Helen Cruickshank

Helen Burness Cruickshank (15 May 1886 – 2 March 1975) was a Scottish poet and suffragette and a focal point of the Scottish Renaissance. Scottish writers associated with the movement met at her home in Corstorphine.

Early life and education Helen Burness Cruickshank (Nell) was born in Hillside, Montrose, Angus, in one of the staff houses, as her father, George Cruickshank, was a hospital attendant at Sunnyside.

Edinburgh

In 1912, Helen was offered a position in Edinburgh for the health insurance part of the government body which she accepted. She was awarded an honorary MA by Edinburgh University in 1971. Helen lived in Dinnieduff for over fifty years, living alone after her mother's death in 1940, and even though her health deteriorated she did not leave her home until it was completely necessary to do so when she was 88. Helen moved to Queensberry Lodge on the Canongate in November 1974 and died there on 2 March 1975. She had planned her own cremation, and this was carried out at Warriston in Edinburgh.

Helen's friends laid a plaque at the front door in 1986. Cruickshank recorded her long life and aspects of her times in her autobiography, Octobiography (1987), which was published posthumously. Helen Cruickshank is commemorated in Makars' Court, outside The Writers' Museum, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh. Selections for Makars' Court are made by the Writers' Museum, the Saltire Society and the Scottish Poetry Library.