Person    | Female  Born 20/9/1902  Died 7/3/1971

Stevie Smith

Categories: Literature, Poetry

Author and poet. Born Florence Margaret Smith in Kingston upon Hull. She supposedly got her nickname when out riding with a friend, who thought she looked like the jockey Steve Donoghue. Her father was almost permanently absent, and the remaining family moved to north London. Because of her mother's ill health, she was brought up by her aunt. At the age of five she developed tuberculosis peritonitis, and spent three years in a sanatorium. She suffered from depression for the rest of her life.

She wrote three novels and many poems, including her best known 'Not Waving but Drowning'. A 1978 biographical film, Stevie, starred Glenda Jackson.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

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:
Stevie Smith

Commemorated ati

Stevie Smith

Stevie Smith, 1902 - 1971, poet, lived here 1906 - 1971. English Heritage

Read More

Other Subjects

Max Beerbohm

Max Beerbohm

Caricaturist and writer. Born 57 Palace Gardens Terrace, Kensington. In the Oscar Wilde circle of friends. He became successful and famous at aged 24, but never rich. Half brother and cousin to He...

Person, Art, Literature

2 memorials
Percy Fitzgerald, FSA

Percy Fitzgerald, FSA

Sculptor, painter and author. Born Ireland.  The picture source website has a second picture of Fitzgerald, sadly no more flattering than this one.

Person, Literature, Sculpture, Ireland

2 memorials
Lalla Rookh - poem

Lalla Rookh - poem

An oriental romance by Thomas Moore. The eponymous heroine (the name means 'tulip cheeked') is engaged to the young king of Bukhara. She goes to meet him, but falls in love with Feramorz, a poet fr...

Fiction, Literature

1 memorial
John Wyndham

John Wyndham

Author. Born John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris, in Dorridge near Knowle, Warwickshire. Most of his novels are about terrestrial apocalypses (he disliked the term science-fiction). The best kn...

Person, Literature

1 memorial
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Died Weimar.

Person, Literature, Philosophy, Seriously Famous, Germany

2 memorials

Previously viewed

Shacklewell WW1 memorial

Shacklewell WW1 memorial

E8, Shacklewell Lane

The carving on the south face has a peculiarity which we think must be an error. It's normal for all the lettering to be in caps with som...

War dead | WW1
108 subjects commemorated
Dulwich Library air raid

Dulwich Library air raid

The bomb actually fell on Woodwarde Road opposite Dulwich Library, killing three people and destroying the post office.

Event, Tragedy

1 memorial
Bartholomew Gosnold

Bartholomew Gosnold

Explorer. Born in Grundisburgh, Suffolk. He led the first recorded European expedition to Cape Cod, and is considered to be the prime mover in the colonisation of Virginia. He captained the 'Godspe...

Person, Exploring, USA

1 memorial
submarine Simoon
1 memorial