Elizabeth Rebecca Ward

Elizabeth Rebecca Ward was born Elizabeth Rebecca Daniels at Portishead, Somerset, on 2 December 1880.[http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=bmd%2fd%2f1978%2f2%2faz%2f001178%2f117 England & Wales deaths 1837–2007 Transcription.] Retrieved 30 January 2016. {{subscription required}} She married Atkinson Ward (1882 – October 1965) in 1911 in the Long Ashton district of Somerset.[http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=bmd%2fm%2f1911%2f2%2faz%2f000994%2f050 England & Wales marriages 1837–2008 Transcription.] Retrieved 30 January 2016. {{subscription required}} They moved to Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire and in 1913 had a daughter, Mary Arundell Ward (died 1983),[http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=bmd%2fd%2f1983%2f1%2faz%2f001112%2f054 England & Wales deaths 1837–2007 Transcription.] Retrieved 30 January 2016. {{subscription required}} who was known as "Bunty" in Ward's books. In 1927, the family moved to Innisfree, a Victorian villa at Freshford, Somerset, where she lived for the rest of her life.[http://www.bradford-on-avon.org.uk/salutetothevillage.html Salute to the Village.] Folly Books, 2010. Retrieved 27 February 2016.

File:Freshford, Somerset - geograph.org.uk - 422387.jpg

Writing as Fay Inchfawn,{{cite book|author=Carty, T.J.|title=A dictionary of literary pseudonyms in the English language|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9AoeCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT2044|edition=2nd|year=2015|publisher=Routledge|location=New York & London|isbn=978-1-135-95585-4|page=2044}} Ward was a prolific author of books of popular verse during the years between the two World Wars. Her works were serialised in women's magazines and she was sometimes known as "The Poet Laureate of the Home".{{cite book|author=Davidoff, Leonore.|title=Worlds between: Historical perspectives on gender and class|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mif4AJUQLwgC&pg=PA92|year=1995|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|isbn=978-0-415-91488-8|page=92}} She also wrote books for children, some with her husband who used the pseudonym Philip Inchfawn, and numerous religious works.

Her Salute to the village (Lutterworth, 1943) was a first-hand account of the effects of the Second World War on a middle-class provincial family, with locations and people disguised using pseudonyms. Although not identified in the book, the village is presumed to be Freshford. The book describes the influx of refugees from the bombing of nearby Bath in 1942 during the "Baedeker raids", economic and resources shortages, the blackout, fire-watching, and the building of pill-boxes and barricades in the fields so that enemy gliders could not land. It was illustrated with line drawings by Alfred Bestall who also drew Rupert Bear for The Daily Express. The book was republished in 2010 by Folly Books with a new biographical introduction by Nick McCamley."Fay tells a lovely story", Nick McCamley, Western Daily Press, [Bristol, UK], 27 March 2010, p. 8. ProQuest. Retrieved 30 January 2016.

Her memoirs were published by Lutterworth Press in 1963 as Those remembered days: A personal recording. This was followed by Something more to say: A personal recording in 1965 and Not the final word: Or, a joyful tribute in 1969.

Elixabeth Ward died on 16 April 1978 at the age of 97 and is buried at St Mary's church, Limpley Stoke. A celebration of her life was held at St Mary's on what would have been her 100th birthday, which was written up for This England magazine."It was good to bring back memories of the 'delightful' Bath writer Fay Inchfawn: Letters Anonymous", The Bath Chronicle, Bath (UK), 22 April 2010. ProQuest. Retrieved 30 January 2016.

• A book of remembrance. Ward Lock, London, c. 1930.
• As I lay thinking
• ‘’ Barrow Down Folk’’ Lutterworth Press 1948
• Father Neptune's treasure: The adventures of three children and a golliwog under the sea. S. W. Partridge & Co., London, 1919. (With Philip Inchfawn, pseud. Atkinson Ward)
• Having it out: Talks and readings for women's meetings
• Homely talks of a homely woman{{cite book|author=Delap, Lucy.|title=Knowing their place: Domestic service in twentieth-century Britain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GgbifnCZdm4C&pg=PA181|year=2011|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-957294-6|page=181}}
• Homely verses of a home-lover
• Little donkey
• Living in a village
• Not the final word: Or, a joyful tribute. Lutterworth Press, 1969. {{ISBN|0718816404}}
• Picnic on the hill
• Poems from a quiet room
• Salute to the village. Lutterworth, 1943. (Illustrated by Alfred Bestall) (Republished by Folly Books, 2010){{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M6e_YgEACAAJ|title=Salute to the Village|author=Fay Inchfawn|publisher=Folly Books|year=2010|isbn=978-0-9564405-0-1}}
• Senior reciter
• Something more to say: A personal recording. Lutterworth Press, 1965
• Songs of the ups; downs
• Sweet water and bitter
• The adventures of a homely woman
• The beautiful presence in the garden of the soul
• The day's journey
• The Golliwog news: A story of three children and a toy newspaper. S.W. Partridge & Co., London, 1913. (Illustrated by T.C. Smith) (With Philip Inchfawn, pseud. Atkinson Ward)
• The journal of a tent-dweller. Religious Tract Society, 1931
• The life book of Mary Watt. Ward Lock, London, 1935
• The little donkey
• The verse book of a homely woman, 1920.Review, Times Literary Supplement, 9 December 1920. Republished by Standard Publications, 2009.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ATKCQwAACAAJ|title=The Verse-Book of a Homely Woman|author=Elizabeth Rebecca Ward|date=December 2009|publisher=Standard Publications, Incorporated|isbn=978-1-4385-3393-3}}
• Think of the lilies (Lakeland)
• Those remembered days: A personal recording. Lutterworth Press, 1963
• Through the windows of a little house (Republished by FB&C, 2017){{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8e9kAQAACAAJ|title=Through the Windows of a Little House|author=Fay Inchfawn|date=26 February 2017|publisher=Fb&c Limited|isbn=978-0-243-51942-2}}
• Unposted letters
• Verses of a house-mother{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RZw-AQAAIAAJ|title=Verses of a house-mother ...|author=Fay Inchfawn|year=1929|publisher=The Religious Tract Society}}
• Who goes over the sea
• Who goes to the garden
• Who goes to the wood
• Will you come as well? Ward Lock, London, c. 1931. (Illustrated by Treyer Evans)

{{Reflist}}

• [http://allpoetry.com/Fay-Inchfawn Fay Inchfawn at Allpoetry.com]
• [http://www.bradford-on-avon.org.uk/fayinchfawn.html Fay Inchfawn at Bradford-on-Avon.org]
• {{Gutenberg author|id=1208}}

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Category:1880 births

Category:1978 deaths

Category:Christian writers

Category:English women children's writers

Category:English women poets

Category:People from Bath and North East Somerset

Category:People from Bradford-on-Avon

Category:People from Portishead, Somerset

Category:Writers from Somerset

Category:Writers from Wiltshire