Barbara Baynton

Baynton became Lady Headley as a result of her brief third marriage to Rowland Allanson-Winn, 5th Baron Headley. She died in Melbourne in 1929. Literary scholars have interpreted Baynton as a "dissident figure" whose critical portrayals of the Australian bush contrast with its dominant depictions by the nationalist authors of her era. Baynton's fiction was written in a realist, modernist style, and depicts the harshness of bush life and the mistreatment of women and children by men in the bush.

• Name — Barbara Baynton • Born — 4 June 1857 • Birthplace — Scone, New South Wales, Australia • Died — 28 May 1929 • Place of death — Toorak, Victoria, Australia

Barbara Baynton was born on 4 June 1857 in Scone, New South Wales. Her parents, who had immigrated to Australia from Ireland in 1840, were the carpenter John Lawrence and his wife Elizabeth (Ewart). Barbara later claimed that her real father was a cavalry officer named Robert Lawrence Kilpatrick. Her biographer and great-granddaughter Penne Hackforth-Jones suggests that Barbara's mother Elizabeth may have indeed left her husband John shortly after their arrival in Australia and entered into a long-term cohabitation with Kilpatrick, who took the real John Lawrence's name. Barbara did not receive a formal schooling and was educated at home. As a teenager she was employed as a governess for a family living on a property near Quirindi. In 1880, she married a selector named Alexander Frater, the son of the family for whom she was working as a governess, in Tamworth.

After her marriage Barbara and her husband moved to Coonamble. She gave birth to three children during her first marriage: two sons and one daughter. During her third pregnancy she invited her niece Sarah to assist with the household labour; Sarah and Alexander began an affair, and in 1887, Barbara discovered their relationship and moved to Sydney with her children. Around this time she briefly worked as a milliner in rural New South Wales. She began working as a housekeeper in Sydney and filed for divorce, which was granted in 1890. The following day she married her employer, the 70-year-old retired surgeon Thomas Baynton, at St Philip's Church. Following her marriage, Barbara developed an interest in antiques and other collectibles. She also began to publish fiction, non-fiction, and poetry in The Bulletin, and developed a close friendship with its editor Alfred Stephens. Barbara wrote a collection of six short stories but was unable to persuade a publisher in Sydney to take on the work. During a visit to London in 1902, she secured publication of the collection, titled Bush Studies, with Duckworth & Company. The collection was positively received in both England and in Australia upon its release. It features six stories written in a realist style that depict the challenges and loneliness of life in the Australian bush. Barbara's connections in Sydney also allowed her to integrate herself into British high society during her 1902 visit, including securing an invitation to the coronation of King Edward VII. In 1904, Barbara's second husband died and left her his estate. Their one son together had died as an infant. After her husband's death, Barbara became a trader of antiques and began to invest on the stock exchange, eventually becoming the chairman of directors of the Law Book Company of Australasia. She also wrote regularly for newspapers on issues concerning women. She spent the majority of her time living in London, where she developed connections with many of her fellow Australians living in the city. One of these friends was the writer Martin Boyd, who likely based some characters in his later novels on Barbara. Barbara supported varied social and political causes; while she was an early member of the New South Wales Womanhood Suffrage League, she later campaigned against granting women the right to vote. She also supported unionisation efforts and the rights of single mothers. In 1907, Barbara published her only novel, Human Toll. The novel was poorly received by contemporary critics and remained obscure until it was republished in 1980. She released a new edition of Bush Studies titled Cobbers in 1917 featuring two new stories; the collection was marketed in London towards the large number of Australian soldiers stationed in the city during the First World War.

On 11 February 1921, Barbara married Rowland Allanson-Winn, 5th Baron Headley, an engineer and convert to Islam. In 1922, he entered into bankruptcy. He was offered the Albanian throne but refused, after which Barbara left him and moved to Melbourne. In her later years, Barbara lived between Australia and England. She died following a fall of cerebral thrombosis and pneumonia in Toorak, Melbourne, on 28 May 1929. She was buried at Waverley Cemetery in Sydney.

• Human Toll (1907)

• The Chosen Vessel (1896) - short story • Fragments: 1 Day-Birth (1899) - poem • A Dreamer (1902) - short story • Billy Skywonkie (1902) - short story

The authorities additionally record the headings Barbara Janet Ainsleigh Kilpatrick and Barbara Janet Baynton. Her recorded language was English. She was the child of John Lawrence and Elizabeth Ewart. She married Rowland Allanson-Winn, 5th Baron Headley, Alexander Frater and Thomas Baynton.