Isa Craig, born Oct. 17, 1831, in Edinburgh, was largely self-educated in literature. By 1853, she worked at and contributed poems to the newspaper the Scotchman. Her first book, Poems by Isa, came out in 1856. She left Scotland for London in 1857, where she was employed as secretary for the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science. Her most famous poem was an ode on Burns, which won a prize at the Crystal Palace in 1858. Two more books, Poems: An Offering to Lancashire and Duchess Agnes, a Drama, and Other Poems, followed in 1863 and 1864. She left the Association to marry her cousin, John Knox, in 1866. Her final book of poems, Songs of Consolation, was published in 1874, though she had turned by then to write schoolbooks on English history. She died at Brockley, Suffolk, on Dec. 23, 1903.

• B., T. "Knox, Mrs. Isa." Dictionary of National Biography.