Papers of Sheila, Lady Powerscourt

Three albums of photographs relating to travels in Palestine, West Africa, Europe and the West Indies, 1927-1979.

Sheila Wingfield, Lady Powerscourt (1906-1992), poet, was the daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Claude Beddington. She was largely self-educated, teaching herself languages and the classics as a child, and reading on a variety of subjects including anthropology, archaeology and psychology. She also developed an interest in Africa. She was widely travelled, and married her husband, Mervyn Wingfield in Jerusalem in 1932. Widely published, the book which made her reputation as a poet was Beat Drum, Beat Heart, (London, Cresset Press, 1946).

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Collection level description created by Paul Davidson, Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House.

Listed as no. 610 in Manuscript Collections in Rhodes House Library Oxford, Accessions 1978-1994 (Oxford, Bodleian Library, 1996).

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