Kathleen Freeman (1) (1897–1959)

Kathleen Freeman was the only child of Charles Freeman, a British commercial traveler, and his wife Catharine Mawdesley. Some sources say she was born in Wales, others say England. She was educated at Canton High School for Girls and graduated from University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, Cardiff, with a B.A. in classics in 1918. She went on to earn an M.A. in 1922 and a D.Litt. in 1940. She joined the faculty as a lecturer in Greek in 1919, and published her first book on a classical Greek subject, The Work and Life of Solon, in 1926. Over the next 20 years, she wrote novels, short stories, and poems, beginning with Martin Hanner: A Comedy (1926), plus mystery and detective fiction published under various pseudonyms, including "Mary Fitt," who debuted in 1936 with Murder Mars the Tour. During World War II, she returned to classical studies and wrote about Greek authors for The Western Mail newspaper in Cardiff; these columns were later collected and published in book form as It Has All happened Before (1941), Voices of Freedom (1943), and What They Said at the Time (1945). She also lectured on Greek history and culture to British troops stationed in South Wales. In 1946, she resigned from academe to devote her time to travel, research, and writing. In 1951, she was elected chairman of the Philosophical Society of Great Britain and that same year was admitted to the Detection Club. She also wrote 12 children's books between 1953 and her death, and a biography of Jane Austen, T'Other Miss Austen (1956).