Winifred Peck Explained

Winifred Frances Peck (née Knox; 14 September 1882 – 20 November 1962), styled Lady Peck from 1938, was an English novelist and biographer.

Early life and education

Winifred was born in 1882 at 8 Merton Street, Oxford,[1] the youngest child of Rev. Edmund Arbuthnott Knox and Ellen Penelope French, daughter of the missionary Rev. Valpy French.[2] Her father was a fellow at Merton College, Oxford at the time of her birth and later was the fourth Bishop of Manchester (1903–1921).[3] Her father was of Ulster Scots descent.[4]

Knox was one of the first 40 pupils to attend Wycombe Abbey School, and she went on to read Modern History at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.[5]

Career

Knox's first book, written in 1909, was a biography of Louis IX.[5]

Ten years after writing her first book, Winifred Peck began a novel-writing career which saw the publication of twenty-five books over a period of forty years, including House-bound (1942), which was reprinted in 2007 by Persephone Books. She also wrote two books on the subject of her own childhood, A Little Learning (1952) and Home for the Holidays (1955).[6]

Peck was the sister of E. V. Knox, editor of Punch; Ronald Knox, theologian and writer;[5] Dilly Knox, cryptographer; Wilfred Lawrence Knox, clergyman; and Ethel Knox. Her niece was the Booker Prize-winning author Penelope Fitzgerald who wrote a biography of her father, E. V. Knox, and her uncles, entitled The Knox Brothers.

Personal life

In 1911, Knox married civil servant James Peck.[5] They had three sons (the second predeceased his parents).[7] When her husband was awarded a knighthood in 1938 she assumed the title of Lady Peck.[8]

Lady Peck died in 1962.[5]

Books

In her Who's Who entry, Peck listed the following books by her:[9]

Notes and references

Notes
  • References

    • External links

    Notes and References

    1. News: Births. . 2 December 2024 . Bicester Herald . 22 September 1882 . Oxfordshire, England . 8.
    2. Book: Burke . Bernard . Burke . Ashworth Peter . A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage, the Privy Council, Knightage and Companionage . 1910 . Harrison & Sons . 1948 . 2 December 2024 . en.
    3. Oxfordshire, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813–1915
    4. Book: Moulton . Mo . Ireland and the Irish in Interwar England . 3 April 2014 . Cambridge University Press . 978-1-107-05268-0 . 179 . 2 December 2024 . en.
    5. Obituary, The Times, 22 November 1962, p.18
    6. http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-nr2006-18752 Peck, Winifred 1882–1962
    7. Year Book of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1963-4, Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1965, p. 32
    8. http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U52921 "Peck, Sir James Wallace"
    9. http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U51559 "Peck, Winifred Frances, (Lady Peck)"

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