Matilda Betham-Edwards

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Matilda Betham-Edwards in 1911, aged 75. In handwritten notes added beneath the photograph Matilda draws attention to her English and French honours, the badges of which she is wearing, and to the two novels, Kitty and The Lord of the Harvest, of which she is most proud.

Matilda Betham-Edwards born 1836 in Suffolk; died 1919 in Hastings) was a novelist, travel writer and francophile. She was also a prolific poet (the 'Lay of Marie' concerning Marie de France is among her best-known works) and wrote several children's books. Her father was a clergyman. She corresponded with well-known English male poets of the day.

Her interests ranged widely but a major commitment of her life and work was to France and the French. Of Huguenot descent, she considered France her second native land and made it her mission to bring about better understanding and sympathy between the two countries who shared her allegiance. The French government made her an Officier de l’Instruction Publique de France in recognition of her untiring efforts towards the establishment of a genuine and lasting entente cordiale. She was awarded a medal at the Anglo-French Exhibition of 1908. She is often cited in anthologies of historic lesbian poetry, but there is not a shred of evidence to show that she had any lesbian tendencies whatsoever.

She is sometimes confused with the poet Matilda Betham, but the dates of birth and death (1776-1852) show clearly that she is not the same person at all!

Professor Joan Rees has written the only biography of Matilda Betham-Edwards, in 2006 (see below for further details).