Buxton Local History Society

“Blue Plaques.”

1. Vera Brittain – 1893 – 1970.

Vera Brittain is one of the most significant literary and political figures of the 20th century.

An acclaimed writer and campaigner for feminism and pacifism, she is best known for her haunting First World War memoir, Testament of Youth. An instant best-seller when it was published in 1933, it was dramatised by the BBC for television in 1979 and film in 2014, translated into seven languages and is on the school curriculum. It continues to inspire readers and viewers around the world.

Vera lived in Buxton with her father Arthur, mother Edith and younger brother Edward from March 1905 when she was 11 until October 1915 when she left for a nursing post in a London hospital. Arthur was a director of his family’s very successful paper manufacturing company. The Brittains rented High Leigh (now 21 Manchester Road) for two years before moving to Melrose (now 151 Park Road) in 1907. Vera attended The Grange preparatory school on The Park, and Edward, Holmleigh on Devonshire Road (both now demolished). Edward was killed in 1918.

Despite being one of Buxton’s most important former residents, Vera’s reputation locally has been tainted by her trenchant criticisms in Testament of Youth of the town and its residents. This might explain why there is no formal commemoration of Vera in Buxton, and why many visitors and residents have never heard of her.

Drawing on Vera’s diary and letters, and Buxton’s Edwardian history, a new biography offers a much richer story about the part her Buxton upbringing played in shaping the character and interests of an extraordinary young woman. Perhaps this corrective to Vera’s very one-sided portrayal will help restore her reputation in the town.