Ursula Bethell

Ursula Bethell
Ursula Bethell, c. 1900
Ursula Bethell, c. 1900
BornMary Ursula Bethell
(1874-10-06)6 October 1874
Horsell, Surrey, England
Died15 January 1945(1945-01-15) (aged 70)
Christchurch, New Zealand
Pen nameEvelyn Hayes
Occupation
  • Poet
  • social worker

Mary Ursula Bethell (pseudonym, Evelyn Hayes; 6 October 1874 – 15 January 1945), was a New Zealand poet. She settled at the age of 50 at Rise Cottage on the Cashmere Hills near Christchurch, with her companion Effie Pollen, where she created a sheltered garden with views over the city and towards the Southern Alps, and began writing poems about the landscape.[1] Although she considered herself "by birth and choice English", and spent her life travelling between England and New Zealand, she was one of the first distinctively New Zealand poets, seen today as a pioneer of its modern poetry.[2][3]

  1. ^ Mary, Alison; Laura, Valerie (1995). "Ursula Bethell". The Book of New Zealand Women: Ko Kui Ma Te Kaupapa (4th ed.). Wellington, NZ: Bridget Williams Books Ltd. pp. 83–86. ISBN 0-908912-04-8.
  2. ^ Whiteford, Peter (June 2008). "Ursula Bethell, 1874–1945". Kōtare: New Zealand Notes & Queries. 7 (3): 90. doi:10.26686/knznq.v7i3.707. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  3. ^ "Ursula Bethell Residency in Creative Writing". University of Canterbury. Retrieved 14 December 2020.