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.
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.
Virtues - Sixth Sense
Edith Sitwell reads a book while blithely crossing a chasm on a bridge made o...
Other Subjects
Dilys Powell
Journalist. Born Elizabeth Dilys Powell at Lloyd's Bank, Bridgnorth, Shropshire. Although she claimed to have little knowledge of cinema, she was the well-respected film critic for the Sunday Times...
James Anthony Froude
Historian. novelist and biographer. Born at Dartington Rectory, Devon. He intended to become a clergyman, but his doubts expressed in his novel 'The Nemesis of Faith' changed his mind and he turned...
Cecil Day Lewis
Poet and novelist. Born Ireland but brought up in London. His mystery novels were written under his pseudonym, Nicholas Blake. During the 1940s, while still married to his first wife, he had a long...
Hilda Seligman
Author and sculptor. Born Hilda Mary McDowell. In the 1930s she entertained both Mahatma Gandhi and Haile Selassie at her home in Wimbledon, and sculpted the bust of Selassie which now stands in Ca...
Khalil Gibran
Lebanese American artist, poet, and writer. Born in what is now Lebanon, emigrated as a young man with his family to US. Best known for The Prophet, 1923, popular in the 60s.
Previously viewed
St James's Gardens, W11
RBKC and British History Online have a lot of information about the creation of this square, with plans and drawings.
Sheila Hancock
Actor, often in comedy roles. Born in Blackgang, Isle of Wight, she was the younger daughter of Enrico Cameron Hancock (1893-1970) and Ivy Louise Hancock née Woodward (1898-1970).Her father was a p...
Eric Sykes
Scriptwriter and actor. Born in Oldham, Lancashire. As a writer, he worked with Spike Milligan on the early scripts for the Goon Shows. He wrote for many of the major comedians of the day, includin...
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