Who was Dame Edith Sitwell, the noblewoman who published poets' unheard voices across the United Kingdom?
She loved both Siegfried Sassoon and Pavel Tchelitchew, and was an accomplished musician.
Experiencing a cruel childhood in Sitwell family estates like Renishaw Hall, with her nose strapped to her face and her back braced in iron, Edith's mother Lady Ida Denison spent time and in and out of debtor's prison in 1912 and 1915 while her father Sir George Sitwell ran off to Italy to restore the decrepit Castello di Montegufoni in 1909.
Loving eccentrics herself, Sitwell's unique sartorial style with chunky rings, turbans and headdresses was so beloved it is in Victoria and Albert Museum collections.
Learn more about Edith Sitwell and her family in this piece.