View source for Kitty Lee Jenner

{{good article}}
{{short description|English author and artist}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Kitty Lee Jenner
| image              = Kitty Jenner Truro 1930 photo 1 Arthurian Society photographer unknown (cropped).jpg
| alt                = Photograph of Jenner wearing a hat in 1930
| caption            = Jenner in 1930
| native_name        = Morvoren
| native_name_lang   = Cornish
| birth_name         = Katharine Lee Rawlings
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|df=y|1853|12|09}}
| birth_place        = [[Hayle]], Cornwall
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1936|10|21|1853|09|12|df=y}}
| death_place        = Hayle, Cornwall
| resting_place      = [[Lelant]]
| other_names        = Katharine Jenner, Katharine Lee
| occupation         = Artist, author, [[bard]]
| notable_works      = 
| spouse             = [[Henry Jenner]]
| children           = 1
}}
'''Kitty Lee Jenner''' (12 September 1853{{spnd}}21 October 1936) was a Cornish<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kent |first=Alan |title='Wives, Mothers and Sisters': Feminism, Literature and Women Writers in Cornwall |publisher=The Patten Press |year=1998 |isbn=1872229336 |location=Penzance, Cornwall |pages=24 |language=En}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ellis |first=P. Berresford |title=The Cornish Language and its Literature |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul |isbn=978-0710079282 |location=London |publication-date=1 January 1974 |pages=144 |language=En}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ellis |first=P. Berresford |title=The Story of the Cornish Language |publisher=Tor Mark Press |isbn=978-0850253719 |location=Penryn, Cornwall |publication-date=1 March 1998 |pages=23 |language=En}}</ref> artist, [[bard]] and writer who helped to set up the [[Cornish Gorsedh]]. She grew up in [[Cornwall]] and studied art in London. She later became an author, publishing six novels under the name '''Katharine Lee''', as well as writing books on [[Christian symbolism]]. She became known as '''Mrs Henry Jenner''' and '''Katharine Jenner''' following her marriage to [[Henry Jenner]] in 1877. The couple had one child together. To begin with, she was the more famous person in the relationship.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}

As well as pursuing her writing career, Jenner worked together with her husband on themes such as [[sacred art]] and the [[Cornish language revival]]. After becoming a [[bard]] of [[Gorsedd Cymru]] in 1904, she took the name '''Morvoren'''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bardic Roll |url=https://gorsedhkernow.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/October2020-Bardic-Roll-Alphabetic-by-Surname.pdf |access-date=11 March 2024 |website=[[Gorsedh Kernow]]}}</ref> She died at home in 1936, at the age of 83.

== Early life ==
Katharine Lee Rawlings was born at [[Hayle]] in [[Cornwall]] on 12 September 1853, the eldest daughter of Catherine and William Rawlings. She was educated at home and then studied in London at the [[National Art Training School]] (now Royal College of Art) in [[South Kensington]] and the [[Slade School of Fine Art]] in [[Bloomsbury]]. She produced sketches and watercolours and later became famous for her writing.<ref name="ODNB">{{Cite ODNB|id=75066|title=Jenner, Henry}}</ref>

Rawlings married [[Henry Jenner]] on 12 July 1877 and became known as Kitty Jenner or Mrs Henry Jenner. Her husband had corresponded with her since 1873, when he interviewed her father about the [[Cornish language]], a topic which later became a major research interest for the couple. They honeymooned in Europe and on 21 June 1878 Jenner gave birth to their only child, Cecily Katharine Ysolt Jenner.<ref name="ODNB" />

== Career ==
Jenner published her first novel in 1882. It was entitled ''A Western Wildflower'' and she used the pseudonym
Katharine Lee. She was to publish five more novels, the last being ''When Fortune Frowns: Being the Life and Adventures of Gilbert Coswarth, a Gentleman of Cornwall; How he Fought for Prince Charles in the years 1745 and 1746, and What Befell Him Thereafter'' (1895). Until her husband's fame grew in his old age, her writing career made her the better known of the two.<ref name="ODNB" /><ref name="Times-Review">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title="Katharine Lee" (Mrs. Henry Jenner)|id={{Gale|CS219339978 }} |work=The Times |date=10 June 1895 |pages=13 |language=English}}</ref> It was published by [[Horace Cox]] at the price of 6 shillings.<ref name="Times-6s">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Publications To-Day|id={{Gale|CS135322741}} |work=The Times |date=21 March 1895 |pages=8 |language=English}}</ref> Jenner retold the story of the [[Jacobite rising of 1745]] and the [[Battle of Culloden]], ''[[The Times]]'' review commenting "she acquits herself with credit".<ref name="Times-Review" />
[[File:DSCN1081JennerHome.jpg|Bospowes, the house in [[Hayle]] where Jenner lived with her husband from 1909 onwards|alt=Stone-built house|thumb|right]]
Jenner and her husband were keen Jacobites, joining the [[Order of the White Rose (1886–1915)|Order of the White Rose]] as part of the [[Neo-Jacobite Revival]].<ref name="ODNB" /> They returned to Jenner's home town of [[Hayle]] in 1909 and immersed themselves in Cornish culture, living in a house they called Bospowes. They worked together on the [[Cornish language revival]] and [[sacred art]].<ref name="ODNB" />

In 1904, Jenner had become a [[bard]], being given the name Morvoren at [[Gorsedd Cymru]].<ref name="ODNB" /> In August 1928, ten Cornish people were initiated as bards at a [[Gorsedd]] at [[Treorchy]] and planned to set up a [[Cornish Gorsedh]] to promote Cornish language and culture. Jenner and her husband joined the group to form the Council of Gorsedh Kernow. The first Gorsedh was held at the [[Boscawen-Un]] stone circle in September 1928.<ref name="Gorsedh Kernow">{{cite web |title=Gorsedh Kernow – the Celtic Spirit of Cornwall |url=http://gorsedhkernow.org.uk/history.html |website=gorsedhkernow.org.uk |access-date=27 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200519015208/https://gorsedhkernow.org.uk/history.html |archive-date=19 May 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the 1900s, Jenner published three non-fiction works on the use of [[Christian symbolism|symbols in Christianity]].<ref name="ODNB" /> Referring to her ''Christian Symbolism'' (1910), [[D. H. Lawrence]] wrote "It is necessary to grasp the Whole. At last I have got it".<ref name="Whole">{{cite book |chapter=Discourse versus Authorship |last1=Eggert |first1=Paul |editor-last1=Cohen |editor-first1=Philip G. |title=Texts and Textuality: Textual Instability, Theory, and Interpretation |date=1997 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-8153-1956-6 |page=225 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sMansmNAwiYC |access-date=27 June 2020 |language=en}}</ref> After reading the book, he began to use the [[Phoenix (mythology)|phoenix]] as his emblem.<ref name="Phoenix">{{cite book |last1=Nigg |first1=Joe |title=The Phoenix: An Unnatural Biography of a Mythical Beast |date=2016 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-19549-0 |page=360 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PmQpDQAAQBAJ |access-date=27 June 2020 |language=en}}</ref> Jenner had explained the phoenix's symbolic meaning in her book as the "resurrection of the dead and its triumph over death", commenting that "the Phoenix in itself was a recognised emblem of the resurrection of Christ".<ref name="Centenary">{{cite book |last1=Salgado |first1=Gamini |last2=Das |first2=G. K. |title=The Spirit of D. H. Lawrence: Centenary Studies |date=1988 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-349-06510-3 |page=272 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3tuwCwAAQBAJ |access-date=27 June 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

Jenner wrote and illustrated ''In the Alsatian Mountains: A Narrative of a Tour in the Vosges (With a Map)'' (1883) which gave an account of a European tour made in 1882 and was dedicated to her daughter Ysolt.<ref name="Alsatian">{{cite web |last1=Lee |first1=Katharine |title=In the Alsatian Mountains: A narrative of a tour in the Vosges. [With a map.] |url=http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_000000053B0E |website=The British Library |publisher=Richard Bentley & Son |access-date=27 June 2020}}</ref> She released a book of poetry entitled ''Songs of the Stars and the Sea'' in 1926.<ref name="ODNB" /> 

== Gallery of works ==
{{Gallery
| File:Title page of 'In the Alsatian Mountains'.png
 | alt1=Title page of book
 | Title page of ''In the Alsatian Mountains'' (1883)
| File:Illustration of Nieder Haslach Church.jpg
 | alt2=Drawing of church
 | Illustration of Nieder Haslach Church from ''In the Alsatian Mountains'' (1883)
| File:Cover of 'When Fortune Frowns' - 1897.jpg
 | alt3=Cover of book
 | Cover of ''When Fortune Frowns'' (1897 edition)
| File:205 of 'In London Town. A novel. By Katharine Lee' (11089577835).jpg
 | alt4=Drawing of a plant
 | Illustration by Jenner for her book ''In London Town: A novel (Volume 3)'' (1884)<ref name="London">{{cite book |last1=Lee |first1=Katharine |title=In London Town. A novel |date=1884 |publisher=R. Bentley |location=London |page=197 |url=https://archive.org/details/inlondontownnove03jenn/page/196/mode/2up}}</ref>
}}

== Death ==
[[File:DSCN1082JennerPlaque.jpg|A commemorative plaque inscribed in Cornish and English to Kitty and Henry Jenner|alt=Commemorative plaque|right|thumb]]
Jenner died at home from [[myocarditis]] on 21 October 1936. She left around £23,000 in her will (equivalent to £{{Inflation|UK|23000|1936|r=-5|fmt=c|cursign=£}} in {{Inflation/year|UK}}). She is buried together with her husband at [[Lelant]] in west Cornwall.<ref name="ODNB" />

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book |editor-last1=Williams |editor-first1=Derek R. |title=Henry and Katharine Jenner: A celebration of Cornwall's culture, language and identity |year=2004 |publisher=Francis Boutle |isbn=9781903427194}}

{{Cornish language}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenner, Kitty Lee}}
[[Category:1853 births]]
[[Category:1936 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Hayle]]
[[Category:Cornish Jacobites]]
[[Category:Cornish language revival]]
[[Category:Bards of Gorsedh Kernow]]
[[Category:Burials in Cornwall]]
[[Category:20th-century English writers]]
[[Category:19th-century English writers]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Art]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art]]
[[Category:English illustrators]]
[[Category:English watercolourists]]
[[Category:British Christian writers]]
[[Category:English women religious writers]]
[[Category:Cornish-speaking people]]
[[Category:20th-century English novelists]]
[[Category:English travel writers]]
[[Category:English women travel writers]]
[[Category:20th-century English poets]]