Papers of Sylvia Haymon

The archive consists of correspondence with Margery Corbett Ashby, Theresa Garnett, Anne Guthrie, Mary Stott, etc; publications; booklets; bulletins; press cuttings and a photograph of Charlotte Despard. The collection is concentrated around articles written by Mrs Haymon for the Guardian newspaper in Nov 1961 and Apr 1962, entitled 'The End of the Women's Freedom League' and 'The Patient Suffragette', an account of Corbett Ashby's career.

Sylvia Haymon (1917-1995) was born Sylvia Rosen in Norwich on 17 Oct 1917, the daughter of a Jewish master tailor. She was educated at the London School of Economics but did not complete the course, instead marrying Mark Haymon in 1933. During the Second World War she worked in the United States, where she was employed by a New York toyshop as a buyer. She returned with the first of her two daughters to Britain in 1947 where she became a broadcaster, working with Woman's Hour in the early 1950s. She also became a freelance writer for 'The Lady', 'The Times' and 'Punch' until the late 1960s, writing articles on subjects including the militant suffrage movement at the start of the century. It was at the end of this decade that she began writing children's books, 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' in 1969, and 'King Monmouth' the following year. Subsequently she began to publish crime novels under the name of S T Haymon, the first being 'Death and The Pregnant Virgin' in 1980, followed by 'Ritual Murder' in 1982, for which she won the Silver Dagger Award. She published seven of these in all, in addition to two volumes of autobiography: 'Opposite the Cross Keys' (1988) and 'The Quivering Tree' (1990). She died, three years after her husband, in Oct 1995.

This collection is available for research. Readers are advised to contact The Women's Library in advance of their first visit.

Purchased at auction in Feb 1981 through the Friends of The Fawcett Library.

Fawcett Library Catalogue

The Women's Library also holds the papers of Catherine Mary Stott (7CMS)