Obituaries

Susanna Mitchell obituary: Writer, academic and political activist

Northern Ireland novelist was known for her sharp mind and penetrating intelligence

Susanna Mitchell always thought of herself as Irish and kept in touch with many friends in Northern Ireland right up until her death
Susanna Mitchell always thought of herself as Irish and kept in touch with many friends in Northern Ireland right up until her death
Thu Oct 07 2021 - 14:54

Susanna Mitchell
Born: April 8th, 1941
Died: July 7th, 2021

The Northern Ireland born writer, academic and political activist, Susanna Mitchell (nee Ryland) has died aged 80.

Although Mitchell led what could be described as a rather conservative life in her early years, she went on to write three novels, work for the economic think tank, New Economics Foundation, and contribute to the Camden New Journal. She was also a leading light in the left-leaning organisation, Friends of Le Monde Diplomatique, and an active member of the British Labour Party.

Susanna was the only child of Lieut Col GHK Ryland, of the Royal Ulster Rifles, and his wife, Jane (nee Campbell). Her parents were stationed in the Far East during the second World War, so Susanna was raised in Dromore Lodge, Warrenpoint, Co Down by her maternal grandparents. She spent many happy years in the rambling old slightly dilapidated 19th-century lodge with her grandparents and when her parents returned on leave.

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Susanna was sent to a Protestant girls boarding school in the Republic where she became the first girl ever to take an A Level (in English). In fact, friends recall that the head teacher recognised her love of reading and thought that studying for an A Level in English might keep her out of mischief. Like many young women of her generation, she was then advised to train as a secretary. She attended a secretarial college in Knightsbridge, London, where daughters of a certain class went to be “finished” before marriage and family.

She became involved in the Alliance Party, trying to overcome the sectarianism that plagued Northern Ireland during the Troubles

After some time in a London advertising agency, Susanna returned to Ireland to support her ageing parents and got a job with Ulster TV. In 1966 she married Donald Mitchell, then an officer with the Royal Ulster Rifles. The couple spent some time abroad when he was stationed in Gibraltar and Germany. They returned to live in Murlough, the scenic coastal area of Co Down where they inherited the Mitchell family farm on the death of Donald’s father.

There, they raised their two daughters, Louise and Charlotte. And while Donald returned to study for a degree at Queen’s University, Susanna managed the mixed farm while taking on much of the responsibility of rearing the family. Her close friend, Rachel Douglas, has fond memories of times spent with their respective children on the almost deserted beautiful expansive beach in Murlough Bay.

While still living in Co Down, Mitchell started writing and both she and Donald became involved in the Alliance Party, trying to overcome the sectarianism that plagued Northern Ireland during the Troubles.

Mitchell’s first two novels, The Token (John Murray, 1984) and The Christening (John Murray, 1986), were published with some success. However, the couple, despairing of the divisiveness of society in Northern Ireland, decided to move with their daughters to southern England in the mid-1980s. It was then that she wrote and published her third novel, The Colour of His Hair (Allison& Busby, 1994), a searingly honest portrayal of sectarianism in Northern Ireland.

However, fiction writing didn’t fully satisfy her intellectually and Mitchell decided that she would complete her education. She took her A Levels in French and economics before going to Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, in 1994. There, she gained a first class honours degree in political and social sciences. She went on to teach political theory at Cambridge University for some years before joining the New Economics Foundation think tank. While there, she produced a number of important papers which includes ones on migration and rampant consumerism.

By 2004 the family had moved to London and, with her husband, Donald, Susanna took over much of the organisation of Friends of Le Monde Diplomatique, a left-leaning forum for debate on contemporary international issues. She organised hundreds of talks on a huge range of subjects at the fortnightly Café Diplo meetings. The philosophy of the Café Dilpo was to offer an alternative view to the neoliberal narrative that dominated the media on the most important political, social and economic issues at the time and to support the global focus of Le Monde Diplomatique newspaper and, in particular, its English edition.

Mitchell often despaired of humanity, its selfishness and short-termism

During this time, Mitchell also became a committed member of the Camden Labour Party, convinced that participatory, not merely representational, democracy was essential.

She wrote articles for the Camden New Journal, raised issues and tabled motions wherever possible. One of her particular concerns was the “sneaking privatisation” of the National Health Service. Thus the conventional young lady reached her radical old age.

Mitchell often despaired of humanity, its selfishness and short-termism, but she never failed to love and inspire every individual fortunate enough to know her. Colleagues and friends remember her for her razor sharp mind and penetrating intelligence which was tempered by a gentle kindness and warm sense of humour.

Mitchell always thought of herself as Irish and kept in touch with many friends in Northern Ireland right up until her death. She also had a close and loving relationship with her family and particularly enjoyed her grandchildren.

Susanna Mitchell (nee Ryland) is survived by her husband, Donald, her daughters Louise and Charlotte, and her grandchildren, Charlie, Matthew, Zoe and Jessica. – Guardian Service