Helen Corke (1882–1978) was an English writer and schoolteacher. She wrote economic and political histories, poetry and several biographies of writer

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

, whom she was an intimate friend of while they both taught in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

Life and career

Corke was born in

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

to Congregationalist parents. Her father was a grocer. She became acquainted with D. H. Lawrence in 1908 while they were both teaching in Croydon. When they met, Corke was grieving the suicide of Herbert Macartney, a married music teacher and violinist. Corke had spent a five-day holiday with Macartney on the Isle of Wight the previous summer. Two days after their return to London, Macartney killed himself. In order to deal with her grief, Corke wrote an extensive diary of the experience."Chapter 2: London and first publication: 1908-1912,""DH Lawrence resources,"

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

, retrieved October 12, 2018. The name of the diary she wrote was ''The Freshwater Diary.'' Corke didn't feel comfortable sharing her story with anyone, but Lawrence was different. She believed he could understand her grief and writing better than anyone else could. The diary served as the inspiration for Lawrence's second novel ''

The Trespasser Trespasser In the law of tort, property, and criminal law a trespasser is a person who commits the act of trespassing on a property, that is, without the permission of the owner. Being present on land as a trespasser thereto creates liabi ...

''. Lawrence believed that Corke should publish her work, so she did in 1933. She called this book ''Neutral Ground.'' She also helped Lawrence correct the proofs of ''The White Peacock''. She became a close friend of Lawrence's lover Jessie Chambers, the inspiration for the character of Miriam in ''Sons and Lovers'', and later published a memoir about her entitled ''D.H. Lawrence's Princess''."The Writer Was Greater Than the Man,"Archived
via the

TimesMachine ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

,''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', September 5, 1965. Well into her 90s, she wrote an autobiographical work ''In Our Infancy'' which won the 1975

Whitbread Award The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...

Bibliography

Memoir

* ''Lawrence & Apocalypse'' (1933) * ''D.H. Lawrence's 'Princess.' A Memory of Jessie Chambers'' (1951) * ''D.H. Lawrence: the Croydon years'' (1965) *Neutral Ground (1966) * ''In Our Infancy : an Autobiography'' (1975)

Non-fiction

* ''The World's Family'' (1930) * ''A Book of Ancient Peoples'' (1931) * ''A Book of Modern Peoples'' (1933) * ''Towards Economic Freedom : an Outline of World Economic History'' (1937)

Poetry

*''Songs of Autumn, and Other Poems'' (1960)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corke, Helen 1882 births 1978 deaths English women non-fiction writers Women diarists Women autobiographers English autobiographers