Lucy Clifford (2 August 1846 – 21 April 1929), better known as Mrs. W. K. Clifford, was an English novelist, playwright and journalist.
Biography
Lucy Clifford was born Lucy Lane in London, the daughter of John Lane of
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...
. She married the mathematician and philosopher
William Kingdon Clifford
William Kingdon Clifford (4 May 18453 March 1879) was an English mathematician and philosopher. Building on the work of Hermann Grassmann, he introduced what is now termed geometric algebra, a special case of the Clifford algebra named in his ...
in 1875.
After his death in 1879, she earned a prominent place in English literary life as a novelist, and later as a dramatist. Her best-known story, ''Mrs . Keith's Crime'' (1885), centres on
euthanasia
Euthanasia (from el, εὐθανασία 'good death': εὖ, ''eu'' 'well, good' + θάνατος, ''thanatos'' 'death') is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering.
Different countries have different eut ...
. It was followed by several other volumes, such as ''Aunt Anne'' (1892). She also wrote ''The Last Touches and Other Stories'' (1892) and ''Mere Stories '' (1896), and several plays between 1898 and 1925. She is perhaps most often remembered as the author of ''The Anyhow Stories, Moral and Otherwise'' (1882), a collection of stories she had written for her own children. The best known of these stories is "
The New Mother".
Lucy Clifford also wrote cinematic adaptations of her short stories and plays. At least two films were produced from these: ''The Likeness of the Night'' (1922), directed by Percy Nash, and ''Eve's Lover'' (1925), directed by
Roy Del Ruth
Roy Del Ruth (October 18, 1893, Delaware – April 27, 1961) was an American filmmaker.
Early career
Beginning his Hollywood career as a writer for Mack Sennett in 1915, Del Ruth later directed his first short film ''Hungry Lions'' (1919) ...
.
Her wide circle of literary friends included
Henry James
Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...
. She had two children. Her daughter Ethel Clifford (died 1959), later Lady Dilke as the wife of Sir Fisher Wentworth Dilke, 4th
Baronet
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
(1877–1944), was a published poet.
Lucy Clifford died in 1929, and was buried alongside her husband on the eastern side of
Highgate Cemetery
Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...
, London.
In 2004 Gowan Dawson described Lucy's efforts to uphold the reputation of Clifford after his death:
[Gowan Dawson (2004) "Victorian periodicals and the making of William Kingdon Clifford's posthumous reputation", pp. 259–284 in ''Science Serialized'', Geoffrey Candor & Sally Shuttleworth editors, ]MIT Press
The MIT Press is a university press affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts (United States). It was established in 1962.
History
The MIT Press traces its origins back to 1926 when MIT publish ...
:Clifford's disconsolate widow and two young daughters had been left totally unprovided for, and, notwithstanding a subsequent Testimonial Fund and Civil List pension, it was necessary for Lucy Clifford, who now owned the copyright of her late husband's works, to maximise the potential sales of his posthumous publications, not only by keeping Clifford in the public eye, but by ensuring that it was a generally positive (and thus marketable) portrayal of him that was presented.
Selected writings
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References
*Marysa Demoor (1999) "Self-Fashioning at the Turn of the Century: the discursive life of Lucy Clifford (1846–1929)", ''Journal of Victorian Culture'', Volume 4, Issue 2, Spring 1999, pp. 276–291,
*Marysa Demoor (2001), "'Not with a bang but a whimper': Lucy Clifford's Correspondence, 1919–1929", ''The Cambridge Quarterly'', Volume 30, Issue 3, 1 September 2001, pp. 233–256,
*Marysa Demoor and Monty Chisholm, (1999) "Bravest of women and finest of friends: Henry James's letters to Lucy Clifford". English Literary Studies, Scholarly Monograph Series, Victoria University Press; 1999, p. 120
External links
William and Lucy Cliffordby Monty Chisholm
*A guide to th
Mrs. W. K. Clifford Papersat th
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*Mrs W.K. Clifford o
Great War Theatre website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clifford, Lucy
1846 births
1929 deaths
English women novelists
English dramatists and playwrights
English women dramatists and playwrights
Burials at Highgate Cemetery