Colin McInnes was born in London on 20th August 1914. His father was the noted baritone singer, James Campbell McInnes, and his mother was the novelist Angela Thirkell (grand-daughter of the Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones, Thirkell was also related to the writer Rudyard Kipling and the politician Stanley Baldwin). McInnes had an elder brother, Graham, a diplomat and writer born two years earlier (1912-70). Their parents’ marriage ultimately proved unsuccessful and culminated in a scandalous divorce in 1917, caused primarily by James’s infidelity and violence. In 1918, Angela married Australian engineer George Thirkell and, two years later, she, her sons and her new husband set sail for his home country. The family eventually settled in Melbourne – where the boys took the…
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Citation: Houlden, Kate. "Colin MacInnes". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 February 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2853, accessed 22 November 2024.]
