Writer and campaigner, Vera Brittain (1893-1970) came up to Somerville College in 1914, shortly after the beginning of the First World War. She read English for one year before taking a leave of absence in 1915 to volunteer as a nurse.
The war changed Brittain’s life; she lost her fiancé, her brother and her two closest friends. Traumatised by her experience, she returned to Somerville in 1919, changing course to read Modern History, in the hope of learning about the origins of the recent conflict. At Somerville, she met Winifred Holtby, who would become her closest friend (until Holtby’s untimely death in 1935). After Oxford, Vera Brittain began a career as an author, journalist and campaigner, lecturing for the League of Nations and, from 1936, as a pacifist in support of the Peace Pledge Union.
Vera Brittain published several novels, mostly drawn from her own life or the lives of those close to her (her first novel, The Dark Tide, was set in a fictionalised Somerville College). Her most famous work was the ‘autobiographical study’ Testament of Youth; it was published in 1933 and became a best seller both in the United Kingdom and the United States, notable as an account of the First World War by a woman, and as a feminist memoir. However, Vera Brittain’s pacifist views saw her vilified during the Second World War and the book declined in popularity. She died in 1970, just three years before a new edition was published by Virago. An acclaimed BBC television adaptation broadcast in 1979 brought Testament of Youth to a whole new audience and renewed interest in her life and work.
Vera Brittain’s daughter, Shirley Williams (née Catlin), came up to Somerville to read PPE in 1948. After working as a journalist, she stood for election for the Labour party and began her parliamentary career as the MP for Hitchin in 1964. After holding senior posts in the governments of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan, she left the Labour Party to help found the Social Democratic Party in 1981 and was its first elected MP, winning the Corby by-election that year. Williams later served in the House of Lords and taught politics at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Contents and Provenance
The core of Somerville College’s collection is the research archive of her friend and biographer Paul Berry. In addition, the college has received a substantial number of manuscripts, books and photographs relating to both Vera Brittain and her daughter, Shirley Williams, from Shirley Williams and her family, plus some additional donations from correspondents and colleagues.
Related Collections
Vera Brittain’s substantial personal archive went to McMaster University in Ontario after her death; the finding aid can be found here: https://archives.mcmaster.ca/index.php/vera-brittain-fonds
Shirley Williams’ political archive is held by the British Library.
Using the collection
The collection is in the process of being catalogued; please address all queries to the archives: archives@some.ox.ac.uk
Limitations on use
Copyright in Vera Brittain’s works is held by the Vera Brittain Literary Estate http://www.verabrittain.co.uk/
The Paul Berry Collection includes copies of documents held in the McMaster archives. Researchers may be given access to take notes but copying and photography is prohibited. Those wanting copies of any documents should contact McMaster.