Anne Wilson (Australian poet)



Lady Anne Wilson (11 June 1848 – 11 February 1930) was an Australian poet and novelist.

Life
Wilson was born Anne Adams (known as "Annie") at Greenvale, Victoria. Her mother, Jane (Anderson), was Scottish, and her father, the farmer Robert Adams, was Irish. She received her education at Geelong High School and at a private institution in St Kilda, Victoria. After her schooling, she travelled through Europe with her mother.

On 21 January 1874, she married James Wilson at St Enochs station near Skipton, Victoria. Her husband had bought 6210 acre of land in the Rangitikei District of New Zealand in 1873, and by the end of 1874, the Wilsons were living there. They lived in their homestead, which they called Lethenty, for the rest of their lives, but she always identified with Australia throughout her life. James Wilson, a well-known public man, was knighted in 1915.

Wilson's first book of poems, Themes and Variations, came out in London in 1889 and was followed by a novel, Alice Lauder, a Sketch, in 1893. Another novel, Two Summers published by Harper in 1900, was later included in Macmillan's colonial library. In 1901 A Book of Verses was published (new and slightly enlarged edition, 1917), a collection of her poems from English, American and Australian magazines.

Her husband died in 1929 leaving her with two sons and two daughters. Lady Wilson died at Lethenty and is buried in the Clifton Cemetery at Bulls, New Zealand.

Recognition
Some of her poems are included in several Australian and New Zealand anthologies.