Frances Bellerby

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Mary Eirene Frances Bellerby (née Parker) (August 29, 1899 - 1975) was an English poet.

Born in Bristol, Frances Bellerby was a clergyman's daughter, and lost her only brother in the First World War. Having worked as a teacher and journalist, she married John Rotherford Bellerby, a Cambridge academic, in 1929. Her 1932 novel, Shadowy Bricks, refers to the social and educational experiments carried out by the couple. They separated permanently in 1942, and Frances Bellerby became a serious poet. She settled in Cornwall and later in Devon, producing poetry, short stories, and another novel. During the 1950s she learned she was suffering from breast cancer, but she survived another twenty years, though in poor physical and mental health. Her papers are now held by the library of the University of Exeter.