Susanna Mitchell, my close friend of 60 years, who has died aged 80 of cancer, trained as a secretary, was an army wife and then farmed in her native Northern Ireland, before publishing novels and becoming a Cambridge academic and finally a political activist.
She was born in Warrenpoint, County Down, daughter of Lt-Col GHK Ryland, of the Royal Ulster Rifles, and his wife, Jane (nee Campbell). Her parents were stationed in the far east during the second world war, so Susanna was raised in Warrenpoint by her maternal grandparents, with whom she had a rewarding relationship, later echoed by that with her own grandchildren.
At her non-academic private school, she was the first girl ever to take an A-level (in English) and was then sent to secretarial college in Knightsbridge, London, where daughters of a conventional class went to be “finished” before marriage and family. There we met.
After some time in a London advertising agency, Susanna returned to Ireland to support her ageing parents, getting a job with Ulster TV. In 1966 she married Donald Mitchell, then an officer with the Royal Ulster Rifles, spending time as an army wife before they inherited a farm at Murlough when Donald’s father died, and there raised their two daughters.
So far, so unremarkable. But Susanna’s keen mind was not satisfied with this. She started writing and published three successful novels, the last of which, The Colour of His Hair (1994), is a brilliant portrayal of sectarianism in Ulster.
Despairing of the divisiveness of Ulster society, the family moved to southern England in 1985. Susanna felt she must finally attend university, so set about taking A-levels in French and Economics before going to Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, in 1994. She gained a first in political and social sciences and went on to tutor at Cambridge for some years before joining the New Economics Foundation think-tank and writing many papers for them.
By 2004 the family had moved to London and Susanna took over organisation of Friends of le Monde Diplomatique, a left-leaning forum for debate on contemporary international issues. She became a committed member of the Labour party, convinced that participatory not merely representational democracy was essential. She wrote articles for the Camden New Journal, raised issues and tabled motions wherever possible, a particular concern being the “sneaking privatisation” of the NHS. Thus the conventional young lady reached her radical old age.
Susanna often despaired of humanity, its selfishness and short-termism, but she never failed to love and inspire every individual fortunate enough to know her. She is survived by Donald, her daughters Louise and Charlotte, and her grandchildren, Charlie, Matthew, Zoe and Jessica.
