A memorial stone to novelist and poet D.H. Lawrence was unveiled in Poets' Corner Westminster Abbey on 16th November 1985. It was presented by the D.H. Lawrence Society. The black granite stone, designed by David Parsley, is inlaid with white letters. At the top is a phoenix arising from a log fire, the flames shown in red.
The inscription reads:
D.H.
LAWRENCE
11 SEPTEMBER 1885
2 MARCH 1930
Homo sum! the adventurer
The Latin is translated as "I am a man". It adjoins memorials to Byron and Lewis Carroll.
He was born in Eastwood, son of a coal miner. His first novel The White Peacock appeared while he was working as a teacher. In 1912 he went to live abroad with his wife Frieda Weekley (nee Richthofen). Sons and Lovers was written in 1913 and his work The Rainbow was banned as immoral. He also wrote plays and essays. In the 1920s he lived in Mexico and New Mexico. He died in Vence in France. He was later re-buried in Taos, New Mexico.
Further Reading
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