Naomi Mitchison

Naomi Mary Margaret Mitchison
Naomi Mitchison, photographed in about 1920
Born	(1897-11-01)1 November 1897 Edinburgh, Scotland
Died	11 January 1999(1999-01-11) (aged 101) Carradale, Scotland
Occupation	Biologist, nurse, writer
Language	English
Ethnicity	Scottish
Education	Society of Oxford Home Students
Period	1914–15
Genre	Historical, science fiction, travelogue and autobiography
Spouse	Gilbert Richard Mitchison
Children	Geoffrey Mitchison (1918–1927) Denis Mitchison (born 1919) Murdoch Mitchison (1922-2011) Avrion Mitchison (born 1928) Lois Mitchison Valentine Mitchison Clemency Mitchison
Relatives	John Scott Haldane (father) J. B. S. Haldane (brother)

Naomi Mary Margaret Mitchison, Baroness Mitchison, CBE (née Haldane; 1 November 1897 – 11 January 1999) was a Scottish novelist and poet. Often referred to as the doyenne of Scottish literature, she wrote over 90 books covering a wide range of genre including historical, science fiction, travelogue and autobiography. With her husband Gilbert Richard Mitchison becoming a life peer in 1964, she was also entitled to call herself Lady Mitchison, but never used the title herself. She was appointed CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 1981.

Following her father John Scott Haldane and elder brother J. B. S. Haldane, Naomi Mitchison initially pursued a scientific career. From 1908 she and her brother started investigating Mendelian genetics. Their publication in 1915 became the first demonstration of genetic linkage in mammals. But while a diploma student at Society of Oxford Home Students (later St Anne's College, Oxford), the First World War broke out that changed her interest to nursing.

Her novel The Corn King and the Spring Queen (1931) is regarded by some as the best historical novel of the 20th century.

Naomi Mitchison was a vocal feminist, particularly campaigning for birth control. We Have Been Warned (1935) is regarded as her most controversial work due to explicit sexuality. The book was rejected by leading publishers and ultimately censored.

Naomi Mary Margaret Haldane was born in Edinburgh, the daughter and younger child of the physiologist John Scott Haldane and his wife (Louisa) Kathleen Trotter. Naomi's parents came from different political backgrounds, her father being a Liberal and her mother from a Tory and pro-imperialist family. However, both families were of landed stock, and the Haldane family had been feudal barons of Gleneagles since the 13th century, but were nevertheless known for their achievements in other spheres. Today, the best known member of the family is probably Naomi's elder brother, the biologist J. B. S. Haldane (1892–1964), but in her youth her paternal uncle Richard Burdon Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane, twice Lord Chancellor (from 1912–1915 under Herbert Henry Asquith, and in 1924 during the first Labour government of Ramsay Macdonald), was better known.