Maude Ashurst Biggs born Maude Biggs (26 December 1856 – 14 July 1933) was a British translator and Polish nationalist.

Life

Polish fairy tales by glinski and translated in 1920 by ashurst biggs and illus by Cecile Walton

Biggs was born in

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...

in 1857. Her mother was

Matilda Ashurst Biggs Matilda Ashurst Biggs (c 1818 – 15 October 1866) was a member of the notable 19th-century British family of reformers, the Ashursts. Their circle of radicals was nicknamed the "Muswell Hill Brigade" after the family homestead. Alongside her fa ...

and she had married Joseph Biggs. She had two elder sisters: Elizabeth Ashurst (1838–1905) and Caroline Ashurst (1840–1889). Her younger sister was Kate Ada Ashurst (c.1859–1901). None of the daughters ever married; they were part of a family who over three generations campaigned for change. Her family rejected most conventional values but not the importance of family. Caroline Ashurst Biggs became a leader in women's rights campaigns in Britain and served as the editor of ''

The Englishwoman's Review ''The Englishwoman's Review'' was a feminism, feminist periodical published in England between 1866 and 1910. Until 1869 called in full ''The Englishwoman's Review: a journal of woman's work'', in 1870 (after a break in publication) it was renam ...

'' from 1871 until her death. Sister number two was Elizabeth Ashurst Biggs who anonymously published two novels promoting abolition in America and women's rights in Britain. Her younger sister, Kate Ada Ashurst Biggs, published articles in ''

The Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term ''magazine'' (from the French ''magazine'' ...

''. Maude inherited the cause of Polish nationalism from her mother and she joined the

Literary Association of the Friends of Poland Literary Association of the Friends of Poland is a British organisation of solidarity with Polish people, Poles, founded February 25, 1832 in United Kingdom by the Scottish poet Thomas Campbell (poet), Thomas Campbell and German lawyer Adolphus Bac ...

. She published English translations of

Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (; 24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. A principal figure in Polish Ro ...

's epic poetry. In 1882 she published her translation of Mickiewicz's epic poem

Konrad Wallenrod ''Konrad Wallenrod'' is an 1828 narrative poem, in Polish, by Adam Mickiewicz, set in the 14th-century Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Mickiewicz wrote it, while living in St. Petersburg, Russia, in protest against the late-18th-century partitions o ...

which had somehow not been censored by the Russians and in 1885 she published her translation of another of his epic poems ''Master Thaddeus, or, The Last Foray in Lithuania.'' She wrote over twenty articles on a variety of topics in ''The Englishwoman's Review''. In 1920 her translation of A J Glinski's Polish Fairy Tales was published by John Lane of London and New York. The book featured full colour illustrations by

Cecile Walton Cecile Walton (29 March 1891 – 23 April 1956), was a Scottish painter, illustrator and sculptor. She and her husband Eric were two of the moving spirits of the Edinburgh chapter of the Symbolist movement in the early 20th century. Life ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biggs, Maude Ashurst 1856 births 1933 deaths People from Mayfair Translators Polish nationalists