Elizabeth Gibson Cheyne (January 2, 1869 – April 24, 1931) was a British poet and writer. She wrote over twenty books. She died in a psychiatric hospital.

Life

Cheyne was born in

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administra ...

in 1869. Her parents were Elizabeth Judith Frances (born Walton) and John Pattison Gibson. Her father was a chemist who was interested in photography and antiquarianism and her brother was the war poet

Wilfrid Wilson Gibson Wilfrid Wilson Gibson (2 October 1878 – 26 May 1962) was a British Georgian poet, who was associated with World War I but continued publishing poetry into the 1940s and 1950s. Early work Gibson was born in Hexham, Northumberland. His parents ...

. She supplemented his private school education by teaching him about poetry. She published her work in magazines and in 1899 her book of

aphorism An aphorism (from Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often handed down by tra ...

s, ''The Evangel of Joy'', was published. The work was dedicated to her close friend (Sophia) May Bowley (1864–1960) who was an illustrator. Elizabeth appears to have been bisexual and later that year she became engaged to marry William Henry Phelps who was also a poet. In time Phelps ended the engagement.

Thomas Kelly Cheyne Thomas Kelly Cheyne, (18 September 18411915) was an England, English Anglicanism#Anglican divines, divine and biblical criticism, biblical critic. Biography He was born in London and educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood, Merchant Tay ...

wrote a glowing a review of her work in 1911. The review was in the progressive ''Christian Commonwealth.'' He was a widower after his first wife Frances Godfrey died in 1907. Elizabeth Gibson had published about twenty books of poetry or prose and she was an established writer''.'' Their common interest fueled a whirlwind romance that resulted in their marriage in the Cornish village of

Mawnan Mawnan (, meaning ''St Maunan'') is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is in the former administrative district of Kerrier and is bounded to the south by the Helford River, to th ...

in Cornwall on 28 August 1911. Afterwards she joined Cheyne at his home in Oxford where they worked together actively supporting the suffrage hunger strikers and calls for peace with Germany. Her 1912 book ''The Voice of One Crying'' was "arranged in cycles by T. K. C. i.e. Thomas Kelly Cheyne". Her husband died in 1915 and she was left with a small civil list pension. She took to spiritualism and Christianity. In 1919 King's College London ran a theology course but her study was interrupted by delusions. She volunteered to be a patient at the psychiatric

Bethlem Royal Hospital Bethlem Royal Hospital, also known as St Mary Bethlehem, Bethlehem Hospital and Bedlam, is a psychiatric hospital in Bromley, London. Its famous history has inspired several horror books, films, and television series, most notably ''Bedlam (194 ...

. Cheyne died in Camberwell House Asylum

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1931.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheyne, Elizabeth Gibson 1869 births 1931 deaths People from Hexham British women writers British women poets