Kitty Lee Jenner facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Kitty Lee Jenner
Morvoren
Jenner in 1930
Born	Katharine Lee Rawlings (1853-12-09)9 December 1853 Hayle, Cornwall, England
Died	21 October 1936(1936-10-21) (aged 83) Hayle, Cornwall, England
Resting place	Lelant
Other names	Katharine Jenner, Katharine Lee
Occupation	Artist, author, bard
Spouse(s)	Henry Jenner
Children	1

Kitty Lee Jenner (born 12 September 1853 – died 21 October 1936) was an English artist, writer, and a special kind of poet called a bard. She helped create the Cornish Gorsedh, which is a group that celebrates Cornish culture.

Kitty grew up in Cornwall, England, and later studied art in London. She became a successful author, writing six novels under the name Katharine Lee. She also wrote books about symbols used in Christianity. After marrying Henry Jenner in 1877, she became known as Mrs Henry Jenner or Katharine Jenner. They had one child together. For a while, Kitty was more famous than her husband because of her writing.

Besides her writing, Kitty worked with her husband on topics like sacred art (religious art) and bringing back the Cornish language. In 1904, she became a bard of Gorsedd Cymru (a Welsh cultural festival) and took the Cornish name Morvoren. She passed away at home in 1936 when she was 83 years old.

Early Life and Family

Katharine Lee Rawlings was born in Hayle, Cornwall, on 12 September 1853. She was the oldest daughter of Catherine and William Rawlings. Kitty was taught at home when she was young. Later, she went to art schools in London, including the National Art Training School (which is now the Royal College of Art) and the Slade School of Fine Art. She was good at drawing and painting with watercolours, but she later became famous for her writing.

Katharine Rawlings married Henry Jenner on 12 July 1877. After they married, people started calling her Kitty Jenner or Mrs Henry Jenner. Her husband had been writing to her since 1873. At that time, he had talked to her father about the Cornish language, which later became a very important topic for both Kitty and Henry. They went on their honeymoon in Europe. On 21 June 1878, Kitty gave birth to their only child, a daughter named Cecily Katharine Ysolt Jenner.

Her Career as a Writer and Artist

Kitty Jenner published her first novel in 1882. It was called A Western Wildflower, and she used the pen name (a different name for writing) Katharine Lee. She wrote five more novels after that. Her last novel was When Fortune Frowns: Being the Life and Adventures of Gilbert Coswarth, a Gentleman of Cornwall; How he Fought for Prince Charles in the years 1745 and 1746, and What Befell Him Thereafter, published in 1895. For many years, Kitty was more well-known than her husband because of her books, until he became famous when he was older. Her book was published by Horace Cox and cost six shillings. In this book, Kitty retold the story of the Jacobite rising of 1745 and the Battle of Culloden. A newspaper called The Times said she did a good job telling the story.

Bospowes, the house in Hayle where Kitty and Henry Jenner lived from 1909 onwards

Kitty and her husband were interested in the Jacobites, who were people who supported the old royal family of Britain. They joined a group called the Order of the White Rose. In 1909, they moved back to Kitty's hometown of Hayle and became very involved in Cornish culture. They lived in a house they named Bospowes. They worked together to help bring back the Cornish language and studied sacred art.

In 1904, Kitty became a bard at Gorsedd Cymru, a Welsh festival. She was given the Cornish name Morvoren. In August 1928, ten people from Cornwall became bards at a Gorsedd event in Treorchy, Wales. They decided to create their own Cornish Gorsedh to promote Cornish language and culture. Kitty and her husband joined this group to form the Council of Gorsedh Kernow. The very first Cornish Gorsedh was held at the Boscawen-Un stone circle in September 1928.

In the 1900s, Kitty Jenner also published three non-fiction books about how symbols are used in Christianity. One of her books, Christian Symbolism (1910), was read by the famous writer D. H. Lawrence. He wrote that he finally understood things after reading it. After reading her book, he started using the phoenix as his own special symbol. Kitty had explained in her book that the phoenix means "coming back to life after death and winning over death." She also said that the phoenix was a known symbol for the resurrection of Christ.

Kitty also wrote and drew pictures for a book called In the Alsatian Mountains: A Narrative of a Tour in the Vosges (With a Map) (1883). This book was about a trip she took in Europe in 1882 and was dedicated to her daughter, Ysolt. In 1926, she released a book of poems called Songs of the Stars and the Sea.

Gallery of Works

Later Life and Death

A commemorative plaque inscribed in Cornish and English to Kitty and Henry Jenner

Kitty Jenner passed away at her home on 21 October 1936, due to a heart condition called myocarditis. She left about £23,000 in her will, which was a lot of money back then. She is buried next to her husband in Lelant, a village in west Cornwall.