Digital Victorian Periodical Poetry

Poet. Pseudonym: “E. D.” Née Snowden. Born in Peckham, Surrey, c. 1811. Married Thomas Elde Darby on 4 April 1838 in London. They had four children. Author of four poetry books, including The Sweet South; or, a Month at Algiers, with a Few Short Lyrics (1854), Lays of Love and Heroism, Legends, Lyrics, and Other Poems (1855). Published poetry in the Irish Monthly and The Literary Gazette. Author information from the Chambers’s Journal ledger entry for “The Song of Death,” published on 26 April 1862, which lists the author as “Mrs Eleanor Darby (friend of R. C. [Robert Chambers])” (NLS 341/310). Biographical information: Colman 65; Reilly, Mid-Victorian Poetry, p. 124; obituary notice for Thomas Elde Darby, The Gentleman’s Magazine, October 1854, p. 409. (AC)