Ballads: 'And yet, the secret of their worth, Must live and die with me''

Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards was born on 7th June 1831 in Islington, London. She was educated at home by her mother and showed early promise as a writer, publishing her first poem at the age of 7 and her first story at 12. Thereafter came a variety of poetry, stories and articles in several periodicals, including Chambers's Journal, Household Words, All the Year Round, the Saturday Review and the Morning Post.

In addition, Amelia became an artist. She would illustrate some of her own writings and also paint scenes from other books she had read. This talent was not supported by her parents, who saw art as a lesser profession and an artist’s life as scandalous.

Amelia also took up composing and performing music until a bout of typhus caused throat damage. Other interests she pursued included pistol shooting, riding and mathematics.

Early in the 1850s, Amelia began to focus exclusively on writing. Her early novels were well received, but it was ‘Barbara's History’ (1864), a novel involving bigamy, that established her reputation. She estimated that it took her about two years to complete the research and writing of each.

Amelia also had a talent for the ghost story and many, including the ‘The Phantom Coach’ (1864), would be served up as magazine fare and are anthologized to this day.

In January 1851, Amelia became engaged to a Mr Bacon, it seems to please her parents, but broke it off some months later. In reality her emotional attachments were almost exclusively with women. From the early 1860s she lived with Ellen Drew Braysher, a widow 27 years her senior and was her companion until both women died in early 1892. Another in Amelia’s life was Ellen Byrne, the wife of a pastor and school inspector, whom she engaged in a relationship with during the late 1860s. The relationship ended when the husband was assigned a different school district and the couple moved away.

Amelia first heard about the Dolomites in 1853, through sketches brought back to England from Italy. On 27th June 1872, she embarked on a trip through the mountains with her friend Lucy Renshaw. At the time the Dolomites were described as terra incognita and few had never heard of them. Many of her journeys were later described by her in her work.

Amelia, again accompanied by Lucy, toured Egypt in the winter of 1873 and found a life-changing interest in Egyptology. Aware of increasing threats to ancient monuments from tourism and modern development she became an advocate for research and preservation of them.

To advance the Fund's work, Amelia largely abandoned other writing in favour of Egyptology. In addition, Amelia took on a strenuous lecture tour in the United States in 1889–1890. The lectures later appeared as ‘Pharaohs, Fellahs and Explorers’.

After catching influenza, Amelia Edwards died on 15th April 1892 at Weston-super-Mare. She was 60.

She was buried in Henbury, Bristol, where her grave is marked by an obelisk with a stone ankh at the foot. In 2016, Historic England listed the grave as Grade II, and as a landmark in English LGBT history.

Amelia bequeathed her collection of Egyptian antiquities and library to University College London, with a sum of £2,500 to found an Edwards Chair of Egyptology which had a huge influence on developing Egyptology as a discipline and earned her the nickname of ‘The Godmother of Egyptology’.

© 2021 Portable Poetry (Ebook): 9781803540016

Release date

Ebook: 16 August 2021