Eliza Jane White (fl. 1862–1901), who published as Ida L. White, was an Irish poet, republican,

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, and

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

Life

Eliza Jane White was born Eliza Jane Cameron, and was from Portrush, Northern Ireland. White lived at The Tryst, Lyle Hill,

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from ga, an Baile Meánach , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is part of the Borough of Mid and East Antrim. The town is built on land given to the Adair family by King Charles I i ...

. She was a

and republican. She published under the name Ida. Alongside

Frances Browne Frances Browne (16 January 1816 – 21 August 1879) was an Irish poet and novelist, best remembered for her collection of short stories for children, ''Granny's Wonderful Chair''. Early life She was born at Stranorlar, in County Donegal, Irel ...

, Elizabeth Willoughby Treacy, and Mrs Ralph Varian, White is regarded as part of the Irish Weaver tradition. John Hewitt described White and Varian as "remarkable if scarcely relevant ladies". He was more admiring of White's politics. Two of her volumes of poetry were published in 1874 and 1890 respectively, though the material appears to have been written before 1870. She was the wife of George White (died 1876), editor and founder of the ''Ballymena Observer''. They married on 1 December 1862. She had three daughters, Violet Victoria, Ethelwynne Alberta, and Pansy. After her husband's death, she moved to

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, and later to

Brompton, London Brompton, sometimes called Old Brompton, survives in name as a ward in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. Until the latter half of the 19th century it was a scattered village made up mostly of market gardens in the county of ...

. She declared herself an atheist, and became estranged from her daughters when the co-trustee of her husband's will, a dean, commenced a chancery case against her which lasted eleven years. She was imprisoned in

Holloway A hollow way is a sunken lane. Holloway may refer to: People *Holloway (surname) *Holloway Halstead Frost (1889–1935), American World War I Navy officer Place names ;United Kingdom *Holloway, London, inner-city district in the London Borough of ...

, London in early 1888, and spent some time living in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

as an exile. It is also recorded that she made a public attack on the

Czar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...

of Russia. The attack involved White posting the heir to the Russian throne a fragment of rusty chain while he was visiting London, alongside a published letter. The chain was a metaphor for the "tyranny and cruelty which prevailed in the throughout the Russian Empire." She was quoted in '' The Sun'' in 1893, saying "I make war on emperors and kings." She was inspired by the writings of

George Kennan George Frost Kennan (February 16, 1904 – March 17, 2005) was an American diplomat and historian. He was best known as an advocate of a policy of containment of Soviet expansion during the Cold War. He lectured widely and wrote scholarly histo ...

and from meeting

Feliks Volkhovsky Feliks Vadimovich Volkhovsky (russian: Феликс Вадимович Волховский; 1846 in Poltava – July 21 (August 3), 1914) was a Russian revolutionary, journalist and writer. Volkhovsky became involved in radical student polit ...

. While in Paris she wrote for the French anarchist newspaper, , and in 1895 described attempting to use her home in Ireland as a safe house for exiled London anarchists. It is thought she died in Paris in the early 20th century. In his 1912 dictionary of Irish writers of English verse,

David James O'Donoghue David James O'Donoghue (22 July 1866 – 27 June 1917) was an Irish biographer and editor. Early life David James O'Donoghue was born in 1866 in Chelsea, London, to Irish parents, and grew up in the Hans Town area of Chelsea. He was the son of ...

observes that "she appears to hold very advanced opinions".

Bibliography

*''Lady Blanche, and Other Poems, by Ida'', London, Hamilton Adams; and Belfast; C. Aitchison, 1875. * ''The Three Banquets, and Prison Poems'', London, 1890. *''The Flowers Of Lyle And Elegiac Verses'' London, Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., 1901.

References

* ''Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Irish Women Poets'', pp. 238–39,Anne Ulry Colman, Kenny's Bookshop, Galway, 1996. . {{DEFAULTSORT:White, Ida L. Irish poets Irish women poets Irish feminists Irish anarchists Irish republicans 19th-century atheists 19th-century Irish women writers 20th-century Irish women writers People from Ballymena People from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Writers from Paris Year of birth missing Year of death missing