Inez Holden

Beatrice Inez Lisette (Paget) Holden (21 November 1903 – 30 May 1974) was a British writer and Bohemian social figure and journalist, also known for her association with George Orwell.

An allowance from her maternal uncle Jack Paget was necessarily supplemented by work for the Daily Express (with Evelyn Waugh), as well as short stories she wrote for the Evening Standard, Manchester Guardian and various magazines.

In the 1950s, in a poor financial state, friends including Sally Chilver, (Robert Graves's niece), who worked at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, arranged for her to be paid for research into the archives of the Baptist Mission to West Africa.

Considered 'very pretty...the fashionable type of beauty' with '"consumptive charm"' (Anthony Powell, 'To Keep the Ball Rolling'), she was the model for two Augustus John drawings, but after suffering a glandular disorder and botched operation in 1933 her looks were somewhat adversely affected by weight gain.

[5] Following her death, 'Inez Holden: A Memoir', featuring contributions from her cousin Celia and her friend, the novelist Anthony Powell, appeared in the London Magazine October/ November 1974 issue.