Rosamond Lehmann was born in
Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, the second of four children of
Rudolph Chambers Lehmann (1856–1929) and his American wife, Alice Mary Davis (1873–1956), from New England. Rosamond's father was a
Liberal MP from 1906 to 1910, and founder of
Granta magazine and editor of the
Daily News. Because of this, Rosamond grew up in an affluent, well-educated, and well-known family; the American playwright
Owen Davis was Rosamond's cousin, and her great-grandfather
Robert Chambers founded
Chambers Dictionary. Her great-uncle was the artist
Rudolf Lehmann. Lehmann's older sister Helen was born in 1899, and her two younger siblings were born in 1903 and 1907 respectively. Her younger sister
Beatrix (1903–1979) became an actress; her younger brother,
John (1907–1987), a writer and publisher. Purportedly, Rosamond's father favoured Beatrix and her mother favoured John, leaving Rosamond feeling neglected. Because of this, supposedly, she turned to writing. By 1911, Lehmann was being educated at home by the family's governess, Maria Jacquemin. Also in the home lived the family's eight servants. In 1919 Lehmann won a scholarship to
Girton College, Cambridge. She graduated with second-class degrees in both English Literature (1921) and Modern and Medieval Languages (1922). There, she also met her first husband,
Leslie Runciman (later 2nd
Viscount Runciman of Doxford). It was an unhappy marriage: "He [Runciman] panicked when [Lehmann] became pregnant and insisted on an abortion, after which he praised her for being once again "all clean and clear inside". The two separated in 1927 and were officially divorced later that year. == Career ==