Writer and reviewer John Middleton Murry was born in Peckham, London, 6 August 1889. He was educated at Christ's Hospital, and Brasenose College, Oxford. His literary career began in 1911 and his last book was publishe din 1957. Murry promoted the work of his wife, Katherine Mansfield, after her death in 1923, and his friendship with D. H. Lawrence inspired an autobiography of the great novelist. In the 1920s, Murry's interests shifted from literature to religious philosophy, and in the 1930s he converted to Marxism and then moved politically towards pacifism. His writing of the period reflected these shifts in interest. John Middleton Murry died 12 March 1957.

In the 1930s a dispute had arisen between John Middleton Murry and Catherine Carswell (1879-1946). She had attempted to answer Murry's work on D. H. Lawrence through a work of her own but publishers Chatto & Windus had withdrawn her book because of threats of legal action from Murry. Martin Secker had reissued a revised version in 1932. The letter here refers to this dispute.