Katherine Cecil Thurston

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KCT , often forgotten today, was a highly popular and successful writer of short stories and novels at the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1904, she was propelled to literary fame and fortune with her wildly successful book John Chilcote, MP (entitled The Masquerader in America), a sensational tale of political impersonation, which was made into two successful plays and later two films (one silent). This earned her an avid following, allowing her to experiment in her subsequent novels with more radical subject matter—including gambling, suicide, adultery, and the homoerotic—until her untimely death at the age of thirty-six. Her characteristic tone is thrilling, melodramatic, and often playfully sensational.
Black and white full-length photograph of Katherine Cecil Thurston standing beside a fire burning in an Adam-style fireplace in a stately home. Her setting is cluttered: the wallpaper is patterned; the fireplace has painted panels, a pediment, and a mantelpiece with large ornaments in front of a mirror; the bookcases have little balustrades and a niche for more ornaments. A black cat sits on the mat. Thurston wears a dark floor-length dress with long sleeves, ruffles, and lace trim. Her dark hair is up in a

Milestones

18 April 1875

KCT was born Katherine Cecil Madden, at a house named Wood's Gift in Cork City, Ireland. She was an only child.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder.

By 24 September 1904

KCT 's second novel, a political thriller, appeared simultaneously in London and New York under different titles: John Chilcote, MP in London and The Masquerader in New York.
Saturday Review. Chawton.
98.2552 (24 September 1904): 406
Thurston, Katherine Cecil, and Janet Madden-Simpson. The Fly on the Wheel. Virago.
330
Thurston, Katherine Cecil, and Janet Madden-Simpson. The Fly on the Wheel. Virago.
front matter

By 28 March 1908

The Fly on the Wheel, KCT 's most realist novel, albeit with a sensationalist flavour, appeared in print. Uncanny similarities between the heroine's death and that, later, of the author's, helped to make it one of her best known works.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
4196 (28 March 1908): 380
OCLC WorldCat. http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.
Meaney, Gerardine. “Decadence, Degeneration and Revolting Aesthetics: The Fiction of Emily Lawless and Katherine Cecil Thurston”. Colby Quarterly, Vol.
36
, No. 2, pp. 157-76.
169

By 15 October 1910

KCT 's new-woman novel and final published work Max appeared in print, featuring a cross-dressing female heroine and a subtle exploration of the homoerotic.
Meaney, Gerardine. “Decadence, Degeneration and Revolting Aesthetics: The Fiction of Emily Lawless and Katherine Cecil Thurston”. Colby Quarterly, Vol.
36
, No. 2, pp. 157-76.
170
Athenæum. J. Lection.
4329 (15 October 1910): 454

5 September 1911

KCT died, reportedly from asphyxia, in her hotel room at 13 Morrison Island in Cork. Her untimely death has been the subject of much speculation, since the circumstances indicate the possibility of either suicide or murder.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder.
Anonymous,. “Death Prevented Wedding”. New York Times, p. 1.
(11 September 1911):1

Biography

Birth and Family

18 April 1875

KCT was born Katherine Cecil Madden, at a house named Wood's Gift in Cork City, Ireland. She was an only child.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder.

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