Stella Gibbons was born in January 1902, into a melodramatic, violent family who were not dissimilar to the Starkadders in her novel Cold Comfort Farm (1932). She was the first of three children born to Telford Gibbons, a doctor, and his wife Maudie; and she spent her whole life in the Hampstead area of North London. Stella was close to her mother and brothers, but her father and grandfather made her childhood miserable with their self-dramatising scenes and emotional outpourings. Telford was depressive, tyrannical and a drunkard; he once threw a knife at Maudie, and he had a series of affairs with the governesses and maids he employed. As a young girl, Stella Gibbons sought refuge in literature. She began writing poetry at 1

This article in full comprises 1742 words but only the first 150 or so words are available to non-members.

All our articles have been written recently by experts in their field, more than 95% of them university professors. To read about membership, please click here.

First published 28 March 2001

Citation: Hammill, Faye. "Stella Gibbons". The Literary Encyclopedia. 28 March 2001.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1730, accessed 9 February 2010.]