Vera Mary Brittain, Lady Catlin (1893 – March 29, 1970) was an English writer, feminist and pacifist, best remembered as the author of the best-selling memoir Testament of Youth, recounting her experiences during the First World War and the growth of her ideology of specifically Anglican Christian pacifism. 1893 (MDCCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... March 29 is the 88th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (89th in Leap years). ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location within the British Isles Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population – Total (mid-2004) – Total (2001 Census) – Density Ranked 1st UK... Testament of Youth is the partial autobiography of Vera Brittain, and was first published in 1933. ... Combatants Allies: • Serbia, • Russia, • France, • Belgium, • British Empire and Dominions, • United States, • Italy, • ...and others Central Powers: • Germany, • Austria-Hungary, • Ottoman Empire, • Bulgaria Commanders {{{commander1}}} {{{commander2}}} Strength {{{strength1}}} {{{strength2}}} Casualties 5 million military, 3 million civilian (full list) 3 million military, 3 million civilian (full list) {{{notes}}} World War I... The term Anglican describes those people and churches following the religious traditions of the Church of England, especially following the Reformation. ... As a noun, Christian is an appellation and moniker deriving from the appellation Christ, which many people associate exclusively with Jesus of Nazareth. ... Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence as a means of settling disputes. ...

Born in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Brittain was the daughter of a well-to-do family. After studying classics at Somerville College, Oxford, she delayed her degree after one year in 1915 in order to work as a Voluntary Aid Detachment (V.A.D.) nurse for much of the war. Her fiance, Roland Leighton, her brother Edward Brittain, and most of their friends were killed during the war. Returning to Oxford after the war to complete her degree, she found it difficult to adjust to peacetime. It was at this time she met Winifred Holtby, and a close friendship and bond developed between them until Holtby's untimely death in the mid 1930s. It was during this preiod she joined the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship. Newcastle-under-Lyme is a busy market town in Staffordshire, England, not to be confused with the larger city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. ... Full name Somerville College Motto Donec rursus impleat orbem Named after Mary Somerville Previous Names Somerville Hall Established 1879 Sister College Girton College Principal Dame Fiona Caldicott JCR President Simon Bruegger MCR President Allen Middlebro Location Woodstock Road, Oxford Undergraduates 396 Graduates 88 Homepage Boat Club Somerville College is one... A nurse is a health care professional who is engaged in the practice of nursing. ... Roland Leighton (March 27, 1895-December 23, 1915), was a British poet and soldier, immortalised in Vera Brittains memoir, Testament of Youth. ... Image:Holtby. ...

Vera Brittain's first published novel was The Dark Tide. In 1925 she married George Catlin, a political scientist and philosopher. It was not until 1933 that she published Testament of Youth, which would be followed by several sequels, including Testament of Friendship, her tribute to Winifred Holtby. 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Sir George Catlin was an American professor and political scientist. ... Political science is a social science discipline that deals with the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behavior. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Testament of Youth is the partial autobiography of Vera Brittain, and was first published in 1933. ... A sequel is a work of fiction in literature, film, and other creative works that is produced after a completed work, and is set in the same universe but at a later time. ...

Vera Brittain wrote from the heart and based much of her novels on actual experiences and actual people. In this regard her novel Honourable Estate was in places almost autobiographical.

Her pacifism came to the fore during the Second World War, and she began the series of Letters to Peacelovers. She was a practical pacifist in the sense that she helped the war effort by working as a fire warden and by travelling around the country raising funds for the Peace Pledge Union's food relief campaign. She was vilified by speaking out against saturation bombing of German cities, although solace was obtained in 1945 when the Nazi blacklist of people living in Britain to be immediately arrested after a German invasion included her name. Her pacifist writings are included in One Voice, reissued in 2005. Combatants Allies: • Soviet Union, • UK & Commonwealth, • USA, • France/Free France, • China, • Poland, • ...and others Axis: • Germany, • Japan, • Italy, • ...and others Commanders Strength Casualties Full list Full list World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a large scale military conflict that took place between 1939 and 1945. ... Civil Defence Services To protect the population against the ill effects of air attack, the Cival Defence was initiated in Britain by the Home Office in 1935. ... The Peace Pledge Union is a British non-governmental organization which emerged from an initiative by Richard Sheppard, canon of St Pauls Cathedral, in 1933. ... Aerial area bombardment is the policy of indiscriminate bombing of an enemys cities, for the purpose of destroying the enemys means of producing military materiel, communications, government centres and civilian morale. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Nazism. ... A blacklist is a list or register of entities who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, or mobility. ... Operation Sealion (Unternehmen Seelöwe in German) was a World War II German plan to invade Britain. ... One Voice was the eighth studio album by singer and songwriter Barry Manilow. ...

Her daughter is the well-known politician Shirley Williams, now Baroness Williams of Crosby. The Baroness Williams of Crosby Shirley Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby, PC (born July 27, 1930), is a British politician. ...

Vera Brittain never fully got over the deaths of her fiance Roland Leighton and her brother Edward. After she died in 1970, her will requested that her ashes be scattered on Edward's grave on the Asiago Plateau in Italy — "...for nearly 50 years much of my heart has been in that Italian village cemetery." This her daughter Shirley did in September of 1970.

Biographies

• Vera Brittain: A Feminist Life, by Deborah Gorham, University of Toronto Press, 2000. ISBN 0802083390.
• Vera Brittain: A Life, by Paul Berry and Mark Bostridge, Virago Press, 2001. ISBN 1860498728.

External links

• Vera Brittain: A Feminist Life reviewed in University of Toronto Quarterly
• Words against bombing during WWII