Gyles, Althea

Althea Gyles was born in 1868 in Kilmurry, County Waterford. Her father, George Gyles, came from an old and distinguished local family, and her mother, Alithea Emma, was the daughter of Edward Grey, Bishop of Hereford. In 1889 Althea went to Dublin to study art, and by the end of 1892 had moved to London, where she continued her studies and also began to write verse, moving in the literary circles of the period. Her association with W.B. Yeats began in Dublin and continued in London, where Althea became a member of the occultist group the Golden Dawn. She is chiefly remembered now for her book cover designs and illustrations for Yeats' work. In her later years she lived in poverty in London bedsits, befriended by literary figures including Eleanor Farjeon and Compton and Faith Mackenzie. She died in 1949.