Dorothy L. Sayers

Dorothy Leigh Sayers (Oxford, 13 June 1893 – Witham, 17 December 1957) was a British author, translator, student of classical and modern languages, and Christian humanist.

History and Personal Life

Dorothy L. Sayers (and she always insisted on that "L.") is perhaps best known for her Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries, a series of novels and short stories featuring an English aristocrat who is an amateur sleuth.

Related Topics:
Lord Peter Wimsey - Novels - Short stories - Aristocrat - Amateur sleuth

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Sayers was born in Oxford, where her father the Rev. Henry Sayers, M.A., was chaplain (and headmaster of the Choir School) of Christ Church, Oxford. She was educated at Somerville College, Oxford, where she took first-class honours in modern languages, although women could not be granted degrees at that time; she was among the first women to receive a degree when they were allowed a few years later. She worked as a teacher and later as a copywriter in an advertising agency, S.H. Benson's, in London. This was to give her a useful insight into the advertising industry which she used in one of her mysteries, Murder Must Advertise.

Related Topics:
Oxford - Henry Sayers - Christ Church, Oxford - Somerville College, Oxford - Modern languages - Copywriter - S.H. Benson's - London - Murder Must Advertise

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"Strictly Confidential. Particulars about Baby."

In 1922 Sayers became involved with an unemployed "motor car salesman" named Bill White. After a brief, intense, and mainly sexual relationship, Sayers discovered she was pregnant. White reacted negatively, storming out "in rage & misery" when Sayers admitted to being pregnant.

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Fearing the effect her unmarried pregnancy would have on her parents, who were in their 70s, Sayers opted to hide herself away from friends and family. She continued to work at Benson's until the beginning of her last trimester, at which point she pleaded exhaustion and took an extended leave. She went alone to a "mother's hospital" under an assumed name and the child, John Anthony, was born January 3, 1924, at Southbourne, Hampshire. She remained with John for three weeks, nursing him and caring for him.

Related Topics:
Southbourne - Hampshire

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Not able to return to her life or work with an unexplainable child, Sayers arranged for him to be raised by her cousin Ivy Shrimpton. She wrote to Ivy, telling her the sad story about "a friend" and asking for Ivy to take the child. When Ivy agreed to take John, Sayers sent her another letter that began "Strictly Confidential. Particulars about Baby." which revealed the child belonged to her. Sayers swore her cousin to silence about the child's parentage.

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Two years later, by which time she was already writing her detective novels, she married Oswald Arthur "Mac" Fleming (a journalist whose professional name was "Atherton Fleming") and they later adopted her son; but he never lived in the Sayers household. Nor did Sayers publicly acknowledge the boy as her biological son. Given the mores of the time, perhaps this is not surprising. John Anthony Fleming died in 1984 at the age of 60.

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