Biographies

F

Faber, Sir Geoffrey Cust (1889–1961). Publisher. Founder and first Chairman of Faber & Faber.

Fagg, Arthur Edward (1915–1977). Cricketer. Batsman for Kent (1932–1957) and England (1936–1939). In 1938 against Essex at Colchester, he scored 244 and 202 not out, the second innings taking only 170 minutes. From 1959 to his death he was a First-class umpire.

Fahie, Norah (1911–1996). Linguist and administrator. Duff Cooper's private secretary, 1950–54. After his death she catalogued his extensive library and administered the estate.

Fairlie, Henry Jones (1924–1990). Journalist. He coined the term 'The Establishment' to represent 'the whole matrix of official and social relations within which power is exercised' in Britain. From 1965 till his death he lived and wrote in the USA.

Falkenhayn, Erich von (1861–1922). German WWI general. Replaced Hermuth von Moltke as Chief of the General Staff in 1914. Failures at Verdun and the Somme led to his replacement by Hindenburg in 1916.

Falkner, John Mead (1858–1932). Novelist, poet and businessman, best known for his 1898 novel, Moonfleet. Chairman of the arms manufacturer Armstrong Whitworth during World War I. After his retirement in 1921 he became Honorary Reader in Palaeography at Durham University, and Honorary Librarian to the Dean and Chapter.

Farouk (1920–1965), King of Egypt, 1936–1952. Deposed and exiled.

Farrar, Frederic William (1831–1903). Anglican priest, schoolmaster and writer. Master of Marlborough College, 1871–76; subsequently Canon of Westminster, Rector of St Margaret's Westminster, Archdeacon of Westminster, and Dean of Canterbury. His most famous work is Eric, or, Little by Little (1858), which portrays in earnest tones the descent into moral depravity of a boy at a boarding school. His works are now largely unread, but he is commemorated in the name of Dean Farrar Street, Westminster.

Farrer, Sir (Walter) Leslie (1900–1984). Lawyer. Partner Farrer & Co, 1927–1964; Private solicitor to George VI and Elizabeth II, 1937–1964.

Fergusson, Bernard Edward (1911–1980). Baron Ballantrae. Army officer, Governor-general of New Zealand (1962–67) and writer. Publications include: Eton Portrait, 1937; The Black Watch and the King's Enemies, 1950; Rupert of the Rhine, 1952; Wavell: Portrait of a Soldier, 1961; Return to Burma, 1962; The Trumpet in the Hall, 1970; Hubble-bubble (light verse), 1978.

Feuillère, Edwige (1907–1998). French actress. She performed from 1931 until 1995, and was greatly admired in France.

Fienburgh, Wilfred (1919–1958). Labour MP for Islington North 1951–1958. His novel, No Love for Johnnie, a disillusioned work about the cynicism of politics, was made into a film in 1961 starring Peter Finch as Johnnie Byrne. The political commentator Anthony Howard described it as 'the best [political novel] written in my lifetime' (The Times, 7 November 2000).

Fisher, Charles Dennis (1877–1916). Scholar and cricketer. Classics don at Christ Church, Oxford. Killed in the Battle of Jutland.

Fisher, Geoffrey Francis (1887–1972). Anglican Priest. Headmaster of Repton School, 1914–1932; Bishop of Chester, 1932–1939; Bishop of London, 1939–1945; Archbishop of Canterbury, 1945–1961.

Fisher, Herbert Albert Laurens (1865–1940). Academic and MP. President of the Board of Education, 1916–1922. Warden, New College, Oxford, 1925–1940. The Times called his History of Europe 'a masterpiece which has become popular in every country where the press is free'.

Fisher, James Maxwell McConnell (1912–1970). Ornithologist. Married Margery Lilian Edith Turner (1913–1992), author and critic.

Fisher, Kenneth (1882–1945). Senior science master, Eton, 1920–1922. Headmaster, Oundle, 1922–1945.

Fison, Sir Frank Guy Clavering (1892–1985). Chairman of the Fisons fertiliser company, 1929–1962.

Fitt, Mary: pen name of Kathleen Freeman (1897–1959). Crime novelist. The author was a classical scholar and her literate detective novels reflect this. They include: Death on Heron's Mere, 1942 and Death and the Pleasant Voices, 1946.

Fitzgerald, Edward Marlborough, né Purcell (1809–1883). First and best-known English translator of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám.

Flecker, James Elroy (1884–1915). Poet and playwright. His works include the collection The Golden Journey to Samarkand (1913) and Hassan (1922) a verse drama.

Fleming, Amaryllis Marie-Louise (1925–1999). Cellist and teacher. Though one of the leading soloists of her generation she made few records, but the BBC made studio recordings of her playing all six Bach Suites.

Fleming, Ann Geraldine Mary, née Charteris (1913–1981). Married Ian Fleming in 1952, having previously been married to Lord O'Neill (d. 1942) and Lord Rothermere (divorced 1952).

Fleming, Celia – see Johnson, Celia.

Fleming, Evelyn Beatrice Sainte Croix, née Rose (d. 1964 aged 79). Mother of Peter and Ian Fleming.

Fleming, Ian Lancaster (1908–1964). Writer. In RH-D's words (17 Feb 1957), 'Originally he was in Reuter's, then a stockbroker, then in Naval Intelligence, now Foreign News Editor of the Kemsley Press. He writes a good bit of the Atticus column in the Sunday Times.' From 1950–63 wrote the James Bond series of novels, and the children's book Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Fleming, (Robert) Peter (1907–1971). Soldier, author and journalist. Publications include Brazilian Adventure; Invasion, 1940; The Siege at Peking; Bayonets to Lhasa. Owner of the estate including Bromsden Farm, RH-D's house, Henley–on-Thames. Married Celia Johnson. His entry in the DNB was written by RH-D.

Fletcher, Charles Robert Leslie (1857–1934). Historian. His School History of England (1911) propounded his racial and political views, describing Spaniards as vindictive, West Indians as lazy and vicious, and the Irish as spoilt and ungrateful. 

Fletcher, (Walter) George, Eton master. Killed in 1915 in World War I.

Flower, Sir Fordham (1904–1966) Brewer and chairman of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Director of Flower & Sons Ltd, 1934; Whitbread & Co. Ltd, 1962.

Flower, Sir (Walter) Newman (1879–1964). Publisher and author. As well as editing the journals of Arnold Bennett, he wrote books about Schubert, Handel and (in collaboration with the composer's nephew Herbert) Sullivan.

Foch, Ferdinand (1851–1929). French soldier. Supreme commander of the allied forces in 1918.

Foley, Cyril Pelham (1868–1936). Cricketer, Cambridge and Middlesex, 1888–1891. A member of the Eton XIs of 1886–87 when both matches with Winchester and Harrow were won, and then of the Cambridge side that beat Oxford three times, in 1889 to 1891.

Fonteyn, Margot (Dame Margot Fonteyn de Arias, née Margaret Hookham) (1919–1991). Prima Ballerina Assoluta of the Royal Ballet, with whom she performed for more than forty years. 

Ford, Sir Edward William Spencer (1910–2006). Tutor to King Farouk of Egypt, 1936–1937. Assistant private secretary to George VI 1946 to 1952 and to Elizabeth II from her accession in 1952 until his retirement in 1967.

Ford, Ford Madox (1873–1939). Editor and author. Born Ford Hermann Hueffer, later known as Ford Madox Hueffer before finally settling on the name Ford Madox Ford in honour of his grandfather, the Pre-Raphaelite painter Ford Madox Brown, whose biography he wrote. Associate and biographer of Joseph Conrad.

Forster, Edward Morgan (1879–1970). Novelist, essayist and (once) librettist.

Forster, John (1812–1876). Biographer and critic, described by the DNB as 'often difficult, rude, bad-tempered, bullying, and pompous'. His friend Dickens caricatured him as Podsnap in Our Mutual Friend.

Fortescue, Sir John (c. 1397–1479). Jurist. Strong Lancastrian supporter in the Wars of the Roses, who nevertheless prospered under the House of York. Author of nine literary works still extant, and at least five others known to have been lost.

Foster, Henry Knollys (1873–1950). Cricketer. Batsman for Oxford University and Worcestershire, 1894–1913.

France, Anatole (1844–1924): pen name of French author Jacques Anatole François Thibault. Works include L'Île des Pingouins, Le Crime de Sylvestre Bonnard, Thaïs, Le jongleur de Notre Dame and L'Humaine Tragédie.

Francis, Alfred Edwin (1909–1985). Composer, designer and theatre administrator. Chairman of the Old Vic and associated also with Welsh National Opera, London Festival Ballet and D'Oyly Carte.

Francis, Sir Frank Chalton (1901–1988). Director and Principal Librarian, British Museum, 1959–68

Frankau, Pamela Sydney (1908–1967). Author and journalist.

Fraser, (William) Lionel (1895–1965). Businessman. Chairman of Thomas Tilling, a large conglomerate which owned a controlling interest in the publishing house Heinemann.

Freud, Sigmund (1856–1939). Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist, co-founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology. Known for his theories of the unconscious mind.

Freyberg, Bernard Cyril (1889–1963). 1st Baron Freyberg. Soldier and administrator. Apprenticed to a dentist as a young man, qualifying in May 1911. Joined the army in 1914. Won the Victoria Cross at the Battle of the Somme. During WWII he commanded the New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force in the Battle of Crete, the North African Campaign and the Battle of Monte Cassino. Governor-general of New Zealand 1946–1952. Married 1922 Barbara née Jekyll, widow of Francis Walter Stafford Maclaren, MP.

Frost, Robert Lee (1874–1963). American poet, both popular and respected, receiving four Pulitzer Prizes. The Times obituary had the unequivocal heading, 'A Great American Poet'. The ten volumes of his verse were collected in Complete Poems in 1949, but he continued to write and his last volume, In the Clearing, was published in 1962.

Froude, James Anthony (1818–1894). Historian, known for his History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada. As one of Thomas Carlyle's literary executors, he published Carlyle's Reminiscences and the Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle, and wrote a biography of Carlyle.

Fry, Charles Burgess (1872–1956). Cricketer, politician, teacher, writer, editor and publisher. He established a famous batting partnership with his Sussex and England colleague Ranjitsinhji.

Fry, Roger 1866–1934. Slade Professor of Fine Art, Cambridge, 1933–34. Publications include Giovanni Bellini (1905); Sir Joshua Reynolds's Discourses (1905); and Henri Matisse (1930).

Fuchs, Sir Vivian Ernest (1908–1999). Explorer. Led the team which made the first overland crossing of Antarctica in 1958.

Fulford, Sir Roger Thomas Baldwin (1902–1983). Writer and politician. President of the Liberal Party, 1964–65. His wife Sibell was a sister of GWL's wife, Pamela. With Lytton Strachey he prepared the standard edition of Greville's Memoirs, published in 1937. Other publications include George IV, 1935; The Prince Consort, 1949; Queen Victoria, 1951; Votes for Women, 1957; The Liberal Case, 1959; Hanover to Windsor, 1960; C H Wilkinson, 1965; The Trial of Queen Caroline, 1967. Between 1964 and 1981 he edited five volumes of letters between Queen Victoria and the Princess Royal. 

Fulford, Sibell Eleanor Maud, née Adeane, 1890–1980. Married Roger Fulford in 1937. Sister of GWL's wife Pamela. GWL refers to her stoicism: her first husband, Edward Kay-Shuttleworth, was accidentally killed after less than three years of marriage. Her second husband, the Rev Hon Charles Frederick Lyttelton died age 44. All six children of these marriages predeceased their mother.

Fuller, Sarah Margaret Fuller (1810–1850). Journalist, critic and women's rights activist.