Rhoda Anne and Elizabeth Agnes Page

Rhoda Anne Page is one of the authors already in our SFU database. The picture we have is a sketch of her with her sister, Elizabeth. On the back of the photo is inscribed: “Elizabeth Agnes Page and Rhoda Anne Page (1826-1863): Cobourg and Rice Lake poets.”

Image courtesy of Trent University Archives (74-003 Box 3 Folder 3 #37

Well, we know about Rhoda, but could find very little about Elizabeth: she certainly did not publish anything like as much as her sister. We did, however, find two poems in the Victoria Magazine by “E.A.P.” It is known that Rhoda published in the Victoria Magazine using her initials, “R.A.P.”, so it is reasonable to infer that “E.A.P.” is in fact her sister. Here is the shorter of her two poems.

“E.A.P.” “Translation From Metastasio.” Victoria Magazine 1.4 (1847).

Translation From Metastasio

“Entra l’uomo allor che nasce.”

By E.A.P.

Man enters at his natal hour,
On such a stormy troubled sea,
That every sorrow he has power
To bear from earliest infancy;
But happiness for him’s so rare,
So seldom joy arises,
That he never learns to bear
Pleasure’s sweet surprises.

“How They Died at Thansi,” by Louisa Murray

Murray, Miss [Louisa]. “How They Died at Thansi.” Selections from Canadian Poets: With Occasional Critical and Biographical Notes, and an Introductory Essay on Canadian Poetry. Ed. Edward Hartley Dewart. [Montreal], 1864. 167-70.

In the First Indian War of Independence (or the Sepoy Rebellion, or The Mutiny, depending upon whom you ask and when), Captain Alexander Skene, British superintendent at Jhansi, and his wife Margaret, did in fact take refuge with 54 other British citizens in the fort. History (rather than Murray’s poetry) has it, though, that on 7 June 1857, when they were offered their lives for surrendering the fort, the British were massacred as they left the gates. Interestingly, the Wikipedia entry on Jhansi elides any mention of its prominent place in the conflict. The Rani of Jhansi, who ruled at the time, was heralded as a folk hero in the drive for Indian independence in the mid-1900s.

 

The Tower of Jhansi, like the Well at Cawnpore and the Residency at Lucknow, became an iconic image, represented in art (literary and visual) even before the conflict was fully over. This engraving by E. Walker of Captain and Mrs. Skene was published within six months of the massacre.

Walker, E. “The Tower at Jhansi.” Incidents in the Indian War (London: Ackermann, 1857). Courtesy of the National Army Museum, London, UK, NAM. 1983-08-126-1.