Subject

Poet. Charlotte Mary Mew was born Bloomsbury in the building with the plaque. Those who appreciated her poetry included Thomas Hardy, Siegfried Sassoon and Virginia Woolf.

In February 1890 her family moved with her to 9 Gordon Street (lost in WW2), where they stayed until 1922.  From March 1922 until her death she lived first at 86 Delancey Street, and then, with Anne Monro at 6 Hogarth Studios, 64 Charlotte Street.

Following Anne's death Mew was very distressed and was admitted to a nursing home but committed suicide there, by drinking disinfectant. This apparently took place at 37 Beaumont Street but the only nursing home we can find in Beaumont Street was the Duchess Nursing Home at number 2 (ref: Lost Hospitals), at the J. R. Green plaque. The current building was erected "in the 1920s" so we wonder if this is actually the building in which Mew died such a sad death.

Richard Ekins of the Marchmont Association and Consultant Research Professor at Ulster University has helped us with his researches on Mew.