Jeoffrey "Geoffrey" Basil Phibbs (1900–1956) was an English-born Irish poet; he took his mother's name and called himself Geoffrey Taylor, after about 1930. Phibbs was born in Smallburgh,

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. He was brought up in Sligo, and educated in England at Haileybury. In 1924 he married the artist

Norah McGuinness Norah Allison McGuinness (7 November 1901 – 22 November 1980) was an Irish painter and illustrator. Early life Norah McGuinness was born in County Londonderry. She attended life classes at Derry Technical School and from 1921 studied at ...

, whom he divorced in 1930. Their marriage break-up was initially brought about by his involvement with the poet

Laura Riding Laura Riding Jackson (born Laura Reichenthal; January 16, 1901 – September 2, 1991), best known as Laura Riding, was an American poet, critic, novelist, essayist and short story writer. Early life She was born in New York City to Nathan ...

, The poetry collection ''The Withering of the Fig Leaf'' (1927) was to be published by the

Hogarth Press The Hogarth Press is a book publishing imprint of Penguin Random House that was founded as an independent company in 1917 by British authors Leonard Woolf and Virginia Woolf. It was named after their house in Richmond (then in Surrey and n ...

. At the last moment Phibbs became concerned about perceived anti-Catholic sentiment in it, and asked

Leonard Woolf Leonard Sidney Woolf (; – ) was a British political theorist, author, publisher, and civil servant. He was married to author Virginia Woolf. As a member of the Labour Party and the Fabian Society, Woolf was an avid publisher of his own wo ...

to withdraw it. Another collection, ''It Was Not Jones'', was issued by Hogarth in 1928, but under the pseudonym R. Fitzurse. Riding's lover in 1928 Robert Graves visited Phibbs in Sligo; in 1929 Phibbs came to London, and his arrival unbalanced the ''menage'' of Graves, his wife Nancy Nicholson and

. There are many accounts, generally contested, of subsequent events. After some bitter wrangling, Graves and Riding lived together in Spain, and Phibbs set up house with Nicholson in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

. Phibbs and Norah McGuinness were divorced shortly afterwards. The relationship with Nancy Nicholson gradually came to an end, and it was she who introduced him to Mary Dillwyn, though she was upset when he began a relationship with Mary. In 1935 Phibbs married Mary Dillwyn, and in 1940 they returned to Ireland. He was subsequently known mostly for anthologies, and non-fiction writing. As literary editor of '' The Bell'', he gave significant space to poetry from Northern Ireland, and allowed Roy McFadden a critical voice. His selection, ''Irish Poems of Today: Chosen from the First Seven Volumes of "The Bell"'', appeared in 1944. In the same period he met and struck up a strong friendship with John Betjeman; they worked on several poetry collections. Phibbs died in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

of a heart attack. Some of his literary papers survive in the Library of Trinity College, the University of Dublin.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phibbs, Geoffrey 1900 births 1956 deaths 20th-century Irish poets 20th-century male writers Irish male poets People from North Norfolk (district) People from Sligo (town)