Katharine Harris Bradley
Katharine Harris Bradley was a notable English poet and playwright, best known for her collaboration with her niece, Edith Emma Cooper, under the joint pseudonym Michael Field. Born into a family with a tobacco manufacturing background, Bradley assumed a significant caretaking role after her father's death, closely bonding with her niece. Their relationship was marked by deep emotional intimacy, transcending typical Victorian friendships. Both women were influenced by the aesthetic movement, which reflected in their lifestyle choices and literary works, often infused with themes of the "New Woman" and the pursuit of freedom from societal constraints.
Their joint publications, beginning with the poetry volume Bellerophôn, garnered limited attention initially, but their later works as Michael Field drew praise, including recognition from the poet Robert Browning. Among their extensive oeuvre, the poetry collection Long Ago is particularly celebrated for its contributions to the decadent literary movement. The pair remained active advocates for women's suffrage and maintained their partnership until health challenges arose, with both ultimately succumbing to cancer within two years of each other. Their legacy endures through their literary contributions and the bond they shared.
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Subject Terms
Katharine Harris Bradley
Writer
- Born: 1846
- Birthplace: Birmingham, Warwickshire (now in West Midlands), England
- Died: 1914
Biography
Katherine Harris Bradley and her niece Edith Emma Cooper wrote together under the joint pseudonym Michael Field, though Bradley also wrote under the pseudonym Arran Leigh. Bradley’s father, a tobacco manufacturer, died from cancer when she was two, leaving her a small legacy that produced income for the remainder of her life. Bradley and her mother then lived with her older sister, Emma, and her family, after Emma was rendered an invalid after the birth of her second daughter, Amy, in 1864. Katherine Bradley then assumed a maternal role towards Emma’s first daughter, Edith Cooper, who was born two years earlier. The relationship between these two women remained extraordinarily close throughout their lives, and considerable evidence exists to suggest that they shared something more intimate than a Victorian “intimate friendship.” When the pair moved to Bristol in 1878 to attend University College, they were known for their affection for—and affectation of—the accoutrements of the aesthetic movement, including flowing garments, avowed “paganism,” and use of archaic language. Their friend, the poet Robert Browning, referred to them as “two dear Greek women,” and the reference may be to something more than Bradley’s and Cooper’s attachment to antiquity.
The pair’s first joint publication was the poetry volume Bellerophôn, which appeared under the names Arran and Isla Leigh. The work received little attention, and when Bradley and Cooper next ventured into print, it was as Michael Field, said to be a reference to their nicknames for one another: “Michael” (Bradley) and “Field,” later changed to “Henry” (Cooper). The two plays included in this volume, as well as six of the seven others the pair produced over the next three years, are based on history or legend, and yet all of them devote some attention to the then-contemporary notion of the “New Woman,” who was freed of marital and societal restrictions. Bradley and Cooper were themselves active in the movement for women’s suffrage. The identity of Michael Field was revealed in 1884 to Robert Browning, who wrote to praise the women’s first joint effort under that name. Cooper responded, describing her partnership with Bradley as a “happy union of two.” Two years later, when asked about their collaboration by the sexologist Havelock Ellis, Bradley used decidedly marital descriptors: “As to our work, let no man think he can put asunder what God has joined.” In 1889, the pair began their poetic career with Long Ago, a volume elaborating on the fragmentary work of the Greek poet Sappho. Although the pair went on to publish many other collections of poetry, other dramas, and autobiographical works, Long Ago, which gave a considerable contribution to the “decadent” movement of the time, is still considered their finest creation. In 1911 Cooper was diagnosed with cancer. Two years later, Bradley received the same diagnosis, although she kept this news from Cooper. Both women refused pain-killing morphine in order to keep their minds clear to write. When Cooper was buried in 1913, Bradley suffered a hemorrhage on the day of her funeral. Bradley herself died the following year.