Helen Cruickshank

For the American nature writer, seeHelen G. Cruickshank.

Helen B. Cruickshank
Born	15 May 1886 Hillside, Angus, Scotland
Died	2 March 1975 Canongate, Edinburgh, Scotland
Language	Scots, English
Nationality	Scottish
Literary movement	Scottish Renaissance, Scots Language
Years active	1934–1975
Notable works	Shy Geordie, Sea Buckthorn, Beasties

Helen Burness Cruickshank(15 May 1886 – 2 March 1975) was a Scottish poet andsuffragetteand a focal point of theScottish Renaissance.Scottish writers associated with the movement met at her home inCorstorphine.

Early life and education

Helen Burness Cruickshank (Nell) was born in Hillside,Montrose, Angus,in one of the staff houses, as her father, George Cruickshank, was a hospital attendant at Sunnyside.Helen was the youngest of three to her father, George (1845-1924), and mother, Sarah Wood (1850-1940), a domestic servant whose father, Colin Gibb Wood, had been Master Plumber, of Montrose.

Helen was educated at the Hillside village school from the age of four, before attendingMontrose Academyat the age of ten with her two older brothers.Every year the family summer holiday was spent in cabins inGlenesk,where George taught his children about nature. Helen developed a love of climbing and walking that stayed with her throughout her life, and she made many long trips to theHighlands.The annual family holidays were an inspiration within Cruickshank's poetry, with references to the landscapes and people of Angus appearing in her poetry.

Although Helen achieved awards in every subject at school, her father could not afford to send her to university as her Rector had advised, and Helen left school at the age of fifteen, sitting exams for theCivil Service.Cruickshank's first job was at thePost Office Savings BankinLondonfrom 1903 to 1912. During her time in London she gained an interest inpoliticsandwomen's suffrage.This interest was sparked by her awareness of the unfair conditions and restricted wages that she saw women had to face in the workplace.Helen joined theWomen's Social and Political Unionand campaigned for the cause by attending marches, sellingVotes for Womenin the streets and chalking the pavements.

Edinburgh

Plaque commemorating Helen Cruickshank, at Hillview Terrace, Corstorphine, Edinburgh

In 1912, Helen was offered a position inEdinburghfor the health insurance part of the government body which she accepted.It was during her move to Edinburgh that she began to write poetry, and it was also around this time that she first fell in love, the heartbreak of the affair spurring her to write.AfterWorld War I,Cruickshank began to gain some success in having her poetry published.Reading the magazines and newspapers which were publishing her poems exposed her to other contemporary poetry, and she began to become familiar with the works ofAlexander Gray,William SoutarandMarion Angus,and they also became familiar with her work.C.M. Grievewas looking for contributions for a new anthology,Northern Numbers,to which Helen submitted poems, and their correspondence developed into a long-lasting friendship.

Helen began to rent a studio flat in 1921 and liked being a part of thebohemian lifestyle,being so close to the bookshops, and thePentland Hillswere a source of enjoyment for her.However, this freedom did not last as Helen's father died in 1924. It was assumed that Helen, the only daughter, would take over the care of her mother which meant she also had to give up her option to marry, as women that worked in the Civil Service could not continue to work after they were married.Helen gave up her studio flat and bought a semi-detached house onCorstorphine Hill.

Dinnieduff

Helen and her mother moved in to the semi-detached house, Dinnieduff, which became an unofficial meeting place for those involved with Scottish literature at that time.In 1927, Christopher Murray Grieve (Hugh MacDiarmid) became a regular guest at Dinnieduff. He would come to Edinburgh once a month to do business with the Scottish Centre of thePEN Club.With Helen being a founding member and Honorary Secretary, she would eventually take over Hugh's leading role in the PEN Club.Meetings of the PEN Club were often held in Dinnieduff, and Helen often held an open house during the 1920s and 1930s, where those involved in Scottish literature at that time would visit and stay. Notable visitors included the novelist James Leslie Mitchell (Lewis Grassic Gibbon).Her last act for the PEN Club was to raise funds for the International PEN Congress which took place in Scotland in 1934.

Work

During World War I, Helen did weekend and holiday work on farms and in canteens. A summer job in the berry fields nearBlairgowrieled to the publication of her first poem, "The Song of the Raspberry Picker", in 1917. Encouraged by this success, she began to write more, experimenting with different forms of verse, but sending only a small proportion of her work to editors. She contributed poems, mainly in her native AngusScots,toCountry Life,theGlasgow Heraldand theScots Magazine.She also published topical and satirical verse under various pseudonyms.

Cruickshank's first collection,Up the Noran Water(1934), published byMethuen,was mostly written in Scots with a few poems being written in English.Helen as a proudScottish nationalistbecame a founding member of theSaltire Societyin 1936.However, Helen's writing had to be put aside as her work-load became heavier due toWorld War II.Helen worked on a scheme to evacuate children abroad, and also volunteered for fire-watching duties at night, in addition to her own job and caring for her mother.Helen's mother died in 1940.

After the war, Helen took on the role of anExecutive Officerfor theDepartment of Healthin Edinburgh, a role she held until her retirement, on medical grounds due toduodenal ulcers,in 1944.After her health had recovered sufficiently, Helen began to entertain once more at Dinnieduff.She was an enthusiastic follower of theEdinburgh International Film Festivalsince its beginnings in 1947.

Helen's later works includeSea Buckthorn(1954), ThePonnage Pool(1968),Collected Poems(1971) andMore Collected Poems(1978). She wrote poetry until the end of her life with her last unfinished poem being about a woman who cannot stop for death as she has too much to do.

Later life and celebration

The BBC commissioned a programme in celebration of her 80th birthday, in 1966,and in 1969 her friends commissioned a bust by Vincent Butler, which is on display at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.She was awarded an honoraryMAbyEdinburgh Universityin 1971.Helen lived in Dinnieduff for over fifty years, living alone after her mother's death in 1940, and even though her health deteriorated she did not leave her home until it was completely necessary to do so when she was 88.Helen moved to Queensberry Lodge on theCanongatein November 1974 and died there on 2 March 1975.She had planned her own cremation, and this was carried out at Warriston in Edinburgh.

Helen's friends laid a plaque at the front door in 1986.Cruickshank recorded her long life and aspects of her times in her autobiography,Octobiography(1987), which was published posthumously. Helen Cruickshank is commemorated in Makars' Court, outside The Writers' Museum, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh.Selections for Makars' Court are made by theWriters' Museum,theSaltire Societyand theScottish Poetry Library.

Further reading

• Caird, Janet(1984),The Poetry ofViolet Jacoband Helen Cruickshank,in Parker, Geoff (ed.),CencrastusNo. 19, Winter 1984, pp. 32 – 34.ISSN0264-0856
• Wright, Gordon (1969),Helen B. Cruickshank's Fifty Years of Verse Writing,inNeill, William(ed.),Catalyst,Volume 2, Number 3, Summer 1969, pp. 34 & 35

See also

• List of suffragists and suffragettes

External links

• Helen Cruickshank bio
• Helen B. Cruickshank Collectionat the University of Stirling Archives
• "Archival material relating to Helen Cruickshank".UK National Archives.