Signe Ekblad-Eldh was a donor. She donated funds to the Signe Ekblad-Eldh literary prize, and to the peace prize Stiftelsen Makarna Nils och Signe Eldh-Ekblads fredspris.
Signe Ekblad-Eldh was born on 29 June 1903. She was the only child of marine captain Olof Ekblad and his wife Fredrika Ekblad née Carlsson, who was a qualified public school teacher. Little is known about Signe Ekblad-Eldh’s childhood and early years. The family lived in an apartment at Kocksgatan in the Söder area of Stockholm where Signe Ekblad-Eldh remained resident throughout her life. Her father died in 1940 and the next year Signe Ekblad-Eldh married Nils Eldh. He had served as a captain in the Belgian military service in the Congo and had newly returned to Sweden. After the wedding Nils Eldh moved into the apartment on Kocksgatan where Signe Ekblad-Eldh was living with her mother. Her mother passed away in 1944.
The Ekblad-Eldh couple were apparently quite active within the Swedish Peach and Arbitration Society (SFSF,) as well as in Förbundet för religionsfrihet. Following the death of her husband in January 1960 Signe Ekblad-Eldh established Stiftelsen Makarna Nils och Signe Eldh-Ekblads fredspris. The prize recipients were to be selected by SFSF’s central board. Further to SFSF, the Swedish branch of the International Committee of Women for Permanent Peace, Fredshögskolan, and the Swedish UN association all had the right to propose potential prize recipients. The prize was first awarded in 1960 and went to the author Per Anders Fogelström. The first woman recipient was Emilia Fogelklou, who received the prize in 1964.
Signe Ekblad-Eldh only survived her husband by a few months. She died on 22 April 1960, in the same apartment within which she had been born. She was only 56 years old. Her will left almost half a million Swedish kronor for the establishment of a literary prize, the Signe Ekblad-Eldh prize, which was to be awarded by the Swedish Academy to be presented to authors of outstanding literary merit. The first recipient was Tage Aurell, author and translator, who was awarded the prize in 1962. The first woman to receive this prize was Tora Dahl in 1966.
Signe Ekblad-Eldh is buried at Katarina cemetery in Stockholm.
