Mary Wesley (Mary Aline Siepmann (née Farmer))
(1919-2002), WriterSitter in 2 portraits
Born in Surrey, Mary Farmer lacked a formal education and aged eighteen, went to work as a volunteer in a London soup kitchen. During the Second World War she was recruited into a code-breaking section of MI5. In 1952 she married her second husband Eric Otto Siepmann, moving to Dartmoor to devote time to writing. However, it was not until 1983 that Wesley's first novel, Jumping the Queue, was published. Nine more best-selling novels followed, including The Camomile Lawn (1984), Harnessing Peacocks (1985) and A Dubious Legacy (1992), in which themes of wartime, dysfunctional families and women struggling for independence reoccur. Wesley was appointed a CBE in 1995.
Mary Wesley (Mary Aline Siepmann (née Farmer))
by Lord Snowdon
gelatin silver print, 9 January 1995
NPG P1934
Mary Wesley (Mary Aline Siepmann (née Farmer))
by Kim Sayer
archival inkjet print, September 2001
NPG x127358
Comments back to top
We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.
If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.