American writer Edith Emma Cooper was BOTD in 1862. Born in Kenilworth, her mother became ill after the birth of a second daughter, and Cooper was raised by her aunt Katherine Bradley. She attended University College Bristol and began living with Bradley, a well-travelled independent woman 16 years her senior. Cooper and Bradley became lovers, remaining together for the rest of their lives. They became writers, creating the pseudonym Michael Field, publishing poetry inspired by lesbian poetess Sappho and a series of verse dramas. Relocating to London, they developed a literary friendship circle including Robert Browning, John Addington Symonds, Walter Pater, Violet Paget and the gay artist couple Charles Ricketts and Charles Shannon. Their work as Michael Field, while never commercially successful, was critically praised and well-respected. After the publication of their 1884 verse drama Fair Rosamund, Browning betrayed the true authorship of Michael Field to the press. Perhaps unsurprisingly, their popularity decreased after they were revealed to be women. A review of their 1892 play Stephania was described as “only pure-minded elderly mid-Victorian virgins could have imagined.” Seeking privacy, they travelled extensively through Europe, publishing a collection of poetry inspired by Italian Renaissance paintings. Their relationship was briefly threatened by Cooper’s romance with art historian Bernard Berenson, though she chose to stay with Bradley. The death of their beloved dog Whym Chow in 1906 provoked an existential crisis, leading them to convert to Catholicism. Cooper died of cancer in 1913, aged 51. A heartbroken Bradley died less than a year later, and was buried next to Cooper. The Journal of Michael Field, jointly written by Cooper’s and Bradley and covering their lives from 1888 until their deaths, was published posthumously.