Kind but not quite right
Sir: I think I am right in identifying myself as the person described, mistakenly, by Alan Watkins (Books, 13 April ) as `Asquith's illegitimate daughter'. May I cor- rect him on a number of points? Hilda Har- risson, my mother, was not a journalist, she was a distinguished artist; she was not a friend of Asquith's daughter, Violet, she was introduced to Mr Asquith by Lucy Gra- ham Smith, Margot Asquith's half-sister. My father, Major Roland Harrisson DSO, was still alive and fighting in the trenches in France when I was born. My mother was not the sort of person to be having an affair — even with the Prime Minister — in such a situation. Mr Asquith's letters to her at the time are friendly but in no way display the intimacy which a closer relationship would suggest.
It was Raymond Asquith's death, fol- lowed later by my father's, that contributed strongly to the mutual comfort and love which subsequently developed.
May I, in spite of the need to rap Alan over the knuckles, express my continuing admiration and affection for him, and also my gratitude for the kind adjectives he applies to me?
Anne Symonds
4 Lantern Close, London SW15
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