(née Burrows)

Writer.

25 February 1828 – 29 November 1885

Anne Gilchrist, her life and writings (1887) Edited by Herbert Harlakenden Gilchrist, with a prefatory notice by William Michael Rossetti [1] Photogravure from a painting by her son, made in 1882 After Herbert Harlakenden Gilchrist, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Education

Educated until the age of 16.

Some Achievements and Interests

Wrote many essays, published in various magazines (see Written Works).

Took interest in spirituality, science, and philosophy.

1863 Finished her husband’s biography of William Blake after his death.

Began correspondence with poet Walt Whitman after she declared her strong passion and love for his poems, as well as an infatuation with Whitman himself. They eventually met in person and developed a friendship.

1870 Published her first love letter to Whitman as An Englishwoman’s Estimate of Walt Whitman.

Issues

1839 Her father died.

1847 Death of her brother, whom she had a close relationship with.

1861 Husband died from scarlet fever.  On his death, she announced she would give up writing and her work to dedicate herself to her four children’s education.

1871 Suffered from physical and nervous exhaustion.

Suffered from emphysema as she got older.

1881 Daughter committed suicide.

Connection to Bloomsbury

1828-1939 Lived 7 Gower Street, Bloomsbury.

Written Works

1857 A glance at the vegetable kingdom, published in Chambers.

1860 Whales and whalemen, published in Chambers.

1861 Lost in the Wood, published in Magnet Stories.

The indestructibility of force, published in Macmillian’s Magazine

1863 Life of William Blake (she completed her husband’s work)

1870 An Englishwoman’s estimate of Walt Whitman (from late letters by an English lady to W.M. Rossetti).

Translation of La légende des siècles.

Three glimpses of a New England village, published in Blackwood’s Magazine.

Life of Mary Lamb.

Female Networks

Including Christina Rossetti, Emily Tennyson, Jane Caryle.

Further Reading

Anne Gilchrist – Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

“Anne Gilchrist’s Beautiful and Heartbreaking Love Letters to Walt Whitman” – The Marginalian