Person    | Female  Born 7/9/1887  Died 9/12/1964

Dame Edith Sitwell

Poet and biographer. Born at Scarborough into the aristocracy. 6-foot tall, with elongated features she added to the effect with her exuberant flowing and ornate clothing. Her poetry was avant garde and concerned with musicality. Her performance of Façade in 1923 has been described as early white rap or like a "happening" from the 60s, and attracted the same response - bemusement. Noel Coward's review caused her to refuse to speak to him for 40 years. But she gradually gained respect and, when she and her brother Osbert toured America they were a great success, especially with the stars in Hollywood. She was early to promote the work of Dylan Thomas. In WW2 she contributed to the war effort by knitting clothes for friends in the forces, including Alec Guinness.
Died, unmarried at St Thomas's Hospital. Her nephew, Francis, was her literary executor.

There is a wonderful 1943 portrait of her by Wyndham Lewis.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Dame Edith Sitwell

Commemorated ati

Edith Sitwell

English Heritage Dame Edith Sitwell, 1887 - 1964, poet lived here in Flat 42.

Read More

Virtues - Sixth Sense

Edith Sitwell reads a book while blithely crossing a chasm on a bridge made o...

Read More

Other Subjects

Anthony Trollope

Anthony Trollope

Author of over 50 delightful novels. Born at 16 Keppel Street. Worked for the GPO (General Post Office) 1834 - 59 and introduced the free-standing postbox ('pillar box') to the UK, an idea stolen f...

Person, Literature, Seriously Famous

8 memorials
William Gilpin

William Gilpin

Artist, author, cleric and schoolmaster. He was a sketcher and collector of prints, and worked as a curate, before becoming a master, and then headmaster at Cheam School.  In 1768 he published 'Ess...

Person, Art, Education, Literature, Religion

1 memorial
Mrs Jemima Luke

Mrs Jemima Luke

Writer of hymns and religious studies. Born Jemima Thompson in Islington. She planned to do missionary work in India, but illness prevented her from doing so. She married the Reverend Samuel Luke, ...

Person, Literature, Music / songs, Religion

1 memorial
Christabel, Lady Aberconway

Christabel, Lady Aberconway

Renowned beauty, cultural socialite and writer. Born as Christabel Mary Melville Macnaghten into a wealthy Irish family, daughter of the criminologist Sir Melville Macnaghten, who investigated the...

Person, Literature, Ireland

1 memorial