Flora Masson

Born in Edinburgh in 1856, Flora Masson came from a family deeply involved in literature and public life: her father, David Masson, was a noted man of letters, and her mother, Emily Rosaline Orme, was active in the campaign for women's rights. She trained as a nurse at St Thomas' Hospital in London and went on to hold senior hospital posts, including serving as matron at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford and later at the Eastern Fever Hospital in London.

Masson was also active in the women's suffrage movement, and during the First World War her nursing service was recognized with the Royal Red Cross. Alongside this practical work, she built a second career as a writer and editor, bringing the same discipline and intelligence to the page that she brought to public service.

Her writing is best remembered for biographical and literary subjects. She wrote books on figures including Robert Browning and Victorian thinkers, combining a strong sense of character with an insider's feel for the intellectual world in which they lived. She died in Edinburgh in 1937.