I was looking through Reilly's Bibliography of First World War English poetry when I noticed an entry HOTBLACK N. and had to find out more.
Nora Constance Hotblack was born Nora Constance Candler in Lee, Kent, UK in 1866. She married Herbert Arthur Hotblack (1858 - 1899) in Lewisham, Kent in June 1885.
On the 1901 Census, Nora is listed as a Widow and Owner of a Brewery - Kidd and Hotblack in Brighton. Also listed are Norah N. Hotblack, b. 1890 and Frank A. Hotblack, b. 1896. A cousin of Nora - Mary E. Candler - was also living in the house in Cuckfield, Sussex.
Nora wrote a volume of poems entitled "Stray thoughts", which was originally called "A few poems" and published by Stockwell in 1924. Frank A. Hotblack, who served in the British Army during WW1, edited his mother's volume of poems. Reilly mentioned that no copies of the first and second editions of the collection were traced.
If anyone has any further information please get in touch as I should like to add Nora to my List of Female Poets of the First World War.
Sources: Catherine W. Reilly "English Poetry of the First World War A Bibliography" (St. Martin's Press, New York, 1978) p. 174. Find my Past and Free BMD.
