Freda Downie (1929–1993)

Freda Downie was born in London, England, and spent her early childhood in the scenic Shooter's Hill district. In 1941, during World War II, the family took a ship to Australia for her father's work, and returned to London three years later at the time of German V1 and V2 rocket attacks. As an adult, she worked for many years at a music publishing company and a bookshop.

She began publishing her poetry in the 1970s. Her two main collections were A Stranger Here (1977) and Plainsong (1981). Her book of Collected Poems, edited by George Szirtes, was published posthumously in 2003. Her wartime memoir, There'll Always Be an England: A Poet's Childhood, 1929–1945, was written in the last year of her life, and also published in 2003. She and her husband David Turner lived for 30 years in the town of Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, and much of her poetry was originally published by small local presses.