Clemence Annie Housman was born in Bromsgrove, England, on November 23, 1861. Saint Clement’s Day in the liturgical calendar marks the traditional beginning of winter. Housman was the third child and oldest girl in a family of seven children, the eldest of whom was A.E. Housman (1859-1936), the poet. Clemence was very close to the second youngest of her siblings, Laurence Housman (1865-1959), with whom she lived and worked her entire life. In addition to writing novels, Houseman was a wood engraver and an activist in the feminist movement for female suffrage. (Oakley, Inseparable Siblings)