Lilian Bowes Lyon
Lilian Helen Bowes Lyon (1895–1949) was a British poet.
Biography
Born 23 December 1895[1] at Ridley Hall in Northumberland. She was the youngest daughter of the Honourable Francis Bowes Lyon.[2] and was a first cousin of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
During the First World War, Lilian Bowes Lyon helped at Glamis Castle (owned by her uncle) which became a convalescence home for soldiers. Her brother Charles Bowes Lyon was killed in the war on 23 October 1914, inspiring her poem "Battlefield" which was later published in "Bright Feather Fading".
After the First World War, Lilian Bowes Lyon studied for a time at the University of Oxford and then moved to London. She was independently wealthy. In 1929, she met the writer William Plomer[3] CBE and through him, Laurens van der Post.[4] She published two novels, "The Buried Stream" (1929) and "Under the Spreading Tree" (1931) but thereafter focused on poetry. Lilian Bowes Lyon published six individual collections with Jonathan Cape and a "Collected Poems" in 1948. Her "Collected Poems" contains an introduction by C. Day-Lewis who noted the influences of Emily Dickinson, Hopkins and Christina Rossetti. Her verse appeared in many periodicals and anthologies including "The Adelphi", "Country Life", "Kingdom Come", "The Listener", "The London Mercury, "The Lyric" (USA), "The Observer", "Orion", "Punch", "The Spectator", "Time and Tide and "Poetry" (USA).[5]
During the Second World War, Lilian Bowes Lyon moved to the East End where she used the Tilbury Docks unofficial air raid shelter and assisted with nursing the injured.[6] She also had several amputations due to thromboangiitis obliterans (Buerger's Disease), losing toes, a foot, her lower legs and eventually both her legs below her hips. She returned to her home in Kensington and continued to write poetry despite the thromboangitis obliterans beginning to affect her hands. These poems, found amongst William Plomer’s papers at University of Durham, were published in "Uncollected Poems" by Tragara Press.[7]
She died on 25 July 1949.
Works
- The Buried Stream (Jonathan Cape, 1929) novel
- Under the Spreading Tree (Jonathan Cape, 1931) novel as D J Cotman
- The White Hare (Jonathan Cape, 1934) poems
- Bright Feather Fading (Jonathan Cape, 1936) poems
- Tomorrow is a Revealing (Jonathan Cape, 1941) poems
- Evening in Stepney (Jonathan Cape, 1943) poems
- A Rough Walk Home (Jonathan Cape, 1946) poems
- Collected Poems (Jonathan Cape, 1948)
- Uncollected Poems (Tragara Press, 1981)
References
- ↑ Lilian Bowes Lyon's birth certificate states 23 December, however, her Death Notice in the Times incorrectly stated 22 December and this latter, incorrect date has been widely quoted
- ↑ http://thepeerage.com/p1549.htm#i15490
- ↑ Peter F Alexander’s biography of William Plomer Oxford University Press
- ↑ J D F Jones’s Biography of Laurens van der Post
- ↑ List of magazines published in taken from individual poetry collections
- ↑ Lilian Bowes Lyon article by Howard Watson at Oldpoetry.com
- ↑ Tragara Press archives at the National Library of Scotland
External links
- Here is a link to a webpage in memory of Lilian Bowes-Lyon, featuring two of her poems.
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