Ursula Askham ('U.A.') Fanthorpe (1929-2009), Poet

Sitter associated with 2 portraits
Born in Kent, Fanthorpe first began to write poetry while working as a hospital clerk, 'I felt obliged to describe the strange specialness of the patients' she states. Though she came to poetry late in her career, Fanthorpe has been both prolific and greatly successful; in 2001 she received a CBE for services to poetry and in 2003 was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.