Edith B. Holden

I attained the idea to keep this account from Edith B. Holden, whom I discovered while doing research on the Edwardian Era for a character that I am developing for my newest book series.  Edith Holden was a solitary artist who loved nature, from what I have gathered from the documentary/drama I discovered at the library, titled "The Country Diary of an Edwardian Woman." 

At 35 she had resigned herself to her life, living with her Father in their small house, teaching art part-time at a local private school and taking long walks and painting the things that she found.  She had a great love for nature, and would depict plants and animals in her journal "Nature Notes on 1906," which was not published until after her death.

Edith met Alfred Ernest Smith during the summer of 1906, and they married 5 years later.  Edith was 40 and Ernest was 33.  There is not much really known about Edith's life, she appears to have been a very private person, partly why her "Nature Notes on 1906" was only published posthumously.  Edith and Ernest were married for 9 years, living in London where Ernest worked as the principal assistant to Countess Feodora Gleichen.

On Tuesday, 16 March 1920, she was found drowned in a backwater of the River Thames, near Kew Gardens Walk. The inquest established that she had tried to reach a branch of chestnut buds. The bough was out of reach and with the aid of her umbrella Edith had tried to break it off, fallen forward into the river and drowned.

(My knowledge of much of this information came from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Holden)

Watching the documentary I felt a kin-ship with Edith and having checked out the facsimile book,  "The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady."  It is a lovely book, filled with the charms of the countryside around Birmingham, including water color paintings of plants and animals as well as her observations of the passing of the seasons and bits of poetry.  I have not yet had the time to sit down and read through it fully, but even just flipping through the pages, I desire a copy for myself.  I hope to honor the art and the artist in this attempt to somewhat recreate her whimsy and charm.