author
Lucy Masterman
1884–1977
A British poet and diarist with deep ties to public life, she turned sharp observation and literary grace toward both politics and everyday experience. Her work ranges from early poetry to memoir, biography, and lively reflections on London.
1 Audiobook
Wives of the Prime Ministers, 1844-1906
by Elizabeth Lee, Lucy Masterman
About the author
Born Lucy Blanche Lyttelton in Gibraltar on 19 July 1884, she came from the prominent Lyttelton family and grew up close to political and literary circles. In 1908 she married the journalist and politician Charles Masterman, and their shared public life shaped much of her writing and outlook.
She is remembered as a poet and diarist, but her career was broader than that. Her books include A Book of Wild Things (1910), Poems (1913), and London from the Bus-top (1951), and she also edited Mary Gladstone (Mrs Drew): Her Diaries and Letters in 1930. After her husband's death, she wrote C. F. G. Masterman: A Biography (1968), preserving an intimate view of one of the notable political figures of his day.
Masterman was active in public life herself and even stood for Parliament as a Liberal, though unsuccessfully. She died on 22 April 1977, leaving behind writing that blends personal witness, literary feeling, and a close-up sense of British political society.