Constance Barnicoat: A Cool Head and a Sharp Pen

Constance Barnicoat (1872-1922) was sassy, strong, opinionated, brave, meticulous, and very intelligent. She should be celebrated as a leading journalist of her time, but she is unknown to most people. While she was born and brought up in New Zealand, Constance Barnicoat wrote for publications around the world, having learned her craft in London from the pioneer of modern journalism, W. T. Stead. Annabel Schuler came across Constance's story five years ago and wrote a brief article about her achievements for a historical journal. People wanted to know more, so she dug deeper into Constance's writing, her climbing, her grit in a man's world, and her unflagging work ethic. In A Cool Head and a Sharp Pen readers will learn about Constance Barnicoat's career as a multi-lingual journalist firstly in England, then based in Switzerland during World War I. Her contacts included the Archbishop of Canterbury, Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Georg F. Nicolai and, back in New Zealand, politicians such as Richard John Seddon and Sir Francis Dillon Bell. If that was not enough, she claimed several 'firsts', climbing some of the most treacherous mountain peaks of Europe as her form of relaxation.