Lucy Lane Clifford (1846–1929)

Lucy Lane Clifford was born in London, England. In 1875, the year after his election to the Royal Society, she married William Kingdon Clifford, the mathematician and philosopher. During their four years of marriage, the couple held Sunday salons, which were attended by many well-known scientific, literary, and artistic personalities. After William’s death in 1879, Lucy became a well-known novelist, journalist, and playwright. She was a close friend and confidante of Henry James. Her wide circle of friends included Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, George Eliot, Leslie Stephen, Thomas Huxley, Sir Frederick Macmillan, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Although her work fell into obscurity for nearly a century, it has been rediscovered. Her 1882 collection The New Mother contains unique fables of existential dread and alienation.