Edith Somerville

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Standard Name: Somerville, Edith
Birth Name: Edith Anne Œnone Somerville
Pseudonym: Geilles Herring
Pseudonym: Viva Graham
Pseudonym: E. Œ. Somerville
Pseudonym: Somerville and Ross
ES , who published from 1885, is known from the Somerville and Ross partnership which produced at least one important novel and a collection of classic comic stories (set in the west of Ireland and centred on fox-hunting), as well as other endearing Irish sketches and travel writings. She continued to write in these genres, mostly story and memoir, after Ross's death (which she saw as interrupting but not ending their collaboration). The later works (the last appeared in 1949) are suffused with nostalgia, and very largely dominated by the need to make money, to keep going an estate which was no longer financially viable. The massive archive of ES 's diary and letters is still almost unexamined.
Black-and-white photo portrait of Edith Somerville, 1916. Shown in profile, she is seated, wears a brimmed hat and suit.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Textual Production Oscar Wilde
Wilde shifted the magazine's focus from fashion and transformed it into an organ for women's opinions and feelings on the subjects of modern life, art, and literature, as well as style. He was also dedicated...
Residence Katharine Tynan
In the autumn of 1914, KT 's husband moved from their current home, Clarebeg at Shankill near Dublin, to County Mayo in Western Ireland, where he had been appointed the Resident Magistrate. He held...
Friends, Associates Katherine Cecil Thurston
Through these social engagements, KCT came into contact with several significant figures of the day. At a dinner given by Colonel George Harvey , for instance, she probably met Mr and Mrs Winston Churchill ...
Family and Intimate relationships Ethel Smyth
ES met Edith Somerville , with whom she conducted an emotionally-charged correspondence for several years.
Collis, Louise. Impetuous Heart: The Story of Ethel Smyth. William Kimber.
152, 156-8, 161
Occupation Constance Smedley
Since the Langham Place Group had provided a social space for women in 1860, several organizations had already challenged the flourishing institution of men's clubs. The Lyceum Club came on the scene at a time...
Textual Production Martin Ross
Edith Somerville and MR published a sequel to their most successful book: Further Experiences of an Irish R. M.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
146
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers.
257
Wealth and Poverty Martin Ross
MR made her will: she left all her worldly possessions (including her literary copyrights) to Edith Somerville .
Collis connects this action with her ill health; but it seems more likely to have stemmed from...
Textual Production Martin Ross
Edith Somerville and MR published the third and last in the Irish R. M. series: In Mr. Knox's Country (where country signifies the area hunted over by a particular pack of hounds).
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
166
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers.
259
Textual Production Martin Ross
Violet Martin (later MR ) made her first diary mention of her recently-met cousin and later collaborator, Edith Somerville , who was painting her portrait.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
28
Publishing Martin Ross
In MR 's first collaboration with her cousin Edith Somerville (an article on palmistry published in the Graphic) the writing was by Ross, the illustrations by Somerville.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
38
Reception Martin Ross
The Corinthian Dinner Committee of Dublin honoured Irish women writers including Edith Somerville , Martin Ross , Lady Gregory , Eva Gore-Booth , Emily Lawless , Susan Mitchell , and Katharine Tynan .
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
158-9
Publishing Martin Ross
MR and Edith Somerville first attempted full-scale literary collaboration; that month Oscar Wilde , editor-elect of The Woman's World, accepted an article by them.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
44-5, 48
Textual Production Martin Ross
Edith Somerville and MR published another novel, The Silver Fox: the title page said 1898.
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers.
253
Textual Production Martin Ross
Edith Somerville and MR worked at their first novel, An Irish Cousin, which began as the Shockerawn,
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
45
a penny thriller or shocker.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
45, 49
Textual Production Martin Ross
Edith Somerville and MR published another book, A Patrick's Day Hunt: the first edition consisted of 5,000 copies.
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers.
254

Timeline

1911: The Munster Women's Franchise League was...

National or international item

1911

The Munster Women's Franchise League was founded in Cork by writers Edith Somerville and Violet Martin , who published together as Somerville and Ross.

Texts

Somerville, Edith. "Happy Days!" Essays of Sorts. Longmans, Green, 1946.
Ross, Martin, and Edith Somerville. A Patrick’s Day Hunt. Archibald Constable, 1902.
Somerville, Edith, and Martin Ross. All on the Irish Shore. Longmans, Green, 1903.
Somerville, Edith. An Enthusiast. Longmans, Green, 1921.
Somerville, Edith. An Incorruptible Irishman. Ivor Nicholson and Watson, 1932.
Somerville, Edith, and Martin Ross. An Irish Cousin. Richard Bentley and Son, 1889.
Ross, Martin, and Edith Somerville. Beggars on Horseback. William Blackwood and Sons, 1895.
Somerville, Edith, and Martin Ross. Dan Russel the Fox. Methuen, 1911.
Somerville, Edith. French Leave. William Heinemann, 1928.
Somerville, Edith, and Martin Ross. Further Experiences of an Irish R. M. Longmans, Green, 1908.
Somerville, Edith, and Martin Ross. In Mr Knox’s Country. Longmans, Green, 1915.
Somerville, Edith, and Martin Ross. In the Vine Country. W. H. Allen, 1893.
O’Donovan, John et al. “Introduction”. Some Experiences of an Irish R. M., Folio Society, 1984, p. vii - xvii.
Somerville, Edith. Irish Memories. Longmans, Green, 1917.
Somerville, Edith. Little Red Riding Hood in Kerry. Privately printed for the author, 1934.
Somerville, Edith. Maria, and Some Other Dogs. Methuen, 1949.
Somerville, Edith. Mount Music. Longmans, Green, 1919.
Somerville, Edith, and Martin Ross. Naboth’s Vineyard. Spencer Blackett, 1891.
Somerville, Edith. Notes of the Horn: Hunting Verse, Old and New. Peter Davies, 1934.
Somerville, Edith. Notions in Garrison. Methuen, 1941.
Somerville, Edith. Records of the Somerville Family of Castlehave and Drishane from 1174, to 1940. Guy and Company, 1940.
Somerville, Edith. Sarah’s Youth. Longmans, Green, 1938.
Somerville, Edith, and Martin Ross. Some Experiences of an Irish R. M. Longmans, Green, 1899.
Somerville, Edith, and Martin Ross. Some Irish Yesterdays. Longmans, Green, 1906.
Somerville, Edith. Stray-Aways. Longmans, Green, 1920.