Editing Barbara Pym (section)

===Early life===
Barbara Mary Crampton Pym was born on 2 June 1913 at 72 Willow Street<ref name=dickins>{{cite book|last=Dickins|first=Gordon|title=An Illustrated Literary Guide to Shropshire|year=1987|publisher=Shropshire Libraries|pages=59, 104|isbn=0-903802-37-6}}</ref> in [[Oswestry]], Shropshire, the elder daughter of Irena Spenser, ''née'' Thomas (1886–1945) and Frederic Crampton Pym (1879–1966), a solicitor.<ref>{{Cite ODNB|title=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|date=2004-09-23|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/31574|pages=ref:odnb/31574|editor-last=Matthew|editor-first=H. C. G.|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/31574|access-date=2019-12-17|editor2-last=Harrison|editor2-first=B.}}</ref> She was educated at Queen's Park School, a girls' school in Oswestry. From the age of 12, she attended [[Huyton College]], near [[Liverpool]]. Pym's parents were active in the local Oswestry operatic society, and she was encouraged to write and be creative from a young age.<ref>{{cite book |last=Holt |first=Hazel |date=1990 |title=A Lot to Ask: A Life of Barbara Pym |location=London |publisher=Macmillan |page=13 |isbn=0525249370}}</ref> She spent most of her childhood at Morda Lodge in Morda Road, Oswestry, where in 1922 she staged her first play, ''The Magic Diamond'', performed by family and friends.<ref name=dickins/>

In 1931, she went to [[St Hilda's College, Oxford]], to study English. While at Oxford, she developed a close friendship with the future novelist and literary critic [[Robert Liddell]] who would read her early works and provide key feedback.<ref>Holt 1990, p. 57</ref> She took a second-class honours B.A. degree in English Language and Literature in 1934. In the 1930s, she travelled to Germany on several occasions, developing a love for the country as well as a romantic relationship with a young Nazi officer, Friedbert Gluck. Although she initially admired [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] and did not foresee the advent of war, she later recognised her "blind spot", and removed a character based on Gluck from the novel she was in the process of writing.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/apr/08/the-adventures-of-miss-barbara-pym-by-paula-byrne-the-modern-jane-austen|title=The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym by Paula Byrne – the 'modern Jane Austen'?|date=8 April 2021|author=Kathryn Hughes|website=The Guardian|access-date=8 April 2021}}</ref>

In early 1939, Pym approached [[Jonathan Cape]] about a job in publishing; none was available at the time. The outbreak of [[World War II]] changed her plans, and in 1941 she went to work for the Censorship Department in Bristol, initially checking letters between Irish families in Britain and Ireland, later joining the [[Women's Royal Naval Service]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym|author=[[Paula Byrne]]|publisher=HarperCollins|year=2021|pages=316–373}}</ref><ref name=guardian-20250501/> From 1943, she served in naval [[Postal censorship#World War II|postal censorship]] in Southampton, eventually being posted to [[Naples]].<ref>Holt 1990, pp.97–98</ref><ref name=guardian-20250501/> She had learned about coded messages while an examiner, and may have worked for or with [[MI5]].<ref name=guardian-20250501>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/may/01/author-barbara-pym-may-worked-mi5-research-suggests |title=Author Barbara Pym may have worked for MI5, research suggests |last=Khomami |first=Nadia |newspaper=The Guardian |date=1 May 2025 |access-date=3 May 2025}}</ref>