1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Naden, Constance Caroline Woodhill

NADEN, CONSTANCE CAROLINE WOODHILL (1858–1889), English author, was born at Edgbaston, on the 24th of January 1858, her father being an architect. Her mother died just after the child’s birth, and Constance was brought up in the home of her grandfather. In 1881 she began to study physical science at Mason College, Birmingham. In 1881 she published Songs and Sonnets of Springtime; in 1887, A Modern Apostle, and other Poems. Her poems made such an impression on W. E. Gladstone that he included her, in an article in the Speaker, among the foremost English poetesses of the day. After her grandfather’s death Miss Naden found herself rich, and she travelled in the East and then (1888) settled in London. She died on the 23rd of December 1889. After 1876 she had paid increasing attention to philosophy, with her friend Dr Robert Lewins, and the two had formulated a system of their own, which they called “Hylo-Idealism.” Her main ideas on the subject are contained in a posthumous volume of her essays (Induction and Deduction, 1890), edited by Dr Lewins.