Winifred Ashton, later known as Clemence Dane, was born in Kent, England in 1888. As a gifted student, she attended various private schools before being hired to teach French in Geneva, Switzerland at the age of 16.
After a year, she returned to England and spent three years studying art in London and another year in Dresden, Germany, showcasing her talent as a portrait painter. However, she abandoned her art career to become a teacher in Ireland, only to leave that position for a career in stage acting, which she pursued for several years until World War I broke out.
During the war, she dedicated herself to war work, pushing herself to the point of exhaustion, which led to a breakdown in her health. It was during her recuperation that she wrote her first novel, "Regiment of Women", under the pseudonym Clemence Dane, a name she chose in honor of the famous London church of St. Clemence Dane, which was later destroyed in a German bombing raid in 1940.
"Regiment of Women" was an instant success, and her next novel, "Legend", was also well-received. Several reviewers suggested that it should be adapted into a play, which she did, renaming it "A Bill of Divorcement". The play had successful runs on Broadway and the London stage, starring Katharine Cornell, and was later adapted into a film several times, most notably with Katharine Hepburn and John Barrymore in 1932.
Throughout her career, Clemence Dane continued to write novels, plays, and essays, and even authored a personal and professional study of actor/writer Hugh Walpole. She passed away in London, England in 1965 at the age of 77.
