Helen Cruickshank facts for kids

Helen Burness Cruickshank (born May 15, 1886 – died March 2, 1975) was an important Scottish poet. She was also a suffragette, which means she actively worked to help women gain the right to vote. Helen was a key figure in a special time for Scottish literature called the Scottish Renaissance. Many Scottish writers from this movement often met at her home.

Helen Cruickshank: Poet and Activist

Growing Up in Scotland

Helen Burness Cruickshank, also known as Nell, was born in Hillside, a small village near Montrose, Angus. Her father, George Cruickshank, worked at a hospital there. Helen was the youngest of three children. Her mother, Sarah Wood, was a domestic servant.

Helen started school in Hillside when she was four years old. Later, at age ten, she went to Montrose Academy with her older brothers. Every summer, her family enjoyed holidays in cabins in Glenesk. Her father taught them about nature during these trips. Helen grew to love climbing and walking, a passion that lasted her whole life. She spent many long trips exploring the Highlands. These family holidays and the beautiful landscapes of Angus often inspired her poetry.

Helen was a very bright student and won awards in every subject. However, her family could not afford to send her to university. So, at fifteen, Helen left school and took exams for the Civil Service.

Fighting for Women's Rights

Helen's first job was in London at the Post Office Savings Bank. She worked there from 1903 to 1912. During her time in London, she became very interested in politics and women's suffrage. She noticed that working women faced unfair conditions and low wages. This made her want to help change things.

Helen joined the Women's Social and Political Union, a group that fought for women's voting rights. She helped their cause by joining marches, selling their newspaper called Votes for Women, and writing messages on pavements with chalk.

Moving to Edinburgh

Plaque commemorating Helen Cruickshank, at Hillview Terrace, Corstorphine, Edinburgh

In 1912, Helen got a new job in Edinburgh with the government's health insurance department. She accepted the offer and moved. It was after moving to Edinburgh that she started writing poetry. A personal challenge in her life around this time also encouraged her to write.

After World War I, Helen's poems began to be published more often. Reading magazines and newspapers that featured her work helped her discover other poets. She became familiar with writers like Alexander Gray, William Soutar, and Marion Angus. Soon, they also knew about her work. C.M. Grieve, another important writer, was looking for poems for a new book called Northern Numbers. Helen sent him some of her poems, and their letters to each other grew into a lasting friendship.

In 1921, Helen rented a studio flat. She enjoyed being part of the artistic and free-spirited life, being close to bookshops, and exploring the Pentland Hills. However, this freedom changed in 1924 when her father passed away. As the only daughter, it was expected that Helen would care for her mother. This also meant she had to give up the option of getting married, because women working in the civil service could not continue their jobs after marriage. So, Helen gave up her studio flat and bought a house on Corstorphine Hill.

A Hub for Writers

Helen and her mother moved into their new house, which they called Dinnieduff. This house soon became an unofficial meeting place for many Scottish writers and artists. In 1927, Christopher Murray Grieve (Hugh MacDiarmid) started visiting Dinnieduff regularly. He would come to Edinburgh once a month for meetings of the Scottish Centre of the PEN Club. Helen was a founding member and Honorary Secretary of this club. She eventually took over Hugh's leading role in the PEN Club.

Meetings of the PEN Club were often held at Dinnieduff. Helen frequently hosted an "open house" during the 1920s and 1930s. Many people involved in Scottish literature would visit and even stay there. A famous visitor was the novelist James Leslie Mitchell, also known as Lewis Grassic Gibbon. Helen's last big effort for the PEN Club was raising money for an international meeting, the PEN Congress, which took place in Scotland in 1934.

Her Amazing Poetry

During World War I, Helen spent her weekends and holidays working on farms and in canteens. A summer job picking berries near Blairgowrie led to her first poem, The Song of the Raspberry Picker, being published in 1917. This success encouraged her to write more. She tried different styles of poetry but only sent a small number of her poems to publishers.

She wrote poems, mostly in her native Angus Scots language but also some in English. Her work appeared in magazines like Country Life, the Glasgow Herald, and the Scots Magazine. She also wrote funny and topical poems under different pen names.

Helen's first collection of poems, Up the Noran Water, was published in 1934. Most of these poems were in Scots, with a few in English. As a proud Scottish nationalist, Helen helped start the Saltire Society in 1936. However, her writing had to take a backseat when World War II began, as her work became much busier. Helen worked on a plan to send children to safety abroad. She also volunteered for overnight fire-watching duties, all while doing her main job and caring for her mother. Helen's mother passed away in 1940.

After the war, Helen became an executive officer for the Department of Health in Edinburgh. She held this job until she retired in 1944 due to health reasons. Once she felt better, Helen started hosting gatherings at Dinnieduff again. She was also a big fan of the Edinburgh International Film Festival from its very beginning in 1947.

Helen continued writing poetry until the end of her life. Some of her later books include Sea Buckthorn (1954), The Ponnage Pool (1968), Collected Poems (1971), and More Collected Poems (1978). Her very last poem was unfinished and was about a woman who felt she had too much to do to stop for death.

Later Life and Recognition

In 1966, to celebrate her 80th birthday, the BBC created a special program about Helen. In 1969, her friends asked an artist named Vincent Butler to create a statue (bust) of her. This statue is now on display at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. In 1971, she received an honorary MA from Edinburgh University.

Helen lived in Dinnieduff for over fifty years. After her mother's death in 1940, she lived there alone. Even as her health got worse, she stayed in her home until she was eighty-eight years old and it became absolutely necessary to move. Helen moved to Queensberry Lodge on the Canongate in November 1974 and passed away there on March 2, 1975. She had planned her own cremation, which took place in Warriston, Edinburgh.

In 1986, Helen's friends placed a special plaque at the front door of Dinnieduff to remember her. Helen wrote about her long life and the times she lived through in her autobiography, Octobiography, which was published after she died in 1987. Helen Cruickshank is also honored in Makars' Court, which is outside The Writers' Museum in Edinburgh. Writers chosen for Makars' Court are selected by The Writers' Museum, the Saltire Society, and the Scottish Poetry Library.