Clemence Housman

Born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, on November 23, 1861, Clemence Housman was an English writer, illustrator, and wood engraver. She studied art and worked closely with her brother Laurence Housman, while also belonging to a notably literary family that included the poet A. E. Housman.

She is remembered above all for The Were-Wolf (1896), a dark and atmospheric tale that has earned a lasting place in late Victorian fantasy and horror. Housman also illustrated her own work, and her visual imagination helped give her writing its distinctive, eerie power.

Beyond literature, she was active in the women’s suffrage movement. With Laurence Housman and others, she helped found the Suffrage Atelier, an artists’ collective that created banners, posters, and other material for the campaign, showing how seriously she took the connection between art and public life.