Francis William Bourdillon

Francis William Bourdillon (22 March 1852 at Runcorn, Cheshire, England – 13 January 1921 at Buddington, Midhurst) was a British poet and translator.

Born at Trinity Parsonage, Halton Road, Runcorn, Cheshire, Francis William Bourdillon was the eldest son of Rev.

He had many collections published, including Among The Flowers, And Other Poems (1878), Minuscula: lyrics of nature, art and love (1897, siftings of three smaller volumes of verse published anonymously at Oxford in 1891, 1892, and 1894), Gerard and Isabel: a Romance in Form of Cantefable (1921), and also Chryseis, and Preludes and Romances (1908).

He translated Aucassin et Nicolette as Aucassin and Nicolet (1887), and he wrote the scholarly The Early Editions of the Roman de la Rose (1906) as well as Russia Reborn (1917) and various essays which the Religious Tract Society published.

They had three children, including the World War I pilot and later medical researcher Robert Benedict Bourdillon (1889–1971).

Page from Young Maids & Old China
verses by Francis William Bourdillon, images by John George Sowerby