| Birth: | Jul. 9, 1901, England | | Death: | May 21, 2000
Hertfordshire, England | 
Author. Aviation pioneer. British political and society figure. Dame Barbara Cartland was born into a middle class family, and showed writing talent from an early age; her first job as a gossip columnist for The Daily Express was followed by her first novel, "Jigsaw", in 1923. By the time her career ended, she had published 657 books, making her, according to the 1983 edition of "The Guinness Book of World Records", the largest selling author on earth. While she wrote biographies and books on health, she is best known for ladies' romance novels. While "Blood Money" was banned in 1926 as being too racy [at least for the time], most of her novels were considered tame, with a lack of explicit content. She had an interest in aviation, and, in 1931, helped develop the prototype for a troop-carrying glider; for this, she received the Bishop Wright Air Industry Award in 1984. During WWII, Dame Barbara was deeply involved in the war effort, serving as Chief Lady Welfare Officer of Bedfordshire, and working with several war charities. One of her favorite projects was collecting wedding dresses so that every wartime bride could have a proper white dress. For her wartime work, she was invested with the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in 1953. From 1955 to 1964, Dame Barbara was Conservative member of the Hertfordshire county council; while in office, she helped secure legal rights for gypsies, including education of their children. Dame Barbara was married twice; the first, from 1927 to 1932 to Alexander George McCorquondale produced a daughter, Raine, who was to become the step-mother of Princess Diana. Her second husband, Hugh McCorquondale, was a cousin of her first; he died in 1963. For her long lifetime of service to England, Barbara Cartland was invested Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1990. When she died, she was, at her request, buried in a cardboard coffin. (bio by: Bob Hufford)
Search Amazon for Barbara Cartland | | | Burial:
Hatfield Estate
Hatfield
Hertfordshire, England |
Maintained by: Find A Grave
Originally Created by: Bob Hufford
Record added: Sep 08, 2007
Find A Grave Memorial# 21434236 |
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