Female Poets of The First World War: 2013

Sunday, 29 December 2013

Facebook Page Female Poets of the First World War

They say that if you wake up with an idea then you should try to act upon it. So this morning I have set up a Facebook Page for the Commemorative WW1 project Female Poets of the First World War.

My aim is, and always has been, to include as many poets as possible from as many countries of the world as possible. This is not an academic project so I welcome suggestions of unknown poets and look forward to hearing from you either by e-mail or on Facebook.

E-mail: info@femalewarpoets.com

An Exhibition is on view at The Wilfred Owen Story
34 Argyle Street
BIRKENHEAD, Wirral, CH41 6AE Tel.: 07903 337995
Tuesday - Friday 11 am - 2 pm - please phone first as the WOS is manned by volunteers.

https://www.facebook.com/femalepoetsofthefirstworldwar?fref=ts

Nancy Cunard (1896 - 1965) - British

WW1 poster

Nancy Cunard was born on 10th March 1896 in Nevill Holt, Harborough District, Leicestershire, UK. Her parents were Sir Bache Cunard, an heir to the Cunard shipping line and a baronet, and Maud Alice, nee Burke, an American heiress.

During the First World War, Nancy remained in London where she and her friends - the poet Iris Tree and Lady Diana Manners - dealt with their fear of losing friends who enlisted, and the terror of air raids at home, by dressing up in their finery and partying.

The girls also volunteered for war work in canteens, worked tirelessly for charities and raised funds for the war effort. They had friends who confided their secret fears to the girls before going off to war, their worst fear being not having a proper burial due to being blown to bits.

On 15th November 1916, Nancy married Sydney George Fairbairn, a cricketer and army officer who was wounded fighting during the Gallipoli Campaign. They honeymooned in Devon and Cornwall, the set up home in London in a house given to them by Nancy's mother as a wedding present. The couple separated in 1919 and divorced in 1925.

Nancy died in Paris on 17th March 1965 and is buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery, Île-de-France, Paris, France - Grave Reference: Division 87, Columbarium- however, it seems that the headstone no longer exists.

Nancy Cunard portrait

Nancy's WW1 poetry collections were: "Outlaws and other poems" (Elkin Mathews, London, 1921) and "Paralas" (Hogarth, 1925). She also had poems published in two editions of the Sitwells' "Wheels" anthologies - 1916 and 1917.

Sources: Chatherine W. REILLY.- "English Poetry of the First World War: A Bibliography" (St. Martin's Press, New York, 1975) pp. 32 and 101,

GORDON, Lois.- “Nancy Cunard Heiress, use, Political Idealist” (Columbia University Press, Chichester, 2007).
www.en.wikiipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Cunard

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11067640/nancy-clare-cunard

Photograph of Nancy Cunard centre - with her friend Lady Diana Manners (left) - at a sale in December 1915, held in Harrods department store, London, UK in aid of the Red Cross Fund. Photograph from “The Tatler” Magazine, 8th December 1915.

Found by Zoe Lyons and posted on Sue Robinson’s Facebook Group Wenches in Trenches https://www.facebook.com/groups/381631619655707/

Friday, 20 December 2013

Elsie Janis (1889 - 1956) - American music-hall entertainer, actress, film star, film producer, film director, screenwriter and writer

It seems that I shall have to add Elsie Janis - one of my "Inspirational Women of WW1" - to the list of American poets.

Elsie, who was born Elsie Jane Bierbower on 16th Marach 1889 in Columbus, Ohio, USA , used the pen-name Elsie Janis. She wrote and published several collections of poems in her long and illustrious career as a talented music-hall entertainer, actress, film star (both silent and talking), film producer, film director, screenwriter, poet and writer.

One of Elsie's poems was dedicated to the Troops of the American Expeditionary Force who she went to entertain on The Western Front in 1917.

One soldier wrote home: “Elsie Janis entertained us a few evenings ago and say, if she couldn’t make you forget all your troubles in a half minute, you might as well dig a six-foot hole and crawl in. She sang a few of Broadway’s latest and told some good stories and kept us all laughing for an hour and a half. She even had us singing like a bunch of kids, including a half dozen generals in the front row.”

The poem is entitled "Lest we Forget!" which surely earned Elsie the title "The Sweetheart of the AEF".

Well boys! La guerre est finie,

And, of course, we all are glad.

But, as time goes on, we’ll realize

That the War was not so bad.

Of course, it had its drawbacks,

But it had its glories too

And for me, my greatest glory was

That I got to know you.

To know you in your hardships,

To know you in your joys

To know that my life’s finest hours

Were spent among you boys.

In dug-outs or in Y-huts,

In boxing ring or trench,

I loved to see you smile at me,

And yell in Doughboy French:

“Bonjour comment te hell est vous?”

And sing my songs with me.

Oh boys, I know it’s selfish,

But I’m sorry it’s “fini”

For as a boy remembers

The dear old swimming hole,

And as a girl remembers

The first kiss her sweetheart stole:

Just as your mother still can feel.

Your golden baby locks,

So are the days we spent in France

Locked in my memory box.

The War is dead Long live the War!

And the memory of the men

Who fought and died,

Or lived through hell

To come back home again.

So let us laugh, and let us say

Thank God we’re through,

And yet –

Let’s breath a tiny little prayer

Each day,

Lest we forget. (Janis, “Poems”, pp 58 – 59).

One of the most popular songs Elsie sang to the troops was “Don’t Forget the Red Cross Nurse” by Lew Orth and Chas. K. Hicks and published by Orth & Coleman, Boston, Mass. in 1917.

All about sacrifice, the song captures the effort of the nurse who is likely to forgo herself and help soldiers first in the “field of battle mid cannon’s roar and rattle.” Serving in a time of conflict, the image of the American Red Cross nurse became a symbol of companionship, bravery, and motherly love.

Elsie entertaining troops in WW1

After WW1, Elsie toured with a show called "Elsie Janis and her Gang in a Bomb-Proof Review", which featured former soldiers, nurses and other WW1 workers.

Elsie moved to Los Angeles, where she died in 1956.

Sources:

https://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/singing-and-fighting/music-and-entertainment-in-the-trenches.html

http://www.edwardlengel.com/elsie-janis-becomes-sweetheart-doughboys-1918/

Friday, 13 December 2013

Remembering May Sinclair on 103.2 Preston FM

Arguably one of the most important British women writers of the early twentieth century, May Sinclair was mentioned on our Best Kept Secrets Radio Show on 103.2 Preston FM last weekend. Listen again by clicking on the link at the end of this report.

Since I began researching May Sinclair's life and works for the Exhibition of Female Poets of the First World War that began in November 2012 at the Wilfred Owen Story, 34 Argyle Street, Birkenhead, Wirral, CH41 6AE, a May Sinclair Society has been set up. Rebecca and Claire, who run the Society have been in touch with an up-date of Society news

The May Sinclair Society website now features two new articles: 'May Sinclair and Psychology', and 'May Sinclair's Impressions of War'.

Leslie de Bont has written a fascinating account of Sinclair's involvement with the Medico-Psychological Clinic, her psychological writings, and the influence this had on her fiction. You can view this article here - http://maysinclairsociety.com/may-sinclair-and-psychology/

Charlotte Jones's article, 'May Sinclair's Impressions of War', is a masterly contextual reading of A Journal of Impressions in Belgium, narrative authority, and Impressionism in wartime. You can read this here - http://maysinclairsociety.com/may-sinclairs-impressions-of-war/

If anyone would like to contribute an article please do get in touch via the Society's website.

A reminder, too, of the call for papers for next year's Symposium -http://maysinclairsociety.com/2013/11/07/may-sinclair-society-introductory-symposium-call-for-papers/ The deadline for abstracts is 31st March 2014.

Thursday, 12 December 2013

Poem dedicated to Betty Stevenson, Inspirational Woman of WW1

BETTY

To them that knew her there is living flame

In these the simple letters of her name.

To them that knew her not, be it but said

So strong a spirit is not of the dead.

G. Meredith

From: "Betty Stevenson, YMCA Croix de Guerre avec Palme Sept. 3rd 1896 - May 30th 1918"

Edited by G.G.R.S. and A.G.S. published by Longmans Green and Company, New York, 1920

Sunday, 8 December 2013

Undiscovered WW1 Poets

I am indebted to Seamus Breslin for posting the attached poem written by the mother of a solider who was killed in WW1. Seamus posted the poem on the Remembering World War One in 2014 one hundred years Facebook Group page. The poem was written by Sarah Toye in memory of her son John Vincent Toye who died on 2nd July 1915.

Unlike many others who collect anthologies of WW1 poetry written by women, I would like to highlight those who were not 'professional poets' but who wrote from the heart.

And I hope that my exhibitions will inspire a new generation to write their own poetry. In the words of Scottish poet George Bruce "Just do it!".

With thanks to Dr. Ian Olson for bringing George Bruce to my attention.

And thanks to Stanley Kaye for starting the Facebook Group and for his wonderful idea of planting poppies in remembrance, so that next year the world will be ablaze with colour.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/rememberingworldwarone/?fref=ts

Sunday, 1 December 2013

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I am always asking people to let me know of any poets they know of who are not already on my list. I thought, in all fairness, I really ought to let you know some of the books I have already read.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS

ALAN, A.J, Ed.- “Second Book”.- (Hutchinson & Co. Ltd., London, 1932)

BILTON, David.- “Images of War The Germans in Flanders 1914” (Pen & Sword, Barnsley, 2012)

BIRN, Antony and BIRN, Nicholas. Eds.- “Voices from the Front Line".- (Summersdale Publishers Ltd., Chichester, Sussex, 2008)

BOORMAN, Derek.- "A Century of Remembrance. 100 Outstanding British War Memorials". (Pen & Sword Books, Barnsley, Yorkshire, 2005)

CARDINAL, Agnes, GOLDMAN, Dorothy, HATTAWAY, Judith. Eds.- “Women’s Writing on the First World War” (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1999)

CLARKE, G.H. Ed.- “A Treasury of War Poetry British and American Poems 1914 - 1919".- (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1917)

DEPP, Wolfgang G., MIDDLETON, Christopher, SCHONHERR, Herbert, Eds.- “Ohne Hass und Fahne No Hatred and no Flag Sans haine et sans drapeau”.- (Rowohlt, Hamburg, 1959)

Editor Unknown.- “Fifty amazing stories of the Great War”.- (Odhams Press Ltd., London, 1936)

FOWLER WRIGHT. S. (Ed.).- "Poets of Merseyside An Anthology of Present

Day Poetry".- (Merton Press Ltd., London, 1923)

GOLDSTEIN, JOSHUA S.- “War and Gender: How Gender shapes the War System and Vice Versa”.- (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2001)

HIGGONET, Margaret, Ed. - “Lines of Fire Women Writers of World War I” .-(Penguin Books, London, 1999)

HOLLIS, Matthew and KEEGAN, Paul, Eds.- “101 Poems against War”.- (Faber and Faber, London, 2003)

HOLT, Tonie and Valmai and ZEEPVAT, Charlotte, Eds. – “Poets of the Great

War”.- (Pen & Sword Books Ltd., Barnsley, Yorkshire, 1999)

KHAN, Nosheen, Ed.- “Women’s Poetry of the First World War” .- (Lexington, University Press of Kentucky, 1988)

LARKIN, Philip.- “The Oxord Book of Twentieth Century Verse Chosen by Philip Larkin” (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1973)

LLWYD, Alan, Ed. - “Out of the Fire of Hell. Welsh Experiences of the Great War 1914 – 1918 in prose and verse”.- (Gomer Press, Llandysal, Ceredigion SA4 4JL, 2008)

MACDONALD, John with ZELIKO, Cimpric. - “Caporetto and the Isonzo Campaign The Italian Front 1915 – 1918”.- (Pen & Sword Military, Barnsley, Yorkshire, 2011)

MARSLAND, Elisabeth A., Ed.- “The Nation’s Cause French, English and German Poetry of the First World War”.- (Routledge, Oxford, 1991)

NOAKES, Vivien, Ed. - “Voices of Silence The Alternative Book of First World War Poetry”.- (Sutton Publishing Ltd., Stroud, Gloucestershire, 2006)

POLE, Stephen and WHEAL, Elizabeth-Anne Eds. - “Dictionary of the First World War”.- (Pen & Sword Military Classics, Barnsley, Yorkshire, 2003)

POWELL, Anne, Ed.- "A Deep Cry A Literary Pilgrimage to the Battlefields and Cemeteries of First World War British Soldier-Poets Killed in Northern France and Flanders".- (Palladour Books, Aberporth, Dyfed, 1993)

REILLY, Catherine. Ed. - “Scars upon my Heart”.- (Virago Press, London, 1981)

ROBERTS, David. Ed.- "Minds at War The Poetry and Experiences of the First World War".- (Saxon Books, Burgess Hill, West Sussex, 1996)

SMITH, William James. Ed. – “Granger’s Index to Poetry”.- (Columbia University Press, London, 1973)

SPRIET, Chris, Ed.- ”We werden honderd jaar ouder (We aged a hundred years).- Davidsfonds Uitgeverij, Leuven, 2013)

STALLWORTHY, Jon. Ed., “The Poems of Wilfred Owen”.- (Chatto & Windus, London, 1990)

ZUBER, Terence.- "The Battle of the Frontiers The Ardennes 1914".- (The History Press, Stroud, Gloucestershire, 2007)

INTERNET SITES

www.OldMagazineArticles.com

http://oldpoetry.com/Madeline_Ida__Bedford__poems

http://www.firstworldwar.com/poetsandprose/sinclair.htm

http://www.greatwardifferent.com/Great_War/Nurses_6/Sinclair_01.htm

http://english.siu.edu/Resources/World%20War%20I%20Women%20Poets.pdf

http://members.home.nl/ja.goris/poetrywwl.htm

http://www.scuttlebuttsmallchow.com/listgerm.html

http://sophie.byu.edu/?q=node/3185

http://sophie.byu.edu/?q=node/3183

http://sophie.byu.edu/?q=node/3212

http://sophie.byu.edu/?q=node/3326

http://www.scuttlebuttsmallchow.com

http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/womenww1

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Wbagnold.htm

http://www.amisldm.org/bibliographie/26-11-08-p-izquierdo/

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marguerite_Durand_(féministe)

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marguerite_Audoux

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colette_Yver

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucie_Delarue-Mardrus

http://allpoetry.com/poem/8610927-_A_Fight_to_a_Finish_-by-S_Gertrude_Ford

http://www.whscms.org.uk/index.php?category_id=1994

The First World War Poetry Digital Archive, University of Oxford

www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/www1lit

www.heritage.nf.ca

Saturday, 30 November 2013

Fleetwood Library, Fleetwood, Lancashire, UK - 29th November 2013

Keen writers from Cleveleys Writers Group (Susan Pugh - Chair, Malcom Brocklehurst - President, David Neal - The Codgers Poet - and Stan), David Riley an author from Blackpool, Elaine Edwards, a Curator from The National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh and Sylvia joined us at Fleetwood Library to read some poems and talk about war in general and WW1 in particular.

Dawn Spooner from Fleetwood Library very kindly supplied the group with tea/coffee and biscuits which was very welcome.

David Riley started proceedings by reading "To Helen" a poem by soldier poet Edward Thomas who was killed in the same battle (Arras) and on the same day (9th April 1917) as my Great-Uncle James.

David had visited the Exhibition of Female Poets, Inspirational Women and Fascinating Facts of the Great War at Fleetwood Library earlier in the month and wrote a very nice review: http://www.altblackpool.co.uk/female-poets-world-war-one-exhibition-fleetwood-library

David's review has brought in e-mails from around the world - thank you David.

Susan, Malcolm, Stan and David Riley all read poems they had written and David persuaded Elaine to read one of his poems written from a women's point of view.

Susan's poem was about the sea front at Fleetwood, Malcolm's, entitled "Silent Night 1914 ... A Winter's Tale" was about the Truce on Christmas Eve 1914. Malcolm also read a poem written by a Fleetwood High School pupil.

Elaine told everyone about the National Museums of Scotland's plans for the coming Centenary Commemorative years, including exhibitions about 'next of kin' and 'the symbolism of the poppy'.

Stan read a poem about WW1 written in Lancashire Dialect.

Sylvia started a lively discussion about some of the books she has been reading and David Neal brought along a copy of his recent publication"Lens and Lines", featuring 'staged themed images' by photographer Nicola J. McKenna and poems by David B. Neal. This is available as an e-book from David's website www.codgerspoet.co.uk or by find out more by sending an e-mail to thecodgerspoet@rocketmail.com

Dawn mentioned that the exhibition, which has to finish today - 30th November 2013 - had attracted a lot of interest and several people had asked about the accompanying book - Female Poets of the First World War Volume 1 - details:
http://www.poshupnorth.com/2013/08/new-title-female-poets-of-first-world.html

Fleetwood Library organise lots of interesting events - "there is more to Libraries than books"

Fleetwood Library
North Albert Street
FLEETWOOD
Lancashire
FY7 6AJ

Photographs by Paul Breeze.

Top: Group discussion

Middle: Elaine reading David Neal's poem

Left: Lucy checking on the exhibition panels at Fleetwood Library, Fleetwood, Lancashire, UK, November 2013.

Thursday, 28 November 2013

Revised List of Female Poets of the First World War - 28th November 2013

FEMALE POETS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR

Here is the latest list – November 2013. I find new poets and interesting information almost every day. If you know of any poets I have left out, please get in touch. I am particularly keen to find poets from Luxembourg, Thailand and from African countries but all poets of that era are welcome and I would like to enlist your help in finding them.

 Someone asked if I was only including 'professional' poets. Definitely not - as far as I am concerned you do not have to be a 'published' poet to write poetry. Do have a look at what Dr. Olson said in his review of George Bruce's anthology which I put on the weblog www.femalewarpoets.blogspot.co.uk earlier this year. I agree with Bruce about poetry - this was not always the case but the past year has led to amazing discoveries and helped me to change my mind.

In his WW1 poetry anthology “The Sweet Red Wine of Youth” Nicholas Murray mentions that he has not included women because “they did not fight”. But many of them did and at least two of those women soldiers were poets – they are on this list but I have not yet been able to find any biographical details, photographs or poems by them.

As my research has progressed, it has become very clear that there were far more women who wrote poetry during the 1914 - 1918 period than the few mentioned in many of the anthologies compiled so far. I feel strongly that their voices deserve to be heard.

REVISED LIST NOVEMBER 2013

BRITAIN

Margot Robert ADAMSON (1898 - ) Scottish ?

Georgette AGNEW ?

Marian ALLEN (1892 – 1953) b. Australia

Jessie Annie ANDERSON (b. 1861 – Scottish ?

Lilian M. ANDERSON (1866 – 1946) Scottish ?

Marion ANGUS (1866 - 1946) - Scottish

Lady ASHMORE - Scottish

Edith BAGNOLD (27th October 1889 - 31st March 1981) (Nurse then driver in France)

Rachel BATES (Wirral)

Dorothy Julie BAYNES ?

Mary BEAZLEY ?

Madeline Ida BEDFORD – Munitions poem

Janet BEGBIE (daughter of the poet Harold Begbie)

Maud Anna BELL (Serbian Relief Fund) (1861 – 1947) ?

Frances BELLERBY (1899 – 1975) -

Stella BENSON (1892 - 1933)

Matilda BETHAM-EDWARDS (1836 – 1919)

Nora BOMFORD

Lilian BOWES LYON (1895 - 1949)

Mary Elizabeth BOYLE (brother killed opening days WW1)

Catherine BRIDSON (Wirral)

Beatrix BRICE MILLER

Sybil BRISTOWE (brother killed early 1917)

Vera BRITTAIN (1896 - 1970) (Nurse - VAD - Brother killed Italy)

Judith BRUNDRETT-TWESDALE

BRYHER – pen name

Alice Mary BUCKTON (1867 - 1944) (Emigrated to South Africa)

C.A.L.T.

May WEDDERBURN-CANNAN (1893 - 1973) (VAD + Intelligence Service; engaged to Bevil Quiller-Couch)

Elizabeth CHANDLER FORMAN

Mary G. CHERRY

Mary CHOLMONDELEY (niece of Stella Benson) (8.6.1859 – 15.07.1925) (worked as a clerk in Carlton House Terrace Hospital)

Agatha CHRISTIE (nee Miller) (1890 – 1976 VAD Torquay)

Isabel C. CLARKE (born Plymouth)

Alice E. COLLINGE (1869 – 1960)

Mary Gabrielle COLLINS

Frances CORNFORD (1886 – 1960)

Helen B. CRUICKSHANK (1886 – 1975) Scottish

Margaret CROPPER

Nancy CUNARD (1896 - 1965)

Elizabeth DARYUSH (Daughter of Robert Bridges) (1887 - 1976)

Helena DEREZINSKA (Lancashire)

Helen DIRCKS

Eva DOBELL (1867 - 1963) (Niece of poet Sydney Dobell) (Nurse)

Sarah DOUDNEY (1841 - 1926)

O. DOUGLAS (Pen name of Anna Masterfar BUCHAN - John Buchan's sister)

Agnes E. DREY (Lancashire)

Helen Parry EDEN (1885 -

Agnes FALCONER

Eleanor FARJEON (London; 1881 - 1965)

V. Helen FRIEDLAENDER

Lilian GARD

Alexandra Ethelreda GRANTHAM (eldest son killed WW1)

Nora GRIFFITHS

I. GRINDLEY (Queen Mary's Army Auxilliary Corps)

Diana GURNEY

Dorothy Frances GURNEY (1858 – 1932)

Cicely HAMILTON

Helen HAMILTON

Isabel WESTCOTT HARPER

Ada May HARRISON

Agnes CROZIER HERBERTSON

May HERSHEL-CLARKE

Ethel M. HEWITT

Constance HOLLAR

Winifred HOLTBY (Nursed in France)

Theresa HOOLEY

Violet HUNT (1862 – 1942)

Isobel W. HUTCHISON

Naomi HUTCHISON - Scottish

Mildred HUXLEY

Catherine M. JACKSON (Wirral)

Violet JACOB (1863 – 1946) - Born Violet Kennedy-Erskine in Scotland m. Major Arthur Jacob of 20th Hussars)

Storm JAMESON

Elinor JENKINS (1893 - 1920)

Edith A. KAHIA (Lancashire)

Anna GORDON KEOWN

Annie L. KNOWLES (Lancashire)

Margery LAWRENCE

Winifred M. LETTS (1882 - 1972)

Olive E. LINDS

Mina LOY (1882 -

Geraldine E. LYSTER (Lancashire)

Irene Rutherford McLEOD

Dame Rose MACAULAY (1881 - 1958) (Descendent of Lord Macaulay)

Helen MACKAY (1891 - 1965)

Nina MACDONALD

Miss Isobel MARCHBANK

Nina MARDEL (VAD)

Alice MAUD

Charlotte MEW

Alice MEYNELL (1847 - 1922)

Olga MILLER (nee KATZIN) (1896 -

Sophie MILLER

Frances Evelyn MILLETT

Miss G.M. MITCHELL

Lady Gertrude MOBERLEY (1860 -

Edith NESBIT (1858 - 1924) (m. BLAND)

Eileen NEWTON

The Honourable Eleanour NORTON (1881 - )

Moira O'NEILL (1864 - 1955)

Carola OMAN (1897 - 1978) Nurse with Red + Western Front 1916 - 1919 m. Sir Geralde Lenanton

Emily ORR

Florence OVERTON (Lancashire)

Elsie May PATERSON CRANMER (1893 -

Margaret PETERSON (1883 – 1933) Pen name: Glint Green)

Ruth PITTER (7 November 1897 - 29 February 1992) (Worked at the War Office 1915 - 1917

Jessie POPE (18.3.1868 - 14.12.1941 - b, Leicester m. Babington Lenton

Dame Margaret POSTGATE COLE (1893 - 1980)

Irene R. POTTER

Mary PRALL

Marjorie PRATT

Louise PRIOR

Inez QUILTER – schoolgirl in WW1

Dollie RADFORD (nee Maitland) (1858 – 1920)

Elsie S. RAE - Scottish

Dorothy Una RATCLIFFE (1887 - 1967 b. Yorkshire)

Constance Ada RENSHAW (Sheffield. 1891 - 1964)

Dorothy RICHARDSON (b. Abingdon 17th May 1873 - d. Beckenham 17th June 1957. m. Alan Odle 1917)

Ursula ROBERTS (1887 - 1975) (b. India; educated Highgate and London University) Pen name Susan MILES)

Margaret E. ROWNTREE (nee Fish m. 1926) (Born Fleetwood 1899 - 1983)

Lady Margaret SACKVILLE

Vita SACKVILLE-WEST (1892 - 1962)

Dorothy L. SAYERS (1893 – 1957)

Ethel SCHEFFAUER

Lady Aimee BYNG SCOTT (1868 - 1953)

Edith HOPE-SCOTT (Lancashire)

Fredegond SHOVE (nee MAITLAND) (1889 – 1949)

May SINCLAIR (born Rock Ferry, Wirral 1865 - 1946) Went to France 1914 with Dr H. Monro’s Flying Ambulance as his Secretary

Edith SITWELL (born Scarborough 1887 - 1964)

Cicely FOX SMITH (Born Lymm, Cheshire; educated Manchester)

Stevie SMITH (1902 - 1971) "Not waving but drowning"

Freya STARK (1893 - 1993)

Dorothy Margaret STEWART

Suzanne STONE

Marie Carmichael STOPES (1880 - 1954) (First female science lecturer at Manchester University)

Muriel STUART ( - 1967) (Founded P.E.N. Club in 1921)

Millicent SUTHERLAND ((1867 - 1955)(Milicent Gower, Duchess of Sutherland) (Nurse in France. Painted by Victor Tardieu)

Mary SYMON (1863 – 1938)

Emily HOWSON TAYLOR (1879 -

Gwen TAYLOR

Rachel Annand TAYLOR (1876 - 1960)

Ruth TAYLOR

Joan THOMPSON (With the Red Cross to France)

Aelfrida TILLYARD (1883 -

Iris TREE (1897 - 1968) (Bloomsbury Group - friend of Nancy Cunard)

Alys FANE TROTTER (1863 - 1962) lived in South Africa during 1890s

Ada TYRELL

Evelyn UNDERHILL (worked with SSAFA and Naval Intelligence)

Viviane VERNE

Alberta VICKRIDGE (b. Bradford, Educated Bradford Girls' Grammar. VAD nurse)

Annie VIVANTI CHARTRES (1866 – 1942)

Sylvia TOWNSEND WARNER (1893 - 1978) Worked in Munitions Factory WW1

Mary WEBB (1881 - 1927 b. Leighton, nr. Wrekin, Shropshire;

Mary Morison WEBSTER

M. Winifred WEDGWOOD (VAD)

Dorothy WELLESLEY (1889 - 1956)

Catherine DURNING WHETHAM (Devon)

Lucy WHITMELL

Anna WICKHAM (1884 - 1947)

Alice Helena Alexandra WILLIAMS (1863 – 1957) - Welsh

Carolyn Crosby WILSON

Marjorie WILSON

Margaret L. WOODS (1856 – 1945)

Elizabeth WORDSWORTH (1840 - 1932)

AMERICA

Leanor Hallowell ABBOTT (1872 – 1958)

Leonie ADAMS (1899 – 1988)

Zoe AKINS (1886 - 1958)

Margaret Steele ANDERSON (1867 - 1921)

Karle Wilson BAKER (1878 - 1960)

Djuna BARNES (1892 - 1982)

Natalie Clifford BARNEY (1876 - 1972; lived in Paris for over 60 years)

Pauline BARRINGTON (1876 -

Katharine Lee BATES (12.081859 - 28.03.1929: "America the Beautiful")

Louise BOGAN (1897 - 1970)

Mary BORDEN (lived in England. Mobile hospital in France)

Amelia Josephine BURR (1878 - 1968)

Nancy CAMPBELL

Grace ELLERHY CHANNING (1862 - 1937; France and Italy as a War Correspondent)

Florence Earle COATES (1850 - 1927)

Helen Gray CONE (1859 - 1934)

Grace Hazard CONKLING (1878 - 1958)

Adelaide CRAPSEY

Charlotte Holmes CRAWFORD

Olive TILFORD DARGAN

Mary Carolyn DAVIES

Hilda Dolittle or H.D. (1886 – 1961)

Vita DUTTON-SCUDDER (1861 - 1954)

Gabrielle ELLIOTT (American Fund for French Wounded; Nursing Committee for the Council of National Defence)

S. Gertrude FORD

Lena GILBERT BROWN FORD – lyricist/poet killed London air raid

 Theodosia GARRISON

Charlotte Perkins GILMAN (1860 - 1935)

Muriel Elsie GRAHAM (1909 - 1987)

Louise Imogen GUINEY (1861 - 1920)

Mary M.J. HENDERSON (Lived in UK. Went to Russia and Serbia with Elsa Inglis)

Alice Corbin HENDERSON (1881 - 1949)

Katherine HOWARD

Elsie JANIS (1889 - 1956) - entertained the AEF in France

Aline KILMER (1888 – 1941) b. Aline Murray m. 1908

Amy LOWELL (1874 - 1925)

Florence RIPLEY MASTIN

Moina BELLE MICHAEL (1869 – 1944) (The Poppy Lady) – worked for the YMCA in WW1 training volunteers going to the war zones

Ruth Comfort MITCHELL

Edna St. Vincent MILLAY

Harriet MONROE (founded “Poetry” – first American poetry magazine)

Marianne MOORE (1887 - 1972)

Aline MURRAY (1888 - 1941)

 Grace Fallow NORTON (1876 - 1926)

Dorothy PARKER (1893 – 1967)

Mary PIERCY

Lizette WOODWORTH REESE (1856 - 1935)

Laura Elizabeth Howe RICHARDS (1850 – 1943) 1917 Pulitzer Prize

Edith Grenstead ROCHESTER

Edith RUTTER-LEATHAM

Vida Dutton SCUDDER (1861 - 1954)

Gertrude STEIN (1874 – 1946) moved to France 1903; drove medical supplies to hospitals in France WW1

Charlotte Perkins STETSON

Sarah TEASDALE

Lesbia THANET

Edith M. THOMAS (1854 - 1925)

Rose Hartwick THORPE (1850 - 1939)

Marie van VORST (Organised American Ambulance Corps; set up workshops in Rome WW1)

Grace O. VANAMEE (1876 - 1946)

Mrs G.O. WARREN

Edith WHARTON (1862 - 1937) (Paris WW1 - nursed)

Ella WHEELER WILCOX (1850 - 1919) (Travelled to the Western Front in 1918 to entertain the AEF troops)

Margaret WIDDAMER

Margaret ADELAIDE WILSON

Elinor WYLIE (1885 – 1928)

ARMENIA

Shushanik KURGHINIAN (1876 – 1927)

AUSTRIA

Vicky BAUM (1888 – 1960) – I’m having problems finding examples of her poems

Maria Eugenie Delle GRAZIE (1864 – 1931)

Paula LUDWIG (1900 – 1974)

AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE

Rose AUSLANDER (11.05.1901 – 03.01.1988)

AUSTRALIA

Ethel ANDERSON (1883 – 1958)

Tilly ASTON (1873 – 1947)

Ruth BEDFORD (1882 – 1963)

Mary Grant BRUCE (1878 – 1958)

Emily BULCOCK (1877 - 1969)

Ada CAMBRIDGE A.C. (1844 - 1926)

Violet B. CRAMER

Zora CROSS (1890 - 1964)

Margaret CURRAN (1887 – 1962)

Dulce DEAMER (1890 – 1978) (b. Mary Elizabeth Kathleen Dulcie Deamer)

Enid DERHAM (1882 – 1941)

Edith May ENGLAND (1899 - 1979)

Nellie EVANS (1883 - 1944)

May Hannay FOOTT (1846 - 1918)- younger son killed Passchendaele

Mary Elizabeth FULLERTON (1868 - 1946)

Dame Mary GILMORE (1965 - 1962)

Lesbia HARFORD (1891 - 1927)

Ada Verdun HOWELL (1902 – 1981)

Winsome JENNINGS

Alice GORE JONES (1887 - 1961)

Marion KNOWLES

Louisa LAWSON (1848 – 1920)

Jessie Sinclair LICHFIELD (1883 – 1956)

Louise MACK (1870 – 1935)

Dorothea MACKELLAR (1885 – 1968)

Nettie PALMER (1885 – 1964)

Marie E.J. PITT (1869 – 1948)

Elizabeth SCOTT (1833 – 1929)

Agnes ROSE-SOLEY

Ethel TURNER (1870 - 1958) - born Doncaster, England)

Elizabeth von AMIN (1866 - 1941)

Mary L. WYATT (? – 1941)

BELGIUM

Marie NIZET (1859 – 1922)

Alice NAHON (1896 - 1933)

BRAZIL

Cora CORALINA (20 August 1889 – 10 April 1985)

Cecilia MEIRELES (7.11.1901 – 9.11.1964)

Adaligsa NERY (29.10.1905 – 7.6.1980)

BULGARIA

Elisaveta BAGRYANA (1893 – 1991)

Dora GABE (1886 – 1963)

CANADA

Jean BLEWETT (1872 - 1934)

Helene Jane COLEMAN (1860 - 1953)

Marie JOUSSAYE (1864 - 1949)

Susan Frances HARRISON (1859 - 1935)

Norah M. HOLLAND (1876 - 1925)

Isabel MACKAY (Isabel Ecclestone - 1875 - 1928)

Lucy Maud MONTGOMERY (1874 - 1942)

Marjorie L.C. PICKTHALL (1883 - 1922)

CHILE

Gabriela MISTRAL (1889 - 1957 - pen name of Lucila Godoy Alcayaga)

Winett de ROKHA (1892 – 1951)

CHINA

Bing XIN

FINLAND

Katri VALA (1901 – 1942)

Edith SODERGRAN (1882 – 1923)

Kerstin SODERHOLD (1897 – 1943)

FRANCE

Adrianne BLANC-PERIDIER (1884 – 1965)

Henriette CHARASON (1884 – 1972)

Marie DAUGUET (1860 - 1942)

Lise DEHARME (1898? - 1980)

Lucie DELARUE-MARDRUS (1874 - 1945- nurse in WW1)

Marguerite DURAND (Editor of La Fronde)

Rosemonde GERARD (1886 - 1953)

Miriam HARRY (Maria Rosette SHAPIRA)

Gerard d'HOUVILLE (Nom de plume - 1875 - 1963)

Amelie MURAT (1882 - 1940)

Anna de NOAILLES (1876 - 1933)

Louisa PAULIN (1888 - 1944)

Valentine PENROSE (nee Boue – 1898 – 1978)

Cecile PERIN (1877 – 1959)

Cecile SAUVAGE (1883 - 1927)

Colette YVER (1874 – 1953)

GERMANY

Lou ALBERT-LAZARD (1885 – 1969) Artist/Poet

Anna BAHR-HILDENBERG

Emmy BALL-HENNINGS (1885 – 1948 m. Hugo Ball DADA poet

Maria BENEMANN (1887 – 1980)

Trude BERNHARD

Frida BETTINGEN (1865 – 1924)

Isla FRANKE (1881 - 1938)

Claire GOLL (1890 - 1977)

Henriette HARDENBERG (1894 – 1983)

Ricarda Octavia HUCH (1863 – 1947)

Marie Luise KASCHNITZ (1901 – 1974)

Lola LANDAU (1892 – 1990)

Elizabeth LANGASSER (1899 – 1950)

Berta LASK (1878 – 1967)

Else LASKER SCHULER (1869 – 1945)

Mechthilde LICHNOWSKY (1879 – 1958)

Thekla LINGEN (1866 – 1931)

Lya MARA (1897 – 1960) – actress and film star

Elisabeth MEINHARD

Elizabeth PAULSEN

Hilde STIELER-MEYER (1879 – 1965)

Nell WALDEN (1887 – 1975)

GREECE

Maria POLYDOURI (1902 – 1980)

HEBREW

Rachel ISRAEL (1890 – 1931) b. Russia

HOLLAND

Agnita FEIS (1881 – 1944)

Henriette ROLAND HOLST (1869 - 1952)

Augusta PEAUX (1859 - 1944)

Giza RITSCHL (1869 - 1942)

Nine van der SCHAAF (1882 - 1973)

Margo SHARTEN-ANTINK

Helene SWARTH (1859 - 1941)

Jacqueline van der WAALS (1868 - 1922)

INDIA

Nalini Bala DEVI (1898 – 1977)

Sarojini NAIDU (1879 - 1949)

IRELAND

Eleanor ALEXANDER

Jane BARLOW (1897 – 1917)

Eva GORE BOOTH (1870 – 1956)

Elizabeth BOWEN (1899 – 1973)

Alice FURLONG (1875 – 1948)

Lady Augusta GREGORY (1852 – 1932)

Kathleen KNOX

Temple LANE (1899 – 1982)

Rosamund LANGBRIDGE (1880 – 1964)

Eirene MANDERS (Downe House schoolgirl)

Rosa MULHOLLAND (Lady Gilbert) (1841 – 1921)

May NORTON (1876 – 1957)

May O'ROURKE (Became Secretary to Thomas Hardy in 1923)

Elizabeth SHANE

Dora SIGERSON SHORTER (1866 - 1918)

Katharine TYNAN (1861 - 1931)

Helen WADDELL

ITALY

Ada NEGRI (1870 – 1945)

Amalia GUGLIELMINETTI (1881 – 1941)

JAPAN

Akiko YOSANO (1878 - 1942)

Fukao SUMAKO (1893 – 1974)

LEBANON

May ZIADA (1886 – 1941)

MEXICO

Rosario María Gutiérrez Eskildsen (1899 – 1979)

NEWFOUNDLAND

Georgiana COOPER (1885 – 1980)

Rose M. GREENE

P. Florence MILLER

Marie E. WAY

NEW ZEALAND

Mary Ursula BETHELL (1874 – 1945)

Violet COTTRELL (1887 – 1971)

Eileen DUGGAN (1894 - 1972)

Ivy Olive GIBBS (1886 – 1966)

Kathleen HAWKINS (1883 – 1981)

Alice Annie KENNY (1875 – 1960)

Jessie MACKAY (1864 – 1938)

Katherine MANSFIELD (1888 - 1923)

Lola RIDGE (1873 – 1941)

PERSIA

Bahiyyih KHANUM (1846 – 1932)

POLAND

Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska (24.11.1891 Krakow – 09.07 1945 Manchester) LIVED IN BLACPOOL WW2

PORTUGAL

Fernanda de CASTRO (1900 – 1994)

Florbela ESPANCA (1894 – 1930)

Marta MESQUITA DE CAMARA

Virginia VITORINO

ROMANIA

Otilia CAZIMIR (1894 – 1967)

Maria CUNTAN (1862 – 1935)

Elena FARAGO (1888 – 1954)

Natalia NEGRU (1882 – 1962)

Izabela SADOVEANU-EVAN (24.02.1870 – 06.08.1941)

Elena VACARESCU (21.9.1864 Bucharest – 17.02.1947 Paris)

Elizabeth of WIED (1843 – 1916)

RUSSIA

Anna AKHMATOVA (1889 -1966 from the Ukraine)

Sophia PARNOT (1885 – 1933)

Marina TSVETAEVA (1892 – 1941)

Mrs KOUDASHEVA – woman soldier poet

Mrs SKRIDLOVA – woman soldier poet

SERBIA

Jelena DIMITRIJEVIC (1862 – 1945)

Danica MARKOVIC (1879 – 1932)

Jelena SPIRIDONOVIC SAVIC (1890 – 974)

SOUTH AFRICA

Edith L.M. KING (1871 - 1962)

SPAIN

Emilia Pardo BAZAN (1851 – 1921)

Rosa CHACEL (1898 – 1994)

SWEDEN

Elsa BESKOW (1874 – 1953)

Karin BOYE (1900 – 1944)

SWITZERLAND

Francisca STOCKLIN (1894 – 1931)

TURKEY

Halide EDIP ADINA (1884 – 1964)

Makbule ATADA (1885 – 1956)

Nigar HANIM (1856 – 1918)

Emine SEMIYE ONASY (1864 – 1944) – writer/nurse

Fatma ALIYE TOPUZ (1862 – 1936)

URUGUAY

Delmira AGUSTINI (1886 – 1914)

Juana de IBARBOUROU (1892 – 1979)

Alfonsina STOMI (1892 – 1938)

‘LOST SHEEP’ – awaiting further information

Emily ORR

Muriel Elsie GRAHAM

Anna BUNSTON DE BARY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS

ALAN, A.J.- “Second Book” (Hutchinson & Co. Ltd., London, 1932)

BILTON, David .- “Images of War The Germans in Flanders 1914” (Pen & Sword, Barnsley, 2012)

BIRN, Antony and BIRN, Nicholas. Eds.- “Voices from the Front Line’ (Summersdale Publishers Ltd., Chichester, Sussex, 2008)

BOORMAN, Derek.- "A Century of Remembrance. 100 Outstanding British War Memorials". (Pen & Sword Books, Barnsley, Yorkshire, 2005)

CARDINAL, Agnes, GOLDMAN, Dorothy, HATTAWAY, Judith.- “Women’s Writing on the First World War” (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1999)

CLARKE, G.H. Ed.- “A Treasury of War Poetry British and American Poems 1914 - 1919 (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1917)

DEPP, Wolfgang G., MIDDLETON, Christopher, SCHONHERR, Herbert. Eds. “Ohne Hass und Fahne No Hatred and no Flag Sans haine et sans drapeau” (Rowohlt, Hamburg, 1959)

Editor Unknown “Fifty amazing stories of the Great War” (Odhams Press Ltd., London, 1936)

FOWLER WRIGHT. S. (Ed.).- "Poets of Merseyside An Anthology of Present

Day Poetry".- Merton Press Ltd., London, 1923

GOLDSTEIN, JOSHUA S.- “War and Gender: How Gender shapes the War System and Vice Versa” (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2001)

HIGGONET, Margaret, Ed. - “Lines of Fire Women Writers of World War I” (Penguin Books, London, 1999)

HOLLIS, Matthew and KEEGAN, Paul Eds.- “101 Poems against War” (Faber and Faber, London, 2003)

HOLT, Tonie and Valmai and ZEEPVAT, Charlotte, Eds. – “Poets of the Great

War” (Pen & Sword Books Ltd., Barnsley, Yorkshire, 1999)

KHAN, Nosheen, Ed.- “Women’s Poetry of the First World War” (Lexington, University Press of Kentucky, 1988)

LARKIN, Philip.- “The Oxord Book of Twentieth Century Verse Chosen by Philip Larkin” (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1973)

LLWYD, Alan, Ed. - “Out of the Fire of Hell. Welsh Experiences of the Great War 1914 – 1918 in prose and verse” (Gomer Press, Llandysal, Ceredigion SA4 4JL, 2008)

MACDONALD, John with ZELIKO, Cimpric. - “Caporetto and the Isonzo Campaign The Italian Front 1915 – 1918” (Pen & Sword Military, Barnsley, Yorkshire, 2011)

MARSLAND, Elisabeth A. Ed.- “The Nation’s Cause French, English and German Poetry of the First World War”. (Routledge, Oxford, 1991)

NOAKES, Vivien, Ed. - “Voices of Silence The Alternative Book of First World War Poetry” (Sutton Publishing Ltd., Stroud, Gloucestershire, 2006)

POLE, Stephen and WHEAL, Elizabeth-Anne Eds. - “Dictionary of the First World War” (Pen & Sword Military Classics, Barnsley, Yorkshire, 2003)

REILLY, Catherine. Ed. - “Scars upon my Heart” (Virago Press, London, 1981)

SMITH, William James. Ed. – “Granger’s Index to Poetry” (Columbia University Press, London, 1973)

SPRIET, Chris. Ed.”We werden honderd jaar ouder (We aged a hundred years).- Davidsfonds Uitgeverij, Leuven, 2013)

STALLWORTHY, Jon. Ed., “The Poems of Wilfred Owen”.- (Chatto & Windus, London, 1990)

ZUBER, Terence. "The Battle of the Frontiers The Ardennes 1914" (The History Press, Stroud, Gloucestershire, 2007)