Adelaide Procter

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AP 's poetry, which appeared almost exclusively in Household Words and All the Year Round, was among the most popular of the Victorian era. An active mid-Victorian feminist, she was a member of the Langham Place Circle and supporter of the Victoria Press , for which she edited the showcase annual The Victoria Regia as well as contributing journalism and poetry to the English Woman's Journal. A convert to Catholicism, much of whose oeuvre is religious poetry (at times put to the service of social protest), she was allegedly the favourite writer of the Queen and certainly one of the best-selling poets of her day. She died young, leaving only three short collections of her poetry.
Black and white photograph of a painting of Adelaide Procter by Emma Gaggiotti Richards. She is wearing a simple dark dress with long, wide sleeves, and decorative red tassels hanging down the front and back, which are connected by a rope that sits around her shoulders. Her smooth dark hair is pulled back into a simple bun. The painting has a simple dark background, which blends out to reveal unpainted board at the edges. National Portrait Gallery.

Milestones

30 October 1825
AP was born at 25 Bedford Square, London, the eldest of six children.
Thomas, Leesther. A Poetry of Deliverance with Tractarian Affinities: A Study of Adelaide A. Procter’s Poetry. Florida State University, 1994.
10
Gregory, Gill. The Life and Work of Adelaide Proctor. Ashgate, 1998.
4
March 1860
A Lost Chord, popular poet AP 's best-loved lyric, appeared in the English Woman's Journal. Set to music in 1877 by Arthur Sullivan , it became very popular in performance and also as a hymn.
Gregory, Gill. The Life and Work of Adelaide Proctor. Ashgate, 1998.
264
Maison, Margaret. “Queen Victoria’s Favorite Poet”. The Listener, pp. 636 - 7.
636
The Cyber Hymnal.
By 29 December 1860
The Second Series of AP 's Legends and Lyrics appeared with a title-page date of 1861, including as its lead poem A Legend of Provence, the powerful story of the redemption of a fallen woman.
Procter, Adelaide. Legends and Lyrics. Bell and Daldy, 1861.
prelims
Athenæum. J. Lection.
1731 (1860): 907
2 February 1864
AP died in London of consumption.
Todd, Janet, editor. Dictionary of British Women Writers. Routledge, 1989.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908.

Biography

Birth and Family

30 October 1825
AP was born at 25 Bedford Square, London, the eldest of six children.
Thomas, Leesther. A Poetry of Deliverance with Tractarian Affinities: A Study of Adelaide A. Procter’s Poetry. Florida State University, 1994.
10
Gregory, Gill. The Life and Work of Adelaide Proctor. Ashgate, 1998.
4

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