Rebecca West - Biography

Biography

Rebecca West was born Cicely Isabel Fairfield in 1892 in London and grew up in a home full of intellectual stimulation, political debate, lively company, books, and music. Her mother, Isabella, a Scotswoman, was an accomplished pianist but did not pursue a musical career after her marriage to Charles Fairfield. Charles, an Anglo-Irish journalist of considerable reputation but financial incompetence, deserted his family when Cicely was 8 years old. He never rejoined them and died impoverished and alone in a boarding house in Liverpool in 1906, when Cicely was 14. The rest of the family moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, where Cicely was educated at George Watson's Ladies College. She had to leave school in 1907 due to a bout of tuberculosis. Cicely did not have any formal schooling after the age of 16, due to lack of funds.

She had two older sisters. Letitia ("Lettie"), who was the best educated of the three, became one of the first fully qualified female doctors in Britain, as well as a barrister at the Inns of Court. Winifred ("Winnie"), the middle sister, married Norman Macleod, Principal Assistant Secretary in the Admiralty, and eventually director general of Greenwich Hospital. Winnie's two children, Alison and Norman, became closely involved in Rebecca's life as she got older; Alison Macleod would achieve a literary career of her own. West trained as an actress in London, taking the name 'Rebecca West' from the rebellious young heroine in Rosmersholm by Henrik Ibsen. She and Lettie became involved in the women's suffrage movement, participating in street protests. Meanwhile, West worked as a journalist on Freewoman and the Clarion, drumming up support for the suffragette cause. She met H. G. Wells in 1913, after her provocatively damning review of his novel Marriage prompted him to invite her to lunch. They fell in love, though Wells was still in his second marriage at the time, and their affair lasted ten years, producing a son, Anthony West. West is also said to have had affairs with Charlie Chaplin and newspaper magnate Lord Beaverbrook.