Elizabeth Frances Amherst (poet)


Elizabeth Frances Amherst, was an English poet and amateur naturalist who remained largely unpublished during her lifetime.

Biography

Amherst was born c.1716 to Elizabeth Kerrill and Jeffrey Amherst of Kent, one of two girls and seven boys. She married John Thomas, rector of Nutgrove, Cheshire, and of Welford, Gloucestershire; the couple had no children of their own and adopted a son, the child of a brother-in-law. One of her brothers, Jeffery, became Baron Amherst in 1776 and later became a field-marshal in the British Army: he was Commander-in-Chief of the British armed forces when they took Montreal in 1760.

Writer and collector

Elizabeth Amherst was an avid fossil collector and maintained an active correspondence on the subject both before and after her marriage. Her poetry, described as "sprightly", would seem to have circulated mainly in manuscript, though a few poems were printed anonymously in the 1760s.

Poems

Much of her writing is known from the Bodleian Library's manuscript, "The Whims of E.A. afterwards Mrs. Thomas."
1) A PRIZE RIDDLE ON HERSELF WHEN 24
2) A SONG FOR THE SINGLE TABLE ON NEW YEAR'S DAY
3) FROM A YOUNG WOMAN TO AN OLD OFFICER WHO COURTED HER
4) THE WELFORD WEDDING
5) VERSES DESIGNED TO BE SENT TO MR. ADAMS