Best known work

• Ida Conway, 1860

Other well known work(s)

• The Old ‘New Age’: Orage—and Others, 1936
• Defence of Madame Blavatsky, 1937

Genres

• Journalism
• Poetry
• Politics / Philosophy / Essays
• Fiction - Novels
• Biography / Autobiography

Nom de plume

Nom de plume: Emily Alice Haigh (real name), Beatrice Tina, Alice Morning, Robert à Field, T. K. L., D. Triformis, Edward Stafford, S. Robert West, V. M., Minnie Pinnikin, G. Whiz, J. Wilson, T. W., Pagan, A. M. A., Mrs Malaprop and Cynicus.

Social class

Middle class

Parental background

Born in London but grew up in South Africa and schooled in Pevensey near Hastings, from where she took her name. Her father was a wool dealer.

At publication of best known work

• Age: 57
• Marital status: Married
• Marital status: Separated
• Number of children: 0

Physical description

Famous for changing personas, this also seems to have been reflected by her appearance. Modigliani painted her 14 times between 1914 and 1916 and she was reputed to be a beauty. "These pictures reveal Hastings as a compelling and dramatic woman. Clothed, she appears poised, with a small, proud head and long neck, her black hair pinned back in a low bun; nude, she is sometimes dishevelled, her nakedness emphasized by drapery that fails to cover her body (Caroline Zilboorg ODNB)"

Did you know?

Hastings was renowned for a number of tumultuous affairs with leading thinkers and artists including publisher A.R. Orage,painter Percy Wyndham Lewis, artist Amadeo Modigliani and author Katherine Mansfield.

Additional information

Judith Hendra has written about Hastings for the Mansfield Society (Hastings worked closely with Katherine Mansfield between 1910 and 1912) and for the Ezra Pound Society online journal "Make it New."The Tate Modern discusses Hastings' impact on Modigliani at https://www.tate.org.uk/tate-etc/issue-41-autumn-2017/modigliani-beatrice-hastings-la-poetesse-anglaise  Lives and letters : A.R. Orage, Beatrice Hastings, Katherine Mansfield, John Middleton Murry, S.S. Koteliansky, 1906-1957 available free to download on Internet Archive online.