Clifford, Lucy, d. 1929

Variant names

Dates:

Death 1929

Gender:

Female

Language: English

Biographical notes:

Lucy Clifford was born Lucy Lane in London, the daughter of John Lane of Barbados. She married the mathematician and philosopher William Kingdon Clifford in 1875. After his death in 1879, she earned a prominent place in English literary life as a novelist, and later as a dramatist. Her best-known story, Mrs Keith's Crime (1885), centres on euthanasia.[2] It was followed by several other volumes, such as Aunt Anne (1892). She also wrote The Last Touches and Other Stories (1892) and Mere Stories (1896), and several plays between 1898 and 1925.[3] She is perhaps most often remembered as the author of The Anyhow Stories, Moral and Otherwise (1882), a collection of stories she had written for her own children. Lucy Clifford also wrote cinematic adaptations of her short stories and plays. At least two films were produced from these: The Likeness of the Night (1922), directed by Percy Nash, and Eve's Lover (1925), directed by Roy Del Ruth. Her wide circle of literary friends included Henry James. Her daughter Ethel Clifford (died 1959), later Lady Dilke as the wife of Sir Fisher Wentworth Dilke, 4th Baronet (1877–1944), was a published poet. Lucy Clifford died in 1929, and was buried alongside her husband in Highgate Cemetery, London.