Biography

Vita Sackville-West

Vita Sackville-West was born at Knole House in Sevenoaks, KentKent(1892). She was the daughter of Edward Lionel Sackville-West, 3rd Baron of Sackville and his wife Victoria Sackville-West. She was named Victoria Mary Sackville-West but she was commonly known as Vita throughout her life. She was a descendant of Thomas Sackville, and granddaughter of a Spanish dancer, Josefa Durán, a gypsy dancer who was born in Malaga in 1830, for whom she was fascinated.

In 1913, Sackville-West married Harold Nicolson, both Sackville-West and her husband had an open marriage. These were not an impediment to a true closeness between Sackville-West and Nicolson. Both loved each other and even Nicolson gave up his diplomatic career so he could live with Sackville-West in England. The couple had two children: Nigel, also a politician and writer, and Benedict, an art historian. In the 1930s, the family acquired the Sissinghurst Castle, which was near Cranbrook.

Sackville-West was also in a relationship with writer Virginia Woolf in the late 1920s. The end of their romance would come in 1921, when Vita Sackville-West was 29 and Virginia Woolf 39 years old. One of Vita’s first loves was with her childhood friend and schoolmate Violet Trefusis. They both took a trip through France, dressed in men’s clothing. The romance ended in 1921, but they remained friends until their deathdeath(1962).