Brittain, Vera (Mary) (1893–1970)

English socialist writer. During World War I, she was a nurse to troops overseas from 1915 to 1919, as told in her book Testament of Youth (1933); Testament of Friendship (1940) commemorates English novelist Winifred Holtby.

Brittain was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, and studied at Oxford University. After World War I she worked as a freelance journalist. During the 1920s she was active in the feminist ‘Six Point’ group. She married political scientist George Catlin (1896–1979); their daughter is the politician Shirley Williams, aspects of whose childhood are recorded in her mother's Testament of Experience (1957).

Brittain's other works include the novels The Dark Tide (1923), Not Without Honour (1924), Account Rendered (1944), and Born (1925) (1949). Lady into Woman (1953) is a history of women from Victoria to Elizabeth II.