Her father , Captain Alfred Tayler , was a patient because he had lost his leg in World War I. Her mother , Emily Maude Tayler ( maiden name McVeagh ) , was a nurse . Lessing was born in Iran , then known as Persia , on 22 October 1919 , to Captain Alfred Tayler and Emily Maude Tayler ( nÃ e McVeagh ) , who were both English and of British nationality . Her father , who had lost a leg during his service in World War I , met his future wife , a nurse , at the Royal Free Hospital where he was recovering from his amputation .