4.15 Express, The

Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards was born on 7th June 1831 in Islington, London. She was educated at home by her mother and showed early promise as a writer, publishing her first poem at the age of 7 and her first story at 12. Thereafter several popular periodicals published her poetry, stories and articles. In addition she also illustrated some of her own writings and painted scenes from books she had read. This talent was not supported by her parents, who saw an artist’s life as scandalous. Undeterred Amelia took up composing and performing music until a bout of typhus caused throat damage. Other interests soon followed until, early in the 1850s, Amelia focused exclusively on writing. Her early novels were well received, and with ‘Barbara's History’ in 1864, a work revolving around bigamy, her reputation was established. Amelia’s pen was also the purveyor of ghost stories for magazines and are still anthologized as classic tales to this day. In January 1851, Amelia became engaged, apparently to please her parents, but she quickly broke it off. In reality her emotional attachments were almost exclusively with women. From the early 1860s she lived with Ellen Drew Braysher, a widow 27 years her senior, until both women died in early 1892. During this relationship other women also entered and left her life. Her frequent travelling companion, Lucy Renshaw, accompanied her to Egypt in the winter of 1873 and there she found a life-changing interest in Egyptology. Aware of increasing threats from tourism and modern development she became an advocate for their research and preservation. To advance the work Amelia largely abandoned much of her writing in favour of Egyptology and even took on strenuous lecture tours to raise funds. After catching influenza, Amelia Edwards, ‘the Godmother of Egyptology’ died on 15th April 1892 at Weston-super-Mare. She was 60.