Edith pargeter biography

Early Years

Edith Pargeter was born on 28th September 1913, just before the start of World War 1 and was the youngest of three children.

Her brother Ellis, from whom she was to take her name much later as a pseudonym, was born in 1907and her sister Margaret was born in 1911.

The family lived in a two bedroom terraced cottage in Horsehay, a small community a short distance from Dawley in the heart of the east Shropshire coalfield.

Edith pargeter biography

The community was dominated by the Horsehay works formerly part of the Coalbrookdale Company set up by the Darby family in the mid 18 Century. Her father, Edmund Valentine Pargeter, worked as a clerk and timekeeper at the works and later her brother was to join the workforce becoming an engineer.
Edith’s mother, also named Edith, was an important influence on her life and that of her brother and sister.

This was a working class home with a