Of all the family Edith Louisa has attracted the widest of comment, as much for her unusual style of dress as for her unusual poetry.

Born in this house Wood End on 7th Sept. 1887 she was an immediate disappointment. Of the wrong gender she was not the expected heir to her father, Sir George. Failing to reflect the beauty of her mother, Lady Ida, a lifelong maternal barrier was established. Raised in Scarborough she gained an early affection for its sights and sounds as her nurse Davis took her and her brothers on their perambulations. A sturdy and self-reliant girl this natural disposition brought her later conflict with her father as her latent talents surfaced. Davis, a source of Edith's lonely affections, was with her until she was thirteen.

Fortunately for Edith, who lacked any formal education, she was given a new tutor in 1902. Helen Rootham was to prove Edith's amanuensis, and this well educated musical woman would stay with her until Helen's death in Paris in 1938. When, in 1913, Edith left her roots to settle in London, Helen shared the rent of an upper floor flat in Moscow Road, Bayswater so poor was Edith's allowance.
Her poetry and biography brought her a wide circle of similarly gifted friends, though "Facade", her poetry set to the musical composition of William Walton, attracted extremes of criticism. In the post war years she and Osbert enjoyed critical acclaim in America, and her accomplishments brought the validation she sought when she was elevated to a Dame in the Honours List of June 1954.
Edith passed away on 12th Dec 1964. In her autobiography she said "I was unpopular with my parents from the moment of my birth". Sad but true, though Cecil Beaton saw her latent attractions and commented on her voice and appearance. She craved, but never found, that warmth and intimacy which may have dissolved her isolation and hurt. But she was in tears as she acknowledged a packed Festival Hall for her 75* Birthday party in 1962.
Near Weston Hall, the former home of her brother Sacheverell, is the village of Weedon Lois. There in the churchyard extension is her Henry Moore headstone, not too close to her mother. The sculpture shows a child's hand encircling a woman's thumb. Was that all that Edith really craved?