Strachey, Lytton (1880-1932), biographer and literary reviewer

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Strachey, Lytton (1880-1932), biographer and literary reviewer

1 March 1880 - 21 January 1932

Lytton Strachey studied History at Trinity College, Cambridge (1899–1905). There he met Leonard Woolf, Clive Bell, Saxon Sydney-Turner, and Thoby Stephen (brother of Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf) and their friendship formed the basis of what became known as the Bloomsbury Group. In 1902 he was elected to the famous undergraduate society known as the Apostles, where he met Bertrand Russell, G. E. Moore, Roger Fry, Desmond MacCarthy, E. M. Forster and John Maynard Keynes.

He was also introduced to George Mallory. On first sight he described Mallory in a letter to Vanessa Bell (Virginia Woolf's sister) in the following terms: “Mon Dieu! George Mallory! My hand trembles, my heart palpitates ... he’s six foot high, with the body of an athlete by Praxiteles and a face – oh incredible – the mystery of Botticelli, the refinement and delicacy of a Chinese print ...”

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography