Papers of Lenanton, Lady Carola Mary Anima (née Oman) (1897-1978)
This collection comprises correspondence, research, newspaper clippings and the editorial papers of Lady Carola Mary Anima Lenanton (née Oman).
Related materials: See RMG Item Reference BRP Papers; Nelson, Horatio, Vice-Admiral, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1758-1805, and Caird Library Publication: 'Nelson: A Biography' Call Number: 92NELSON.
Administrative / biographical background
Carola Mary Anima Oman was born at Oxford in 1897, the second daughter of the military historian Professor Charles William Chadwick Oman and his wife Mary Mabel Oman née Maclagan. A Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) in the First World War, she married Gerald Foy Ray Lenanton in 1922. Her husband was knighted for his work as director of home timber production during the Second World War. An author in both fiction and history, Oman's 'Nelson: A Biography', first published in 1946, made her a leading expert on Nelson among other writers and historians. John Sugden has referred to Oman as a "pioneer of historical biography" and the "greatest Nelson biographer of the twentieth century". She was appointed a Trustee of the National Maritime Museum and later of The National Portrait Gallery. She was appointed a CBE in 1957. She died at Ayot St Lawrence in Hertfordshire in 1978.
Related materials: See RMG Item Reference BRP Papers; Nelson, Horatio, Vice-Admiral, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1758-1805, and Caird Library Publication: 'Nelson: A Biography' Call Number: 92NELSON.
Administrative / biographical background
Carola Mary Anima Oman was born at Oxford in 1897, the second daughter of the military historian Professor Charles William Chadwick Oman and his wife Mary Mabel Oman née Maclagan. A Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) in the First World War, she married Gerald Foy Ray Lenanton in 1922. Her husband was knighted for his work as director of home timber production during the Second World War. An author in both fiction and history, Oman's 'Nelson: A Biography', first published in 1946, made her a leading expert on Nelson among other writers and historians. John Sugden has referred to Oman as a "pioneer of historical biography" and the "greatest Nelson biographer of the twentieth century". She was appointed a Trustee of the National Maritime Museum and later of The National Portrait Gallery. She was appointed a CBE in 1957. She died at Ayot St Lawrence in Hertfordshire in 1978.
Record Details
| Item reference: | LEN |
|---|---|
| Catalogue Section: | Personal collections |
| Level: | COLLECTION |
| Extent: | 2 boxes (13 folders) |
| Date made: | 1942-1971 |
| Creator: | Anima, Carola Mary; Lenanton, Carola Mary Anima |
| Credit: | National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London |