Lessing, Doris

The British author Doris May Lessing was born in Kermanshah in Persia (present-day Iran) and grew up in South Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe). Her parents were Emily, born McVeagh, and Alfred Tayler. Her father had grown up in Colchester and dreamed of living as a farmer on his own farm. He was seriously wounded during the First World War and lost one leg. Emily was trained as a nurse and worked nursing soldiers during the war. After the war, they moved to Persia, where Alfred worked as a bank clerk. In 1924, the couple left Persia together with their two small children, and with their savings they bought a farm in South Rhodesia. Their intention was to grow corn in order to create a sufficiently large fortune to acquire a farm in England, something which would turn out impossible for them to realize, and they therefore had to remain in Africa.