1915 sheet music for "Keep the Home Fires Burning." Courtesy Alchetron.
Lena Gilbert Brown Ford (1870 - March 7, 1918) was an American lyricist, best known for "Keep the Home Fires Burning" which she wrote during World War I.
Life[]
Ford was born Lena Gilbert Brown in Venango County, Pennsylvania. She attended Elmira College, graduating in 1887. She married physician Harry Hale Ford and settled in Elmira, later divorcing him and relocating, with her mother and son, to London, England, where they would remain for 20 years. During World War I, Ford opened her home to soldiers and took care of them.
While in Britain she met Ivor Novello, with whom she collaborated to produce "Keep the Home Fires Burning" in 1914. It was the first major success for Novello and the only one for Ford. Among Ford's other published musical works are "When God Gave You to Me", "We Are Coming, Mother England", and "God Guard You" (with Westell Gordon).
Ford and her 30-year-old son, Walter, were the first United States citizens to become fatalities of a German air raid on London, their home being hit by one of two bombs that fell on the city on 7 March 1918. (Mrs. Brown, Ford's mother, was injured in the bombing). Their remains were returned to and interred in the United States.
See also[]
References[]
- New York Evening Telegram, March 11, 1918, "American Woman Author and Son Air Raid Victims", p. 8.
- Auburn (New York) Citizen, March 11, 1918, "Author of 'Keep the Home Fires Burning' is Killed", p. 1.
- New York Times, March 13, 1918, "Mrs. Ford's Estate Raises Knotty Point".
- The Music Trade Review, April 13, 1918, "Royalty Question Before Courts", p. 57.
- Alice Zinska Snyder and Milton Valentine Snyder (1921), Paris Days and London Nights, E.P. Dutton & Company, p. 39.
External links[]
- Selected Poetry of Lena Guilbert Ford (1870-1918) ("Keep the Home Fires Burning", chorus only) at Representative Poetry Online.
- "https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/keep-the-home-fires-burning/ Keep the Home Fires Burning]" (complete lyrics) at PoemHunter
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