Stella Margetson

British novelist and writer

Stella Margetson in 1948

Stella Margetson (6 March 1912 – 13 April 1992) was a British novelist and writer on historical subjects and social history, particularly specialising on books about the 19th century.

Biography

Stella Margetson was born in Hampstead in London in 1912,^[1] the youngest of three children of Laurence Margetson (1874–1928), a hosiery manufacturer,^[2] and the actress, singer and stage beauty Florence Collingbourne (1880-1946).^[3][4] She was descended from the artist and illustrator William Henry Margetson and the novelist and journalist Joseph Hatton.^[5]

Her plays for BBC Radio Theatre Leading Lady (1954) starring Rupert Davies^[6] and Village in the Stars (1955) starring Hubert Gregg were broadcast by the BBC Light Service.^[7] For some years she shared a house at 15 Hamilton Terrace in St John's Wood in London with her older sister Colleen Margetson.^[5] Apart from her novels and books on historical and social topics Margetson was a prolific author of articles on the latter subjects for such periodicals as History Today and Country Life.

Margetson died in London in 1992 aged 80.

Selected publications

• Victorian High Society, London : Batsford, 1980.
• Victorian People, London : Batsford, 1977.
• The Long Party: High Society in the Twenties and Thirties, London 34 Seymour Rd, N8 0BE : Gordon [and] Cremonesi Ltd, 1976.
• Journey by Stages: Some Account of the People Who Travelled by Stage-coach and Mail in the Years between 1660 and 1840, Cassell, 1967.
• The Prisoners. A novel, London : William Heinemann, 1949.
• Leisure and Pleasure in the Eighteenth Century, London : Cassell, 1970.
• Fifty Years of Victorian London, from the Great Exhibition to the Queen's Death, London : Macdonald & Co., 1969.
• Peter's Wife. A novel, London : William Heinemann, 1948.
• Flood Tide and Other Stories, Bognor Regis : John Crowther, 1943.
• Regency London, London : Cassell, 1971.
• Three Dramatic Monologues: The Whole Truth. Dear Stephen. My Roger, London : Samuel French, 1953
• Miss Swinford Remembers, London ; Bognor Regis : John Crowther, 1941
• Leisure and Pleasure in the Nineteenth Century, London : Cassell, 1969.
• St John's Wood, Published for the St. John's Wood Society by Home and Law, c1988.^[8]

References

1. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 for Stella Margetson: 1912, Q1-Jan-Feb-Mar - Ancestry.com (subscription required)
2. England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915 for Florence Collingbourne: 1902, Q2-Apr-May-Jun - Ancestry.com (subscription required)
3. Ada Reeve (1876-1966) - Stage Beauty website
4. 1911 England Census for Florence Margetson: London, Hampstead - Ancestry.com (subscription required)
5. The Hattons and the Margetsons - St John's Wood Memories
6. Listings for BBC Radio - Leading Lady -The Radio Times
7. Listings for BBC Radio - Village in the Stars - The Radio Times
8. Publications of Stella Margetson - British Library Catalogue