Thirkell, Angela

NOVELIST (ENGLAND)
BORN 30 Jan 1890, London - DIED 29 Jan 1961, Bramley, Surrey
BIRTH NAME MacKail, Angela Margaret
GRAVE LOCATION Rottingdean, East Sussex: St. Margaret's Churchyard, 2-19 Dean Court Road

Granddaughter of the painter Edward Burne-Jones by his daughter Margaret. Her father was the scholar John William Mackail. In 1911 she married the singer James Campbell McInnes, but she divorced him in 1917. They had two sons, the youngest was the author Colin MacInnes. At the time the marriage broke up they had a daughter, Mary, but she died in 1918.

In 1918 she married George Thirkell and with him she went to Australia in 1920. They had a son in Australia. In 1929 she pretended to return to England for a holiday, but at that occasion she left her husband for good. Her godfather J.M. Barrie paid for her trip, but instead of a return ticket she bought a second ticket for her youngest son. Colin soon followed to England but her other son Graham remained in Australia.

She became a successful novelist. Her novels are situated in the country and almost every year she wrote a book. In 1948 she published "Love Among the Ruins". Her "Three Score and Ten" was unfinished when she died in 1961 in a nursing home in Bramley, Surrey. It was completed by C.A. Lejeune. She was buried next to her infant daughter Mary and her grandparents. It is intended that her grave marker will weather away naturally.

Her portrait was painted by John Collier (1914) and by John Singer Sargent.

Related persons
• is grandchild of Burne-Jones, Edward
• was painted by Sargent, John Singer

Images

The grave of Angela Thirkell at St. Margaret's Churchyard, Rottingdean, Sussex.
Picture by Androom (07 Feb 2012)

 

The house in Rottingdean, Sussex where Enid Bagnold and Angela Thirkell lived.
Picture by Androom (03 Oct 2014)

 


Thomas, Walter Brandon

Published: 11 May 2014
Last update: 05 Apr 2022