Eleanor Jane Alexander MBE (1857 – 3 June 1939), was a poet and novelist, who was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for her work during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Life

Eleanor Jane Alexander was born in 1857 to Cecil Frances Humphreys and Rev.

William Alexander William or Bill Alexander may refer to: Literature *William Alexander (poet) (1808–1875), American poet and author *William Alexander (journalist and author) (1826–1894), Scottish journalist and author * William Alexander (author) (born 1976), ...

, G.C.V.O., in

Strabane Strabane (; ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Strabane had a population of 13,507 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under th Open Government Li ...

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. Her father, who also wrote and published poetry, became

Archbishop of Armagh The Archbishop of Armagh is an Episcopal polity, archiepiscopal title which takes its name from the Episcopal see, see city of Armagh in Northern Ireland. Since the Reformation in Ireland, Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic success ...

and Primate of All Ireland. Her mother was also a poet and

hymnwriter A hymnwriter (or hymn writer, hymnist, hymnodist, hymnographer, etc.) is someone who writes the text, music, or both of hymns. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the composition of hymns dates back to before the time of David, who is traditional ...

and died in 1895. Alexander had two brothers and a sister, including Robert Jocelyn Alexander, also a poet, who was killed when the

RMS Leinster RMS ''Leinster'' was an Irish ship operated by the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company. She served as the Dún Laoghaire, Kingstown-Holyhead mailboat until she was torpedoed and sunk by the Imperial German Navy, German submarine , which was un ...

was torpedoed on 10 October 1918. Alexander wrote for ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...

'', the ''

Belfast Telegraph The ''Belfast Telegraph'' is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media, which also publishes the Irish Independent, the Sunday Independent and various other newspapers and magazines in Ireland. Its e ...

'' and ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', and wrote ''Lady Anne's Walk'', which was a miscellany of reflections based on the sketches of Lady Anne Beresford. She also wrote novels and biographies which detailed life in

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

and recorded local dialects. She worked on a collection of humorous pieces at the start of

. Awarded her MBE for her hospital war work, she was also awarded the grade of Lady of Grace in the

Order of Saint John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic Church, Catholic Military order (religious society), military order. It was founded in the Crusader states, crusader K ...

. Alexander lived with her father until he died in 1911. In honour of her father's work, she was granted permission to live in rooms in Prince Edward's Lodgings,

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Listed building, Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Opened to the public, the palace is managed by Historic Royal ...

, by

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George w ...

. She died on 3 June 1939 and is buried with her parents in Derry City Cemetery.

Bibliography

* Lady Anne's Walk * The Rambling Rector * The Lady of the Well * Primate Alexander: Archbishop of Armagh: A Memoir

References and sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Eleanor Jane 1857 births 1939 deaths Writers from County Tyrone People from Strabane 19th-century Irish poets 19th-century Irish novelists 20th-century poets from Northern Ireland 21st-century novelists from Northern Ireland Women poets from Northern Ireland Women novelists from Northern Ireland