Phyllis Shand Allfrey
Phyllis Shand Allfrey | |
---|---|
Born | Phyllis Byam Shand 24 October 1908 |
Died | 4 February 1986 Dominica | (aged 77)
Occupation(s) | Writer, socialist activist, newspaper editor and politician |
Notable work | The Orchid House (1953) |
Phyllis Byam Shand Allfrey (24 October 1908 – 4 February 1986) was a
Early life and family background
Born in Roseau, Dominica, West Indies, in 1908, she was the daughter of Francis Byam Berkeley Shand and Elfreda (daughter of Henry Alfred Alford Nicholls), and was baptized Phyllis Byam.[2] Her father's settler family was long established in Roseau. With roots in the West Indies going back to the 17th century, Phyllis later described herself as "a West Indian of over 300 years' standing, despite my pale face."[3]
Her earliest ancestor in the West Indies was Lieutenant General William Byam, a Royalist officer who in 1644 defended Bridgwater in Somerset against a parliamentary force. Imprisoned in the Tower of London, he was permitted to migrate to the West Indies. After the Restoration of King Charles II in 1660, he was granted estates in Antigua.[4]
Life and career
Phyllis Shand married Robert Allfrey, an English Oxford engineer, and they had five children, including their adopted sons, Robbie and David, from a Carib reservation. Their daughter Phina, another
In politics, Allfrey founded the
She edited the Dominica Herald and also published and wrote for another newspaper, The Dominica Star, which was in being between 1965 and 1982.[7] In 1968, she was one of the founders of Dominica Freedom Party.[8]
Death
Allfrey died in Dominica in 1986, aged 77.
Publications
- In Circles (poems, 1940)
- Palm and Oak (poems, 1950)
- The Orchid House (1953, Constable); new edition Virago, 1982, ISBN 978-0-8135-2332-3
- It Falls into Place (2004), Papillote Press, ISBN 978-0-9532-2241-4
- Love for an Island: The Collected Poems of Phyllis Shand Allfrey (2014; edited by ISBN 978-0-9571-1875-1
See also
Notes
- IMDb.
- ^ ISBN 0787640808.
- ISBN 9780813522654.
- ISBN 9780813523323.
- ^ Paravisini-Gebert, Phyllis Shand Allfrey: a Caribbean Life (1996), p. 39.
- ^ Paravisini-Gebert, Phyllis Shand Allfrey: a Caribbean Life (1996), p. 61.
- ^ Profile, dloc.com; accessed 18 November 2014.
- ^ Myers, Robert A. (1987). "A Resource Guide to Dominica, 1493-1986". Human Relations Area Files.
- ISBN 0-9532224-1-1).
- ^ Selwyn Reginald Cudjoe, Caribbean women writers: essays from the first international conference, 1990, p. 120.
- ISBN 978-0-9571187-5-1).
External links
- "O Stay and Hear" (short story by Allfrey published in the August 2004 Caribbean Review of Books
- The Dominica Star is freely and fully available in the Digital Library of the Caribbean