Helen Mary Gaskell (née Melville), CBE, known as May Gaskell (1853–1940) was a society hostess and philanthropist in London who established the British War Library.
Gaskell was a "vivacious but unhappily married society hostess who belonged to the aristocratic circle of friends known as the 'Souls'": she had platonic relationship with the artist Edward Burne-Jones, who wrote her up to six letters a day and painted a famous portrait of her daughter Amy. The letters were only discovered in 2005, when May's great-grandchild Josceline Dimbleby wrote a book about the affair, called "A Profound Secret".Dimbleby, J. 2004. A Profound Secret: May Gaskell, her daughter Amy, and Edward Burne-Jones. London, UK: Doubleday. Burne-Jones also painted May herself.
Gaskell founded the War Library in 1914Gaskell, H.M. 1918. The Red Cross and Order of St John War Library. London, UK: British Red Cross Society. and remained actively involved as its Honorary Secretary throughout the war.McLaren, B. 1917. “Mrs Gaskell, C.B.E., and The Hon. Mrs Anstruther.” In: Women of the War, 91-97. London, UK: Hodder and Stoughton.
Despite moving in similar circles, she was no relation to Elizabeth Gaskell.
Awards and honours CBE, 1917.(The London Gazette)
References
External links Photograph, c.1919 Review of and extracts from Dimbleby's book