Elisabeth Inglis-Jones

Portrait of Inglis-Jones taken from a painting by Cecil Jameson

Elisabeth Inglis-Jones (1900–1994) was a Welsh novelist and biographer. In 1929, she published Starved Fields, the first of six historical novels. She was also an important writer of local history and biography. Her novel Crumbling Pageant was republished in 2015.

Biography

Born in January 1900 in London, Inglis-Jones was brought up in the village of Derry Ormond, in what is now the county of Ceredigion. She lived on the Derry Ormond Estate which had been owned by her family since 1783 but was demolished in 1953. She moved back to the London area around 1937. In her late 80s, she was living in Camberley, Surrey.

Literary career

Inglis-Jones took up writing as a child, joining a literary group called The Scratch Society when only 12 or 13. She spent almost three years writing her first novel, Starved Fields, published in 1929. Her frequently reprinted Peacocks in Paradise (1950, republished 1990) tells the story of Hafod, a historic Welsh mansion, and its first owner Thomas Johnes (1748–1815). She also wrote five other novels: Crumbling Pageant (1932, republished 2015), Pay Thy Pleasure (1939), The Loving Heart (1942), Lightly He Journeyed (1946), Aunt Albinia (1948).

Works based on Welsh history included The Story of Wales (1955), describing houses demolished since 1900, while her biographies covered The Great Maria (1959) telling the story of the writer Maria Edgeworth, The Lord of Burgley (1964) on William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley and Augustus Smith of Scilly (1964) describing the life of the 19th-century proprietor of the Isles of Scilly.

In reviewing the recently republished Crumbling Pageant, Jane Bowden praises Inglis-Jones's "undeniable talent for storytelling, characterisation and lifelong passion for Wales", qualifying her as a "great Welsh woman writer".

Selected works

Novels

• Inglis-Jones, Elisabeth (2015). Crumbling Pageant. Honno Limited. ISBN 978-1-909983-35-9.
• Jones, Elizabeth Inglis (1929). Starved Fields. Constable.

Welsh history

• Inglis-Jones, Elisabeth (1990). Peacocks in Paradise. Gomer Press. ISBN 978-0-86383-672-5.
• Inglis-Jones, Elisabeth (1959). The Great Maria: A Portrait of Maria Edgeworth. Faber & Faber.
• Inglis-Jones, Elisabeth (1964). The Lord of Burghley. Faber & Faber.
• Inglis-Jones, Elisabeth (1955). The Story of Wales. Faber & Faber. ISBN 978-7-250-01074-4.