Nostra Culpa by Margaret Sackville (Grade 7-9)

Lady Margaret Sackville was an English poet and children's author. Margaret was the youngest child of Reginald Windsor Sackville, 7th Earl De La Warr. Lady Sackville wrote from childhood, and between 1900 and the end of her life she created around 40 books. She preferred a very traditional type of poetry. With her status as a Lady the assumption that her literary endeavours were merely a way to pass time would be misguided. Margaret was known to be an original thinker. A devout Roman Catholic, she was a pacifist, and from the beginning of the First World War was a member of the anti-war Union. She was also a supporter of the women’s suffrage movement. Martin Niemöller's famous quote about his complicity in Nasiism during WWII is highly reminiscent of Lady Margaret Sackville’s Nostra Culpa.