Diana Raymond

Diana Raymond wrote 24 novels, as well as theatre criticism and poetry.

In common with many of her generation, Diana lost her father during the First World War. He was killed at Passchendaele a year after she was born. An only child, she was educated at Cheltenham Ladies’ College thanks to financial assistance from the Officers’ Families Fund.

As a young woman, she was encouraged in her writing by her cousin, the novelist Pamela Frankau. Diana became a published author aged 20, with her novel The Door Stood Open. She published a further two novels under her maiden name, Diana Young.

Diana worked in Whitehall both before and during the Second World War. At the Committee of Imperial Defence she was personal assistant to General Ismay, who was to become Winston Churchill’s chief military assistant.

During the war, she worked at the Ministry of Food, with which she was evacuated to Colwyn Bay, before returning to London in 1940 to marry the acclaimed author Ernest Raymond (perhaps best known for Tell England and We, The Accused). The couple had a son, Peter.