This lesser-known war poem by Wilfrid Gibson was written shortly after the birth of his first child, Audrey, on May 31, 1916. It remains all too relevant today One-Day-Old Baby asleep on my arm, Would that my heart could enfold you, Cherish you, shelter you, hold you Ever from harm. Born in a season of … Continue reading For Armistice Day 2023: poem by Wilfrid Gibson
2022 (1981) Tom Keell Wolfe, the son of anarchists Lilian Wolfe and Tom Keell, talks about his parents, life in the anarchist colony Whiteway, war resistance, and friendships with Emma Goldman, Sylvia Pankhurst, George Orwell and others, in this 1981 interview.
In June 1916, London anarchists Lilian Wolfe and her companion, Tom Keell, were prosecuted under the wartime Defence of the Realm Act for publishing an anti-conscription leaflet. Lilian, who was pregnant at the time, pleaded ‘Guilty – of telling the truth’. Both chose prison rather than paying fines, though Lilian was released early because of … Continue reading New in October 2022: ‘I didn’t know I was the child of unusual parents’: Tom Keell Wolfe interview notes
I have just posted unpublished notes from two interviews with activist Kitty Lamb (1901 – 1992) about her life and the development of her anarchist beliefs. She participated in raising money for the Republic during the Spanish Civil War, war resistance in the Second World War, the campaign against capital punishment in the nineteen-fifties, and … Continue reading New in August 2022: ‘I was born an anarchist’: Kitty Lamb interview notes
2022 (1980/1981). Unpublished interview notes with activist Kitty Lamb (1901 – 1992) about her life and the development of her anarchist beliefs. They give an insight into some of the shifting social and political groupings, campaigns and alliances of the twentieth century as well as her lifelong commitment to a better world.
Here are four poems for Armistice Day, by Wilfrid Gibson. Best known for his poems of the First World War, he continued to write about war and its aftermath until the Second World War. For more of his war poems, see Suspense and War Poems Bacchanal (November, 1918) Into the twilight of Trafalgar Square They … Continue reading Wilfrid Gibson poems for Armistice Day, November 2018
Although poet and feminist Elizabeth Gibson (later Elizabeth Gibson Cheyne), was a prolific writer, publishing some forty books of prose and poetry, her work is very difficult to find. As I discovered doing my own research, there is hardly any publicly available information about her. As a step towards remedying this, I have produced two … Continue reading New in June 2018: A selection of poems by Elizabeth Gibson Cheyne, plus biographical information.
2016. Compares the changing responses to the First World War in the writings of Wilfrid Gibson and his sister and fellow poet Elizabeth Gibson Cheyne. Revised version of article published in Dymock Poets and Friends, No 15.
1972. ‘I think I was born an anarchist, and events in my life just enabled me to realize that that was what I was.’ Interview with 96-year-old Lilian Wolfe, lifelong anarchist, pacifist and war resister, by Sandy Martin, Stratford Women’s Liberation Group.
A brief selection of anti-war poems plus aphorisms on violence, imperialism and oppression, written between 1904 and 1914.