Elfrida Vipont

Born in Manchester in 1902, Elfrida Vipont Brown was the daughter of devout Quakers, and was educated at Manchester High School, before studying history at Manchester University, and singing in Paris, London and Leipzig. She worked for a time as a professional singer (experience she would use in her books), married research technologist R.P. Foulds in 1929, and had four daughters. Vipont published her first book, Quakerism (1930), under her married name, E.V. Foulds, although she went on to use 'Elfrida Vipont' for her subsequent work. She was heavily involved in the field of Quaker education, serving as a Governor of Ackworth School - a Quaker institution founded in 1779, and to which many of her family were sent - as well as Headmistress of the Quaker Evacuation School at Yealand Manor, set up during World War II. Vipont wrote more than thirty books, including Weaver of Dreams, The Lark in the Morn, and The Elephant and the Bad Baby, finding success in all genres. She died in 1992.