Anna Marie Diana Wilhelmina Stirling (née Pickering; 26 August 1865 – 11 August 1965), also known as Wilhelmina Stirling and under the alias Percival Pickering, was a British writer and art collector. A greater part of her books dealt with the lives and reminiscences of the British

landed gentry The landed gentry, or the ''gentry'', is a largely historical British social class of landowners who could live entirely from rental income, or at least had a country estate. While distinct from, and socially below, the British peerage, th ...

of Yorkshire. She was the founder of the De Morgan Centre for the Study of 19th Century Art and Society.

Biography

Stirling (then Pickering) was born to Anna Marie Wilhelmina Spencer Stanhope (1824–1901) and the lawyer and cricketer

Percival Pickering Percival Andree Pickering (8 February 1810 – 7 August 1876) was an English first-class cricketer and lawyer. Pickering was born at London in February 1810. He made a single appearance in first-class cricket in 1846 for the Surrey Club against ...

(1810–1876). Her mother was a granddaughter of

Thomas William Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester Thomas William Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (6 May 175430 June 1842), known as Coke of Norfolk or Coke of Holkham, was a British politician and agricultural reformer. Born to Wenman Coke, Member of Parliament (MP) for Derby, and his wife Elizab ...

. Stirling's parents married in 1853. Wilhelmina was the youngest child – she had three older siblings: the painter Evelyn Pickering de Morgan,

Percival Spencer Umfreville Pickering Percival Spencer Umfreville (Spencer) Pickering (6 March 1858 – 5 December 1920) was a British chemist and horticulturist. Born to Anne Maria Spencer-Stanhope and her husband Percival Pickering, Pickering grew up in a wealthy family, and was ...

(1858–1920) and Rowland Neville Umfreville (1861–1931). The painter John Roddam Spencer Stanhope was her maternal uncle. The Pickering siblings had a special relationship with their nanny which lasted until her death: Jane Hales was portrayed by Evelyn de Morgan as early as 1866, and later lived with Wilhelmina Stirling until her death in 1925, since she had never married herself. Wilhelmina Pickering married Charles Goodbarne Stirling (1866–1948) in 1901 and they moved into Launceston Place. As a wedding present, the couple received a bowl with a leopard and deer motif from Wihelmina's brother-in-law, the ceramic artist and author William De Morgan, which is now on display in the De Morgan Museum. Stirling was a humanist, and a Life Member of the Rationalist Press Association. She was described in '' The Humanist'' in 1963 as the RPA's 'oldest supporter'. Wilhelmina Stirling died only 15 days before her 100th birthday in 1965 in Germany.

Works

Stirling wrote her first novel as a child, ''The Adventures of Prince Almero: A Tale of the Wind-Spirit'', for the entertainment of her cousins. After a revision it was later published in 1890. In honor of her father she wrote her first works under the male alias ''Percival Pickering''. Stirling was only 25 years old at the time. Her novel ''A life Awry'' was published in 1893 and performed as a play in 1899. Her writing was not all fictional, a greater part of her publications dealt with the English landed gentry, her mother's ancestors, and artists she knew, including her sister Evelyn and brother-in-law William De Morgan. She is considered the author of more than 30 novels and historical reports. Her writings are a uniquely valuable if sometimes questionable source of biographical information.

Art collection

In 1931, Wilhelmina and her husband Charles G. Stirling rented the building on the site of St. John's Estate in

Battersea Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batter ...

(now Battersea Village) and renamed it Old Battersea House. Since the couple saved the building from demolition, they received a lifelong lease for a nominal rent. Wilhelmina and Charles Stirling were both avid art and antique collectors, and in later years made a name for themselves for their entertaining tours of the Old Battersea House. Wilhelmina in particular documented the joint collection. She made her art collection with works by her sister Evelyn De Morgan and her husband, William De Morgan, open to the public under the name ''De Morgan Center for the Study of 19th Century Art and Society'' in her later years. Apart from their works she collected paintings by other Victorian era artists such as William Holman Hunt and

John William Waterhouse John William Waterhouse (6 April 184910 February 1917) was an English painter known for working first in the Academic style and for then embracing the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's style and subject matter. His artworks were known for their dep ...

and had a sizeable collection of furniture from the 16th and 17th centuries. After Wilhelmina Stirling's death, the Old Battersea House fell into disrepair. The collection is administered by the De Morgan Foundation in West Hill. Film director

Ken Russell Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films in the main were liberal adaptation ...

met her in 1961 and immortalized her at the age of 96 in the short film ''Old Battersea House'' for the BBC show ''Monitor''. Stirling was considered one of the most eccentric residents of Battersea.

Ghost hunting

In her later years, Stirling took interest in ghost hunting. She wrote the book ''Ghosts Vivisected'' (1957). A review in '' Western Folklore'' concluded that "the book is not terribly strong, and it falls short of presenting a convincing argument that will win over a skeptical reader."

Publications

The published books of A.M.W. Stirling include: * ''The Adventures of Prince Almero'' (1890, as A. M. D. Wilhelmina Pickering) * ''Queen of the Goblins'' (1892, as A. M. D. Wilhelmina Pickering) * ''A Life Awry'' (1893, as "Percival" Pickering) * ''A Pliable Marriage'' (1895, as "Percival" Pickering) * ''The Spirit is Willing'' (1898, as "Percival" Pickering) * ''Toy-Gods'' (1904, as "Percival" Pickering) * ''Annals of a Yorkshire House, from the Papers of a

Macaroni Macaroni (, Italian: maccheroni) is dry pasta shaped like narrow tubes.Oxford DictionaryMacaroni/ref> Made with durum wheat, macaroni is commonly cut in short lengths; curved macaroni may be referred to as elbow macaroni. Some home machines ...

& His Kindred'' (1911) * ''Coke of Norfolk and His Friends: The Life of Thomas William Coke, First Earl of Leicester of Holkham'' (1912) * ''The Letter-Bag of Lady Elizabeth Spencer-Stanhope'' (1913) * ''Macdonald of the Isles: A Romance of the Past and Present'' (1914) * ''A Painter of Dreams, and Other Biographical Studies'' (1916) * ''The Hothams; Being the Chronicles of the Hothams of Scorborough and South Dalton from Their Hitherto Unpublished Family Papers'' (1918) * ''Pages & Portraits from the Past, Being the Private Papers of Sir William Hotham'' (1919) * '' William De Morgan and His Wife'' (1922), called "biased, limited and sometimes erroneous" despite its "valuable insight"Lawton Smith 2002, p. 17. * ''Life's Little Day: Some Tales and Other Reminiscences'' (1925) * ''The Richmond Papers from the Correspondence and Manuscripts of George Richmond … and His Son, Sir William Richmond'' (1926) * '' Fyvie Castle: Its Lairds and Their Times'' (1928) * ''The Ways of Yesterday; Being the Chronicles of the Way Family from 1307 to 1885'' (1930) * ''Life's Mosaic: Memories Canny and Uncanny'' (1934) * ''

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

Sidelights'' (1954) * ''The Merry Wives of

and Gossip of Three Centuries'' (1956) * ''Ghosts Vivisected: An Impartial Inquiry into Their Manners, Habits, Mentality, Motives and Physical Construction'' (1957/58) * ''A Scrapheap of Memories'' (1960)

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Lawton Smith, Elise. ''Evelyn Pickering De Morgan and the Allegorical Body''. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2002
limited preview

External links

*
De Morgan Foundation

Letters in the collection of the Royal Academy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stirling, A.M.W. 1865 births 1965 deaths English biographers English women non-fiction writers English writers on paranormal topics British women biographers Writers from London 19th-century English women writers 19th-century English writers 20th-century British non-fiction writers 20th-century English women writers 20th-century English writers 20th-century British biographers English humanists