N.Z. LINK WITH KEATS

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27794, 20 October 1955, Page 9

N.Z. LINK WITH KEATS

DEATH OF AUCKLAND WOMAN (New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, October 19. The death of Mrs Mona Martha Osborne in a motor accident in Auckland recently removed one of the last direct links in New Zealand with the poet Keats. Mrs Osborne was the grand-daughter of Charles Armitage Brown, a close friend of Keats and one of New Plymouth’s pioneer settlers. Mrs Osborne had among her possessions when she died, at the age of 75, a number of her grandfather’s books—including some first editions of Keats’s poems—besides a number of his water colours and pencil sketches. She also had first editions of works by Walter Savage Landor. poet and essayist, addressed to Charles Armitage Brown and signed by the author. Landor was one of the circle of Keats’s friends. Other articles—early nineteenth century mahogany tea caddies, oil paintings, and Hogarth engravings—are generally assumed by her friends and few surviving to have been her grandfather’s. Most of these antiques are to leave New Zealand, for Mrs Osborne left the'm in her will to the Hampstead Borough Council, London, for placing in Keats House, the poet’s former home. The council will also receive volumes of letters, essays, and poetry by other authors, including William Hazlitt, and an 1817 edition of Shakespeare’s plays in 37 volumes, each about the size of a playing card. Mrs. Osborne left an estate sworn at less than £12,000.