Helen Leigh

What little biographical information is known about the life of British Romantic poet Helen Leigh comes from the preface to her sole collection of poetry, Miscellaneous Poems (1788). In the piece, she mentions that she is the wife of a country curate and the mother of seven children.

Leigh’s poetry often addresses social and historical themes and demonstrates her remarkable formal range. Miscellaneous Poems was published by subscription to approximately 750 predominantly local readers, many of whom were members of the clergy.

It is assumed that Helen Leigh died before 1795, when her husband, George Leigh, the curate of Middlewich, Manchester, remarried.