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
Eric Newton
Artist, writer, broadcaster and art critic. He produced several books in addition to his newspaper and radio work. His radio broadcasts made him well known to the British public in the 1930s. Art c...
John Galsworthy
Novelist and playwright. Born Kingston Hill, Surrey. Nobel Prize for literature, 1932. The Forsyte Saga is his best known work. Died Grove Lodge, Hampstead.
Charles Hamilton (Frank Richards)
Author for children. Born Oak Street, Ealing, where the plaque now is. Specialised in writing long series of stories generally using a different pen-name for each. Most famously, as Charles Hamil...
Steven Berkoff
Actor, playwright, author and director. Born Leslie Steven Berks in Stepney. After studying at the École Jacques Lecoq in Paris, he founded the London Theatre Group where he directed his own adap...
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London and Greenwich Railway
The first steam railway to have a terminus in London. Originally it ran, largely on viaducts, between Deptford and Spa Road Bermondsey. By 1838 it had been extended at both ends: from Deptford to G...
Richard Le Gallienne
Poet and essayist. Born in Liverpool. A member of The Rhymers' Club.Died in Menton, south of France.
Stanley G. Shaw
Worked for the St. Pancras Housing Society from 1929 to 1958.
Robert Baden-Powell
Army officer and founder of the boy scouts and girl guides. Born as Robert Stephenson Smyth Powell at 6 Stanhope Street, Paddington. His mother changed the family name to Baden-Powell after her hus...
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