HYDE, ROBIN, née IRIS GUIVER WILKINSON (1906-39) was born in South Africa, the daughter of George Edward Wilkinson (who was born in India and went to South Africa with Lumsden's Horse in the war of 1899-1902) and his wife, Adelaide Butler, whose parents were pioneers of Victoria. Her great grandfather, John Sircom, was a minor poet. Coming to New Zealand as an infant, she was educated at the Berhampore school (Wellington) of which she was dux, and then at Wellington Girls' College, where she won junior and senior scholarships and several literary prizes and contributed to the school magazine, The Reporter. While on the staff of The Dominion she attended lectures at Victoria College. Having suffered permanent injury in an accident she devoted herself to literature, mainly as a freelance writer, and won a short-story competition of the Auckland Sun and a poetry prize. Under the pseudonym 'Robin Hyde' she wrote verse and prose for that paper, the Sydney Bulletin, the Triad, Auckland Star and the New Zealand Artists' Annual. Her first publication, The Desolate Star, a small volume of verse, appeared in 1934, and her first volume of prose, Journalese, in the same year. She developed quickly as a writer, publishing in rapid succession Passport to Hell and Check to Your King (1936), Wednesday's Children (1936), Nor the Years Condemn (1938), The Godwits Fly (1938) and two other volumes of verse, The Conquerors (1935) and Persephone in Winter (1937). Early in 1938 she went to China, where her health suffered from hardships undergone in the war. Her book, Dragon Rampant, was in the press when she died (in London) on 22 Aug 1939.

Robin Hyde, op. cit., and personal information; The Dominion, 25 Aug; Evening Post, 23 Aug (p); 2 Sep 1939.

Reference: Volume 1, page 230

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