Marion Catherine "Kitty" Barne (1883 – February 3, 1961) was a British screenwriter

Screenwriter

Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...

 and writer of children's books, especially on music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

 and musical themes.

She was born and brought up in Sussex

Sussex

Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...

 and later studied at the Royal College of Music

Royal College of Music

The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...

. She married Eric Streatfeild in 1912, becoming the cousin-in-law of another popular children's writer Noel Streatfeild

Noel Streatfeild

Mary Noel Streatfeild OBE , known as Noel Streatfeild, was an author, most famous for her children's books including Ballet Shoes . Several of her novels have been adapted for film or television.-Biography:...

. Eric Streatfeild was the first cousin of Noel Streatfeild's father.

Barne was a member of the Women's Voluntary Service, responsible for the reception of children evacuees

Evacuations of civilians in Britain during World War II

Evacuation of civilians in Britain during the Second World War was designed to save the population of urban or military areas in the United Kingdom from aerial bombing of cities and military targets such as docks. Civilians, particularly children, were moved to areas thought to be less at risk....

 to Sussex. During the war years, she published six novels, most notably Visitors from London

Visitors from London

Visitors from London is a children's novel by Kitty Barne, published in 1940. It deals with the then highly topical subject of evacuees. The novel was awarded the Carnegie Medal for 1940.-Plot summary:...

about evacuees, for which she won the Carnegie Medal

Carnegie Medal

The Carnegie Medal is a literary award established in 1936 in honour of Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and given annually to an outstanding book for children and young adults. It is awarded by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals...

 in 1940.

She is best known now for her books Rosina Copper and its sequel Rosina and Son, about the true story of an Argentine

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 polo pony

Polo pony

A polo pony is the term used for a horse used in the game of polo. They may be of any breed or combination of breeds, though many have a significant amount of Thoroughbred breeding. They are called "ponies", but that is in reference to their agile type rather than their size...

 mare that was rescued from neglect after being ordered to be killed. They were illustrated by Alfons Purtscher and Marcia Lane Foster respectively.

Apart from her novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

s, she wrote some non-fiction books, including a biography of Elizabeth Fry

Elizabeth Fry

Elizabeth Fry , née Gurney, was an English prison reformer, social reformer and, as a Quaker, a Christian philanthropist...

 (who was her husband's great grandmother) in 1950, a book about the orchestra and a history of the Girl Guides

Girl Guides

A Guide, Girl Guide or Girl Scout is a member of a section of some Guiding organisations who is between the ages of 10 and 14. Age limits are different in each organisation. It is the female-centred equivalent of the Scouts. The term Girl Scout is used in the United States and several East Asian...

. She was the Girl Guides "Commissioner for Music and Drama" for some years.

Ruth Gervis, the illustrator of a number of her books, said of her:
She died on February 3, 1961 after a long illness.

Selected bibliography

• The Easter Holidays aka Secret of the Sandhills (1935)
• She Shall Have Music (1938)
• Family Footlights (1939)
• Visitors from London
  Visitors from London
  Visitors from London is a children's novel by Kitty Barne, published in 1940. It deals with the then highly topical subject of evacuees. The novel was awarded the Carnegie Medal for 1940.-Plot summary:...
  
  (1940)
• Listening to the Orchestra (1941)
• May I Keep Dogs? aka Bracken, My Dog (1941)
• We'll Meet in England (1942)
• The Amber Gate (1942)
• Three and a Pigeon (1944)
• In the Same Boat (1945)
• Here Come the Girl Guides (1946)
• Musical Honours (1947)
• Bracken My Dog (1949)
• Dusty's Windmill (1949)
• Roly's Dog (1950)
• Elizabeth Fry: a story biography (1950)
• The Windmill Mystery (1950)
• Barbie (1952)
• Admiral's Walk (1953)
• Music Perhaps (1953)
• Rosina Copper (1954)
• Tann's Boarders (1955)
• Rosina and Son (1956)

External links

• Cheri Lloyd (2006) A Nation at War: The Work of Kitty Barne and Mary Treadgold in Pat Pinsent (ed.) Out of the Attic