Henrietta Battier

-
HB , an Irishwoman writing at the end of the eighteenth century, is a fine occasional poet, author of short pieces in many poetic genres. Her particular talent, unmatched by any of her generation male or female, was for political satire.
  • BirthName: Henrietta Fleming
  • Married: Battier
  • Pseudonyms: Polly Pindar
    The attribution as Polly Pindar is doubtful. Even if HB used this name, she later preferred Patt or Pat Pindar, with or without Mrs. attached. All forms of this name are designed to assert kinship with the high-profile political satirist Peter Pindar (John Wolcot ).
    ; A Lady; Patrick Pindar; Patt. Pindar; Pat. T. Pindar; Countess of Laurel

Milestones

About 1751

Henrietta Fleming (later HB ) was born in County Meath.
Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford, 1990.
Carpenter, Andrew, editor. Verse in English from Eighteenth-Century Ireland. Cork University Press, 1998.
464

1799

HB , as Patt. Pindar, published An Address on . . . the Projected Union, another rollicking verse satire on the plan to unite Ireland with mainland Britain.
Battier, Henrietta. An Address on the Projected Union. Printed for the author, 1799.
title-page

Autumn 1813

HB died in Sandymount, Dublin.
O’Donoghue, David James. The Poets of Ireland. Gale Research, 1968.

Biography

About 1751

Henrietta Fleming (later HB ) was born in County Meath.
Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford, 1990.
Carpenter, Andrew, editor. Verse in English from Eighteenth-Century Ireland. Cork University Press, 1998.
464
HB 's writings demonstrate that she was not only Irish but also an Irish nationalist, a Whig, a Protestant (probably Church of Ireland ) and a sympathiser with freemasonry.
Battier, Henrietta. The Protected Fugitives. James Porter, 1791, http://Bodleian: 280 i 105.
xiv, 120-30, 158ff, 27-31, 163ff, 181-2, 190-2
In later years her stance on Irish politics was anti-Union and pro-Catholic.