Author: Wyatt, Gertrude
Biography:
WYATT, Gertrude (1808-77: findmypast.co.uk)
She was born in Brome, Suffolk, the daughter of Henry Wyatt (1768-1836), steward to the Marquis Cornwallis at Brome Hall, who had married his cousin Frances Wyatt (1770-1829), at St. Mary, Weedon, Staffordshire, on 28 Feb. 1795. He subscribed for six copies of Miscellaneous Poems (1829). Other members of the Suffolk and Staffordshire branches of the Wyatt family also subscribed. Her brother-in-law William Utton took seven copies and members of his family took a further fourteen. Another extended family member, George Squib, also took multiple copies. Nothing is known of her life between 1830 and 1860 but the 1861 Census records her living with her unmarried sister Louisa at 12 Whittington Cottages, Archway Road, Holloway. These were probably almshouses run by Whittington College. In 1871, she was still in a Whittington Cottage and described as an almswoman. She died there and was buried in Camden Cemetery on 5 Apr. 1877. Her poetry is mostly occasional and ordinary but was written between the ages of twelve and eighteen. Nevertheless, she was well aware of other Romantic poets ("On Poetry," 24-5) and Romantic themes ("The Poet’s Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Castaly," 91-3). (findmypast.co.uk 11 Jul. 2021; Ipswich Journal 28 Mar. 1795, 31 Dec. 1836; Bury and Norwich Post 15 Jan. 1823) AA