Barron, Mary., 1913-1989

Mary was the only child of Horace Sidney Kesteven (1870-1951), a concert pianist and music master, and Mary Christine Susan Kesteven, née Courage (1871-1967). Mary's mother, Mary ('Molly') Kesteven, was one of eleven children of Edward Courage (1832-1904), a partner of the Courage brewing company, and his wife Helen Rosa Marshall (d.1896). Horace and Mary Kesteven lived in Kensington, London in the 1920s and moved to La Tour-de-Peilz, Vevey, Switzerland in the 1930s.

Mary was educated at Heathfield School, Ascot, Berkshire in the 1920s. Her marriage in 1936 to Christopher George Rhodes (1914-1964), later 3rd Baronet, ended in separation in 1940 and divorce in 1942. After her separation from Christopher Rhodes, Mary appears to have been employed as a writer working for organisations such as the BBC, and lived in a flat in Wigmore Street, London. Between 1940 and 1948 she lived with Jacques Cottance (1906-1967), known under his pseudonym Jacques B. Brunius as the French actor, director, writer and Surrealist, who is frequently mentioned in correspondence with her mother during this period. Mary undertook translating work with Jacques, and worked with him on the French revue 'Fontaine'. She adopted the name Mary Cottance by deed poll in 1944, but reverted to Kesteven in 1948 when she and Jacques separated.

In the 1950s Mary took a number of different jobs and studied for University examinations. She married Samuel Barron (1910-), a barrister and lecturer in economics and management, in January 1956. They moved to West Sussex in the 1960s.