Clemence Dane
Clemence Dane, the pseudonym of Winifred Ashton, was an influential English novelist and playwright born in 1888 in Blackheath, England. After studying at private schools and the Slade School of Art, she initially pursued a career as a portrait painter before shifting to teaching and acting, particularly during World War I. She adopted her pen name from a church she admired and published her first novel, *Regiment of Women*, which critiques single-sex schooling through the lens of a teacher's experience at a girls' school. Dane gained significant recognition for her play *A Bill of Divorcement*, which explored progressive ideas surrounding divorce laws and gained popularity during its time.
Throughout her career, she produced a diverse body of work that included novels, plays, screenplays, and radio scripts, although none matched the acclaim of *A Bill of Divorcement*. In 1946, she received an Academy Award for her screenplay for *Vacation from Marriage*. Dane remained single throughout her life, finding joy in her surroundings, particularly in Covent Garden, which she celebrated in her memoir, *London Has a Garden*. Her bold personality and unique writing style left a lasting impact on the literary world, and she was even memorialized in popular culture by her friend, playwright Noel Coward. Dane passed away on March 28, 1965, leaving behind a legacy of provocation and creativity.
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Clemence Dane
Author
- Born: February 21, 1888
- Birthplace: Blackheath, London, England
- Died: March 28, 1965
Biography
Clemence Dane is the pseudonym of Winifred Ashton, who was born in 1888 in Blackheath, England. She studied first in private schools, then for three years at the Slade School of Art in London, and finally for a year in Dresden, Germany. She abandoned her early attempt at a career as a portrait painter in order to teach in Ireland. In 1913, she turned to acting and did war work when World War I broke out. She returned to teaching after a few years, and in 1917 chose the name of a favorite church, St. Clements Dane, as her pseudonym for her first novel, Regiment of Women.
The book’s title is taken from John Knox’s polemical pamphlet attacking Mary, Queen of Scots, and what he took to be the categorical abomination of feminine political power. Dane’s novel indicts single-sex schooling, telling the story of a teacher at a girls’ school under the sway of a charismatic but heartless headmistress. Dane’s third novel, Legend (1919), used conversations to characterize a woman who has recently died. Someone suggested that a novel with so much talk would make a good play, and in 1921, Dane’s stage adaptation was produced as A Bill of Divorcement. The play examined a proposed reform in the divorce law to allow wives to divorce insane husbands; in this connection the play attacked conservative ecclesiastical dogma. The subject dates the play, but in its own time A Bill of Divorcement was a popular, albeit controversial, success, enjoying a run of 401 performances. In 1932, the play was made into a film in which the actress Katherine Hepburn first appeared.
Dane continued to write an extraordinary variety of plays, novels, screen plays, radio scripts, short stories, and nonfiction; her last publications appeared in 1964. She adapted works of Max Beerbohm, Edmond Rostand, and Friedrich Hebbel; she collaborated with Helen Simpson on mystery novels; she wrote plays about William Shakespeare, Thomas Chatterton, and the Brontë sisters. None of her many publications were quite as popular as A Bill of Divorcement had been, but in 1946 she won an Academy Award for the screenplay for Vacation from Marriage.
Dane never married. She lived happily near Covent Garden, in a neighborhood she celebrated in her memoir, London Has a Garden (1964). She died on March 28, 1965. Dane was personally unconstrained in her speech and in her behavior, once stabbing herself with a fork while trying to illustrate how she believed William Shakespeare stabbed Christopher Marlowe. Dane’s friend, playwright Noel Coward, used her as a model for the character of the medium Madame Arcati in his play Blithe Spirit. Dane was a talented and oftentimes provocative writer whose work was popular in many genres.