Anna Mendelssohn

Anna Mendelssohn (born Anna Mendleson, 1948 – 15 November 2009), who wrote under the name Grace Lake, was a British writer, poet and political activist. She came from a left-wing political family, was inspired by the Paris student risings in May 1968, and became a political radical in Britain.

Mendelsohn was convicted of conspiracy to cause explosions as part of The Angry Brigade, a ruling she insisted was unjust. After her release she raised a family, resumed her education and devoted her life to art and to poetry. She grew somewhat isolated from the rest of society, but her friends saw to it that some of her work was published.

Mendleson was the daughter of Maurice Mendleson, a prosperous market trader from in Cheshire. According to Peter Riley, writing in The Guardian, her father was from a "working class Jewish" background, and was a Labour councillor in Stockport; the Mendleson family was later described by Des Wilson as "politically radical". Mendleson was educated at Stockport High School for Girls, where she became Head Girl. She was reported to have been a "brilliant and unruly pupil". In addition Mendleson fostered her artistic ability through attending the New Era Academy of Drama and Music from 1957 to 1967, and performed at several Northern Music Festivals.

In September 1967 Mendleson went up to the University of Essex to read English Literature and American History. In May 1968 she went to Paris, to join in the student political rising; what she saw had a great effect on her political thinking. In 1969 she dropped out of her university course rather than continue into her final year, but remained living in Wivenhoe around the university for several months. In early 1970 she was living in York Way in the King's Cross area of London, and was a close friend of a group including some university friends who were living a semi-communal life in Stamford Hill; among them was Hilary Creek. Mendleson and Creek were supporting a group which had squatted empty flats in Arbour Square in Stepney. She became a friend of Jim Greenfield after meeting him on leaving a political meeting.

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