Pat Arrowsmith, the British peace activist and notable figure in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, passed away last week at the age of 93. Obituaries have celebrated her commitment to the peace movement, noted her one-day marriage (despite being a lesbian, Arrowsmith married a man to fulfil the terms of her father’s inheritance) and mentioned the numerous prison sentences she served for protest action.
These facts of Arrowsmith’s life are part of the record. However, there is another aspect of her legacy which has been largely overlooked – her poetry.
Arrowsmith clearly valued and enjoyed writing. Her poetry was circulated in antinuclear publications and anthologies and compiled in pamphlets and books. She wrote in prison and also published novels and a memoir called I Should Have Been a Hornby Train (1992).
