 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Catherine Smith Drew - A Forest Poet |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
A Must See!!
The Royal Forest of Dean's webpage on
Catherine Drew & Photos of her grave |
|
|
Click Here to View the main DREW Page |
|
|
|
|
"In a little thatched cottage, as free as a King,
Near a green shady grove, where the birds used to sing.
I was born, and was bred in the Forest of Dean,
I knew nothing of town, or what it did mean." |
|
|
|
| CATHERINE SMITH was born on 30th May, 1784 to the wife of JOHN SMITH a papermaker of Gun's Mill in the Forest of Dean. She was baptised the next day at Abenhall Church. John Smith had served an apprenticeship with Mr JOSEPH LLOYD and continued working for the Lloyd family for almost sixty years. |
|
|
| John Smith married a widow who already had eight children, and by her he had two daughters - Catherine and her elder sister SARAH. Catherine never attended school, as her parents could not afford to send her, so her father taught her, in the evenings and on Sunday, to read and write. She was taught to respect religion and in her own words thought the Bible was "the best book in the world." |
|
|
| When she was twelve years old a gentleman paid for her to attend school, but after only nine days her father was taken ill and as her mother was out nursing, Catherine was obliged to leave school and look after her father. |
|
|
| During those early years Catherine would often wander in her garden and through the Forest and in her own rough way would try to write verses about her feelings. Her father continued to help her with her reading and writing as she was very determined to learn. |
|
|
| At the age of thirteen, Catherine went to work for a local farmer in his garden and fields. The farmer owned two fields nearly two miles apart and as she walked to work through the woods she had time to enjoy her surroundings, alone with her thoughts. |
|
|
Here the ancient oak tree stands,
Which for ages has stood,
And the deer roves in freedom, in this Royal Wood,
Here is all that I wish, and wish for no more.
Conent is my portion, though little is my store. |
|
|
| When Catherine was nineteen years old she went to work for the Lloyd family of papermakers, but was forced to leave through ill health. Shortly after this her sister, too, became very ill and, tragically, died after only nine days. Catherine had always been very close to her sister and the great loss she felt brought her back to her beloved poetry. For many nights she poured out her thoughts onto some hundred pages of paper. She never had any intention of having them published and often told friends that they should be shown to the world only after her death, "...when she would not be capable of blushing....." |
|
|
| On the 1st January, 1806, at Flaxley Church, Catherine married JOHN DREW a yeoman farmer. They had six children who survived to be beneficiaries in their father's Will when he died in 1855. The children were sons:- JAMES, JOHN & ABSOLOM and daughters:- CATHERINE, FRANCES & SARAH. |
|
|
|
After several years a few of Catherine's closest friends finally persuaded her to have her poems published and with the help of a great number of subscribers who raised the necessary finance, the volume appeared in 1841. It was called A COLLECTION OF POEMS ON THE FOREST OF DEAN AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. |
|
|
| The preface to the book states that the poems are, "...the pure offspring of native talent, and the production of a woman, who, had her education been equal to her mental endowments, would have ranked amongst the leading literate of the day; and her name have descended to posterity with those of the most distinguished British poets." |
|
|
|
Catherine Drew lived until 1867 when, at the age of 82 years she was laid to rest in the churchyard of St. John's at Cinderford. |
|
|
Then, though I'm grown old, in an evening serene,
But thanks be to God, she can't quite cast me down;
For I trust in the Lord, since his mercies are sure,
And am content in my station, although I am poor. |
|
|
|
Verses taken from "The Days of My Childhood" by CATHERINE DREW
I now have a photocopy of Catherine's book |
|
|
 |
|