Alice Warrender

Alice Helen Warrender (16 October 1857 – 23 September 1947) was a Scottish philanthropist, who established one of Britain's earliest annual literary awards, the Hawthornden Prize, in 1919.

Alice Warrender was born at Hawthornden Castle, Scotland[1] as the eldest of six children of Sir George Warrender, 6th Baronet (1825–1901) and Helen Purves-Hume-Campbell, daughter of Sir Hugh Purves-Hume-Campbell, 7th Baronet. Her younger brother was the admiral Sir George Warrender, 7th Baronet.[2]

In 1919, she founded the Hawthornden Prize for a work of imaginative literature, including biography, by an English writer under the age of 41. Winners received £100 (equivalent to £6,000 in 2023) and a silver medal.[3]

Alice Warrender was a judge on the committee awarding the prize until her death.[3] She never married, and is buried at St Martin's Church, Ruislip.[4]

  1. ^ Lee, Hermione (14 July 2017). "Graham Swift's Mothering Sunday wins fiction's most secretive award". The Guardian.
  2. ^ BP2003 volume 1, page 557: Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Mosley, Charles, editor. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003.
  3. ^ a b 'Miss Helen Warrender', The Times, 1 October 1947, p.7
  4. ^ Alice Helen Warrender