Frome: Christina Rossetti

Born in 1830, Christina Rossetti was the youngest child of a very gifted family. Gabriele Rossetti, her father, was an Italian poet and political exile, who emigrated to England in 1824 and lived in London where he married Frances Polidori in 1826. They had four children: Maria Francesca, Gabriel Charles Dante, William Michael and Christina Georgina. Maria became an author; Dante Gabriel distinguished himself as one of the foremost poets and painters of his era; William was an art and literary critic, editor whilst Christina became one of the Victorian age’s finest poets.

Christina Rossetti lived in Brunswick Place, Frome between March 1853 and April 1854. She and her mother went there to start a school. Christina missed the rest of her beloved family and life in London and her letters to her family show that her time spent in Frome was not her happiest. However, her garden in Frome and the local countryside did bring her great pleasure, with “an abundance of green slopes and gentle declivities: no boldness or grandeur but plenty of peaceful beauty.” The school was not successful and the family soon moved back to London. The house is now marked by a plaque by the Frome Society for Local Study. It is not hard to find once you know the address, but few people seem to be aware that Christina Rossetti lived in Frome.

Rossetti’s time in Frome is also commemorated by one of two poetry stones on the Millennium Green. Her stone bears an excerpt from her poem, ‘What Good Shall My Life Do Me’ . The other offers an excerpt from ‘South Wind’ by Siegfried Sassoon, best-known for his First World War poetry, who is buried at Mells.

Brunswick Place, Frome