FEMALE POETS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR
As my research has progressed, it has become even more 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 - please get in touch if you know of any I have missed. Thank you.
REVISED LIST SEPTEMBER 2013
GREAT BRITAIN
Margot Robert ADAMSON
Georgette AGNEW
Marian ALLEN (1892 – 1953) b. Australia
Jessie Annie ANDERSON (b. 1861 - Scottish
Lilian M. ANDERSON
Marion ANGUS (1866 - 1946) - Scottish
Enid BAGNOLD (27th October 1889 - 31st March 1981 -
Nurse then driver in France
Rachel BATES (Wirral)
Dorothy Julie BAYNES
Mary BEAZLEY
Madeline Ida BEDFORD
Janet BEGBIE (1894 - 1953) - daughter of poet Harold Begbie
Maud Anna BELL (Serbian Relief Fund)
Frances BELLERBY (1899 – 1975)
Stella BENSON (1892 - 1933)
Matilda BETHAM-EDWARDS
Nora BOMFORD
Lilian BOWES LYON (1895 - 1949)
Mary Elizabeth BOYLE (brother killed in opening
days of the War)
Catherine BRIDSON (Wirral)
Beatrix BRICE MILLER (1877 – 1959) went as Lady
Helper with the BEF in 1914
Sybil BRISTOWE (brother killed early 1917)
Vera BRITTAIN (1896 - 1970) (Nurse - VAD - Brother
killed in Italy)
Alice Mary BUCKTON (1867 - 1944) (Emigrated to
South Africa)
Irene BUTLER (1901 – 1944) Downe House schoolgirl
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)
Marie E. CLAY (Warwickshire)
Alice E. COLLINGE (1869 – 1960)
Mary Gabrielle COLLINS
Frances CORNFORD (1886 – 1960)
Margaret CROPPER
Nancy CUNARD (1896 - 1965)
Olive Eleanor CUNSTANCE (1874 – 1944) – Lady DOUGLAS
Elizabeth DARYUSH (Daughter of Robert Bridges)
(1887 - 1976)
Helena DEREZINSKA (Lancashire)
Helen DIRCKS
Eva DOBELL (1867 - 1963) (Niece of poet Sydney
Dobell) Nurse
Jocelyn Ashley DODD (1903 – 1986) Downe House
schoolgirl
Sarah DOUDNEY (1841 - 1926)
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 (1872 - 1952)
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
Isobel W. HUTCHISON
Mildred HUXLEY
Catherine M. JACKSON (Wirral)
Violet JACOB ( d. 1947 - 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
Harriet KING (1840 – 1920) Harriet Eleanor
Hamilton-King
Annie L. KNOWLES (Lancashire)
Margery LAWRENCE
Winifred M. LETTS (1882 - 1972)
Olive E. LINDS
Mina LOY (1882 – 1966) Poet/Artist
Audrey LUCAS (1898 – 1975) Daughter of E.V. & Elizabeth Lucas; Downe House schoolgirl in WW1
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)
Olive MATTHEWS (1900 - ?) Downe House schoolgirl
Alice MAUD
Charlotte MEW
Elsie MEWIS - Birmingham
Alice MEYNELL (1847 - 1922)
Olga MILLER (nee KATZIN) (1896 -
Sophie MILLER
Frances Evelyn MILLETT
Miss G.M. MITCHELL
Naomi MITCHISON (1897 – 1999) Scottish – b.
Edinburgh
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
Florence OVERTON (Lancashire)
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
Dollie RADFORD (nee Maitland) (1858 – 1920)
Dorothy Una RATCLIFFE (1887 - 1967 b. Yorkshire)
Constance Ada RENSHAW (Sheffield. 1891 - 1964)
Enid RICHARDSON (1901 – 1995) Downe House
schoolgirl
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 (1881 – 1963)
Vita SACKVILLE-WEST (1892 - 1962)
Dorothy L. SAYERS
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)
Nurse in France 1914
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 (Scottish)
Emily HOWSON TAYLOR (1879 -
Gwen TAYLOR
Rachel Annand TAYLOR (1876 - 1960)
Ruth TAYLOR
Judith BRUNDRETT-TWESDALE
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
Africa1890s
Ada TYRELL
Evelyn UNDERHILL (worked with SSAFA and
Naval Intelligence)
Alberta VICKRIDGE (b. Bradford, Educated Bradford
Girls' Grammar. VAD nurse)
Viviane VERNE
Sylvia TOWNSEND WARNER (1893 - ) Worked
in Munitions Factory
Mary WEBB (1881 - 1927 b. Leighton, nr. Wrekin,
Shropshire; educated Southport)
Mary Morison WEBSTER
M. Winifred WEDGWOOD (VAD)
Dorothy WELLESLEY (1889 - 1956)
Catherine DURNING WHETHAM (Devon)
Joan WHITBY (Downe House schoolgirl)
Lucy WHITMELL
Anna WICKHAM (1884 - 1947)
Carolyn Crosby WILSON
Marjorie WILSON
Margaret L. WOODS
Elizabeth WORDSWORTH (1840 - 1932)
AMERICA
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
Theodosia GARRISON
Charlotte Perkins GILMAN (1860 - 1935)
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
Aline KILMER (1888 – 1941) b. Aline Murray m.
Kilmer 1908
Amy LOWELL (1874 - 1925)
Florence RIPLEY MASTIN
Moina BELLE MICHAEL (1869 - 1944) The Poppy Lady –
worked for the YMCA during WW1
Ruth Comfort MITCHELL
Edna St. Vincent MILLAY (1892 – 1950) Pen name
Nancy BOYD
Harriet MONROE (founded and edited “Poetry”, the
first American magazine dedicated to poetry
Marianne MOORE (1887 - 1972)
Aline MURRAY (1888 - 1941)
Grace Fallow NORTON (1876 - 1926)
Dorothy PARKER (1893 – 1967)
Marge PIERCY
Lizette WOODWORTH REESE (1856 - 1935)
Laura Elizabeth Howe RICHARDS (1850 – 1943) 1917 Puliter
Prize
Edith Grenstead ROCHESTER
Edith RUTTER-LEATHAM
Gertrude STEIN (1874 – 1946) Moved to France 1903
drove medical supplies to hospitals 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)
Grace O. VANAMEE (1876 - 1946)
Mrs G.O. WARREN
Edith WHARTON (1862 - 1937) (Paris WW1 - nursed)
Ella WHEELER WILCOX (1850 - 1919) (To the Western
Front in 1918)
Margaret WIDDAMER
Margaret ADELAIDE WILSON
Elinor WYLIE (1885 – 1928)
ARMENIA
Shushanik KURGHINIAN (1876 – 1927)
AUSTRIA
Vicky BAUM (1888 – 1960)
Maria Eugenie Delle GRAZIE (184 – 1931)
Paula LUDWIG (1900 – 1974)
AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE
Rose AUSLANDER (11.05.1901 – 03.01.1988)
AUSTRALIA
Emily BULCOCK (1877 - 1969)
Ada CAMBRIDGE A.C. (1844 - 1926)
Violet B. CRAMER
Zora CROSS (1890 - 1964)
Edith May ENGLAND (1899 - 1979)
Nellie EVANS (1883 - 1944)
May Hannay FOOT (1846 - 1918)
Mary Elizabeth FULLERTON (1868 - 1946)
Dame Mary GILMORE (1965 - 1962)
Lesbia HARFORD (1891 - 1927)
Winsome JENNINGS
Alice GORE JONES (1887 - 1961)
Marion KNOWLES
Dorothea McKELLAR
Agnes ROSE-SOLEY
Ethel TURNER (1870 - 1958) - born Doncaster,
England)
Elizabeth von AMIN (1866 - 1941)
BELGIUM
Marie NIZET (1859 – 1922)
Alice NAHON (1896 - 1933) - trained as a nurse during WW1
BRAZIL
Cora CORALINA (20 August 1889 – 10 April 1985)
Cecilia MEIRELES (7.11.1901 – 9.11.1964)
Adalgisa NERY (29.10.1905 – 7.6.1980)
BULGARIA
Elisaveta BAGRYANA (1893 – 1991)
Dora GABE (1886 – 1963)
CANADA
Jean BLEWETT (1872 - 1934)
Helena 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 SODERHOLM (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)
Henriette SAURET
Cecile SAUVAGE (1883 - 1927)
Colette YVER (
GREECE
Maria POLYDOURI (1902 – 1930)
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) (Margarete
ROSENBERG)
Ricarda Octavia HUCH (1863 – 1947)
Elizabeth LANGASSER (1899 - 1950)
Berta LASK (1878 – 1967)
Lola LANDAU (1892 – 1990)
Else LASKER SCHULER
Mechthilde LICHNOWSKY (1879 – 1958)
Thekla LINGEN (1866 – 1931)
Elisabeth MEINHARD
Elizabeth PAULSEN
Hilde STIELER-MEYER (1879 – 1965)
Nell WALDEN (1887 – 1975)
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
Amalia GUGLIELMINETTI (1881 – 1941)
Ada NEGRI (1870 – 1945)
JAPAN
Akiko YOSANO (1878 - 1942)
Fukao SUMAKO (1893 – 1974)
MEXICO
Rosario Maria GUTIERREZ ESKILDSEN (1899 – 1979)
NEWFOUNDLAND
Georgiana COOPER (
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)
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)
ElenaVACARESCU (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 – 1974)
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 – 1941)
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
