Background
Henry was born on 8 April 1914 in Belgravia, London. She was descended from Prime Ministers John Russell (her great-great-grandfather) and Robert Peel, and was the cousin once removed of Bertrand Russell.
Henry was born on 8 April 1914 in Belgravia, London. She was descended from Prime Ministers John Russell (her great-great-grandfather) and Robert Peel, and was the cousin once removed of Bertrand Russell.
A former débutante from an illustrious family, she was jailed for passing a fraudulent cheque in 1951 and her best-known works were based on her experiences in prison. She wrote the semi-autobiographical Who Lie in Gaol, filmed as The Weak and the Wicked, and the novel Yield to the Night, the basis for the film starring Diana Dors. After returning to England and finishing her education, she made her society début in 1932.
She had a twin sister, who died at the age of 21.
After getting into debt through gambling, Henry accepted a forged cheque from a friend as a loan. She was convicted at the Old Bailey in 1951 and sentenced to 12 months imprisonment.
She served eight months, the majority at Holloway prison, and also at Askham Grange open prison. Before her imprisonment, Henry earned a living writing romance novels.
She came to prominence in 1952 with the publication of Who Lie in Gaol (the title was taken from a line in Oscar Wilde"s The Ballad of Reading Gaol), based on her experiences in prison, which became a best-seller.
Henry was critical of Holloway prison, giving accounts of brutal treatment and neglect she had witnessed. The book was the basis for the film The Weak and the Wicked (1953), directed by J. with Glynis Johns playing a character based on Henry. Yield to the Night (the title was taken from Book VII of the Iliad), a novel following a woman awaiting execution, was published in 1954.
A film version was released in 1956 with Diana Dors in the lead role.
Henry co-wrote the script, which was nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts award for Best British Screenplay. The film was again directed by, who Henry married in 1958.
In 1960 Henry"s play Look on Tempests was staged at the Comedy Theatre in London"s West End. lieutenant continued Henry"s focus on the justice system, depicting the effect on the upper middle class family of a man accused of gross indecency, and became the first play dealing with homosexuality to be approved for performance by the Lord Chamberlain, who had lifted a ban on the subject the previous year.
Henry also wrote two television plays, Rough Justice in 1962 and Person to Person in 1967.
She and divorced in the late 1960s.