Phyllis Gardner (6 October 1890 – 16 February 1939) was a writer, artist, and noted breeder of

Irish Wolfhound The Irish Wolfhound ( Irish: ''Cú Faoil'') is a breed of large sighthound that has, by its presence and substantial size, inspired literature, poetry and mythology. One of the largest of all breeds of dog, the breed is used by coursing hunters ...

s. She and

Rupert Brooke Rupert Chawner Brooke (3 August 1887 – 23 April 1915The date of Brooke's death and burial under the Julian calendar that applied in Greece at the time was 10 April. The Julian calendar was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar.) was an En ...

had, on her side at least, a passionate relationship. She attended the

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

and was a

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

when they met. Their conflicting politics, and his conflicted feelings, led the relationship to end.

Biography

Gardner spent some of her early childhood in Athens, where her father,

Ernest Arthur Gardner Ernest Arthur Gardner (16 March 186227 November 1939) was an English archaeologist. He was the director of the British School at Athens between 1887 and 1895. Early life Gardner was born in Clapton, London, England on 16 March 1862 to Thomas G ...

, was Director of the British School of Archaeology. Her aunt Alice Gardner was a historian (of

Newnham College Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

) and her uncle,

Percy Gardner Percy Gardner, (24 November 184617 July 1937) was an English classical archaeologist and numismatist. He was Disney Professor of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge from 1879 to 1887. He was Lincoln Professor of Classical Archaeology an ...

, was also an archaeologist. Phyllis Gardner's immediate family - her mother Mary, sister Delphis and brother Christopher - moved according to Professor Gardner's career. On their return to England, they settled in

Tadworth Tadworth is a large suburban village in Surrey, England in the south-east of the Epsom Downs, part of the North Downs. It forms part of the Borough of Reigate and Banstead. At the 2021 census, Tadworth (and Walton-on-the-Hill) had a population ...

, Surrey in a large house called Farm Corner, close to the Surrey Hills. Gardner attended the progressive

Saint Felix School Saint Felix School is a 2–18 mixed, private, day and boarding school in Reydon, Southwold, Suffolk, England. The school was founded in 1897 as a school for girls but is now co-educational. History The school was founded in 1897 as a girls' s ...

Southwold Southwold is a seaside town and civil parish on the North Sea, in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It lies at the mouth of the River Blyth, Suffolk, River Blyth in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths ...

, Suffolk between 1907-1908. In 1908, Gardner enrolled at the

and specialised in the craft of

wood carving Wood carving (or woodcarving) is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculpture, ...

, but also had a fondness for drawing and painting animals. She exhibited a screen and wood carvings at the

Arts and Crafts The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...

Society Eleventh Exhibition in 1916. In later years Phyllis and Delphis carved intricate chess sets, one of which forms part of the

Metropolitan Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the third-largest museum in the world and the largest art museum in the Americas. With 5.36 million v ...

collection. Gardner spotted Rupert Brooke in a tea-room in

King's Cross station King's Cross railway station, also known as London King's Cross, is a passenger railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, on the edge of Central London. It is in the London station group, one of the List of busiest railway stations in ...

in 1911 and she, her mother and Brooke shared a train compartment to Cambridge. During the journey, Gardner felt compelled to sketch a likeness of Brooke and upon arrival in Cambridge, Gardner was determined to discover who this young blond-haired man was, and how she could meet him. After Brooke's death in 1915, Gardner devoted her time to a local hospital which treated soldiers from the front. Gardner found it difficult to cope with the loss of Brooke and found the hospital a welcome distraction. When Brooke's fellow war poet Stanley Casson wrote ''Brooke and Skyros'' in 1921, a "quiet essay" on the passing of his friend, Gardner contributed woodcuts to illustrate the book. Gardner's memoir about her relationship with Brooke along with their letters to one another were deposited by Delphis in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

in 1948 and closed to access for 50 years. Due to this lengthy closure, and the secretive way Brooke referred to Gardner in his letters, the importance of their relationship was not acknowledged in 20th century biographies of Brooke, in which Gardner hardly gets a mention at all. According to a 2015 biography, Brooke's letters to Gardner depict a cruel side which his

literary executor The literary estate of a deceased author consists mainly of the copyright and other intellectual property rights of published works, including film rights, film, translation rights, original manuscripts of published work, unpublished or partially ...

Edward Marsh tried to hide. Indeed, Brooke's circle felt that Marsh's depiction of an exemplary young man cut down in his prime was a misleading portrayal of a more complex figure. In later life her family successfully bred

s and opened a kennel called Coolafin in

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England. It lies on the southwestern bank of the River Thames, which at this point forms the border with Buckinghamshire. In the 2021 Census, ...

. Gardner wrote a well-regarded history of the breed, which she and her sister illustrated. She died in February 1939 aged 48 from

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardner, Phyllis Cynologists Dog breeders People educated at Saint Felix School Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art 20th-century British women artists British women printmakers 1890 births 1939 deaths British writers