FanthorpeUAThe English poet UA Fanthorpe, who was once a leading candidate for Poet Laureate, died on 28 April, 2009 at the age of 79.
She died in a hospice near her home in Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire following an illness.
Born on 22 July, 1929, in London, Ursula Askham Fanthorpe, who preferred to be known by her initials, read English at St Anne’s College, Oxford, before teaching at Cheltenham Ladies’ College for 16 years.
She began writing poetry seriously in 1974 after leaving teaching and working as a receptionist in a neurological hospital.
It was her job to type up and update patients’ records, which led her to remember them later in her poems.
Her first volume of poetry, Side Effects, was published in 1978. In 1994 she was the first woman in 315 years to be nominated for the post of professor of poetry at Oxford University.
She was a contender for Poet Laureate in 1999, when the job went to Andrew Motion. In 2001 she was made a CBE for services to literature. Two years later she became only the fifth woman in 70 years to receive the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry.
Her collection of poems, Safe as Houses, which came out in 1995, is featured on the A-level syllabus.
Rosie Bailey, an academic and poet herself, who lived with her for 44 years, paid tribute to her partner, describing her as a "wonderful, generous" person.
Dr Bailey said: "She was obviously incredibly gifted, quite exceptional. In the home they thought she was just wonderful and were quite amazed. They were quite taken by how generous and humble and friendly she was.
"She had no side to her and she was very straight. She loved to laugh and loved writing to say what interested her and what mattered to her most."
Dr Bailey added that while she was working at the Burden neurological hospital in Bristol she was deeply moved by the experiences of patients who had suffered terrible brain injuries.
Of her poetry, she said: "It was light-hearted and also extremely serious poetry, with a serious moral purpose, but very accessible."
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