternal Father, strong to save).

Dyson, Henry Victor Dyson ('Hugo') (1896–1975). Academic and member of the Inklings literary group. Taught English at the University of Reading from 1924–45; fellow of Merton College, Oxford 1945–1963.