Inez Holden

Who was Inez Holden?

Beatrice Inez Lisette Holden was a British writer and Bohemian social figure and journalist, also known for her association with George Orwell. Born at Wellesbourne, Warwickshire to Wilfred Millington Holden and Beatrice Mary Byng Paget, with an elder brother, Wilfred Herbert, born in 1902, she was a cousin of the twins Celia Mary and Mamaine, who became Arthur Koestler's second wife. Her first memory was her father shooting at- and missing- her mother; their relationship was a fraught one, as was Holden's own relationship with her mother, who was considered to be the second best horsewoman in England. She kept fifteen chargers, but although her extravagant nature allowed her to visit the Ritz when in London, her daughter did not benefit from it. According to Bluemel, Holden's status as 'a dropout from the gentry class who worked as both factory hand and intellectual' is a contributing factor in the value of her work both generally speaking and for feminist scholars.