Lady Margaret Sackville
Lady Margaret Sackville (1881–1963) was an English poet and children's author known for her literary contributions in the early 20th century. Born in Buckhurst, Sussex, she was raised in a notable family and had connections to prominent literary figures, including her cousin, V. Sackville-West. Following the death of her father, she began publishing her poetry, with her first two collections appearing in 1900 and 1901. Sackville's work often reflected her antiwar sentiments, particularly in her acclaimed 1916 collection, The Pageant of War, which included the poignant poem "Nostra Culpa." Throughout her career, she collaborated with other writers and explored innovative poetic forms, as seen in her later works like One Hundred Little Poems (1928). Despite her popularity during her lifetime, her work fell out of favor with the rise of modernist poetry. Sackville never married or had children, and after her death, her literary legacy remained largely underexplored, with a single critical study published in 1953. She was commemorated in Scotland with a bust, honoring her contributions to literature.
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Subject Terms
Lady Margaret Sackville
Writer
- Born: 1881
- Birthplace: Buckhurst, Sussex, England
- Died: 1963
- Place of death: Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England
Biography
Although she lived most of her adult life in Scotland, Lady Margaret Sackville was born in Buckhurst, Sussex, England, the daughter of Lady Constance Mary Elizabeth (Baillie-Cochrane) and Reginald Windsor Sackville, a minister and the seventh Earl De La Warr. The exact date of her birth in 1881 is unknown, as are details of her early education; she was raised at her father’s ancestral home, Buckhurst, where Queen Victoria was a frequent visitor. Sackville was a cousin of fellow writer V. Sackville-West, but there is no record of the two knowing each other. Sackville’s father died when she was fifteen; a few years later, encouraged by poet Wilfred Sawen Blunt, she published her first and second collections of poems, Floral Symphony (1900) and Poems (1901).
In addition to writing her own poetry and drama, Sackville collaborated with Scottish poet Ronald Campbell Macfie in Fairy Tales for Old and Young (1909) and More Fairy Tales for Old and Young (1912). In 1914, she joined the antiwar Union of Democratic Control and during World War I published what is probably her most famous collection, The Pageant of War (1916). This collection included the poem “Nostra Culpa,” chastising women who betrayed their sons by not speaking out against the war. Sackville’s brother, the eighth Earl De La Warr, was killed in battle in 1915, and her aunt and uncle, Muriel De La Warr and Herbrand Sackville, ninth Earl De La Warr, were also involved with her in the antiwar movement. Sackville herself never married or had children.
Sackville began experimenting with highly compressed poetic forms in works such as One Hundred Little Poems (1928) and Miniatures (1947). Her poetry was collected in Selected Poems (1918), Poems by Margaret Sackville (1923), and Collected Poems of Lady Margaret Sackville (1939). However, most volumes of her poetry were printed in extremely small press runs and are currently difficult to find. Although Sackville’s poetry was popular during her time, it fell rapidly out of favor with the rise of the modernists, such as T. S. Eliot; Sackville’s poetry had more in common with the Romantic and Victorian styles of an earlier day.
Sackville died in Cheltenham in 1963. The only extant critical study devoted to her work is Harp Aeolian: Commentaries on the Works of Lady Margaret Sackville (1953), a slim volume of essays collected by Sackville’s friend Georgina Somerville; there are no other modern biographies or collections of her work. Sackville was honored in Scotland with a bust created by Pittendrigh Macgillivray, sculptor royal of Scotland.