Dame Eva Anstruther (née Hanbury-Tracy; 25 January 1869 – 19 June 1935) was an English writer and poet.

Early life

Anstruther was born in London, the eldest child of the 4th Lord Sudeley and his wife, Ada Maria Katherine Tollemach.

Career

Anstruther wrote poems, newspaper columns, short stories, plays and several novels. During the First World War, she was director of operations of the Camps Library, whose director was Sir Edward Ward. The Camps Library was a charitable organisation responsible for stocking libraries for troops and prisoners of war in France. Anstruther was able to use her contacts in the publishing industry to obtain remaindered books for the libraries. For this service she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1918.

Personal life

She married M.P. Henry Torrens Anstruther in 1889 (they divorced in 1915). The couple had two children, Douglas and Joyce, who became a writer using the name Jan Struther.

Death

She died at her home in Chelsea from bronchial pneumonia on 19 June 1935, aged 66.

Selected works