Queen Victoria’s Favorite Poet

Today marks the death of Adelaide Anne Procter (1825-1864), poet, social reformer, and convert. The daughter of poet Bryan Waller Procter, she began publishing her poems in Charles Dickens’ literary magazine Household Words anonymously. Her identity was soon discovered, and Dickens published her poems regularly over the next few years. Her first collection of poems was published in book form in 1858. In her early twenties she converted to Catholicism, a choice her family accepted willingly enough. Procter volunteered a good bit of her time to work with the poor and the sick. In 1859 she was appointed to a commission to investigate employment opportunities for women. The proceeds of her 1862 book A Chaplet of Verses went to Providence Row, a homeless shelter sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy. Her devotional lyrics were used in both Catholic and Protestant churches. After her early death of tuberculosis, Dickens said of her: “She was a friend who inspired the strongest attachments; she was a finely sympathetic woman with a great accordant heart and a sterling noble nature.” She was reputed to have been Queen Victoria’s favorite poet. During the Victorian era she sold more volumes than any other poet except Alfred Lord Tennyson.