Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Christopher St John
-
Standard Name: St John, Christopher
Birth Name: Christabel Marshall
Pseudonym: Christopher St John
Writing from the beginning of the twentieth century, CSJ
produced novels, biography, and love-journals, as well as her work for the stage, for which she wrote translations, adaptations, and original plays. She is best remembered for the suffrage play How the Vote Was Won, co-written with Cicely Hamilton
.
EC
was born in Gusterwoods Common, Hertfordshire, the elder of two children.
This is the spelling used by Christopher St John
. Other sources say Gusterd Wood Common or Gusherd Wood Common.
St John, Christopher. “Biographical Note”. Edy: Recollections of Edith Craig, edited by Eleanor Adlard, 1st ed., Frederick Muller, 1949.
9
Cultural formation
Edith Craig
From the age of thirty until her death, EC
lived with writer Christopher St John
(Christabel Marshall). Though Craig was reluctant to discuss this or any other aspect of her life, St John identified their...
Cultural formation
Edith Craig
Since her mother's relationships with men tended to be brief, EC
grew up surrounded by women. From an early age she associated women with strength and courage, and would admonish her brother for his childhood...
death
Ethel Smyth
She appointed Christopher St John
as her literary executor. At the request of Christabel Pankhurst
, St John downplayed ES
's role in the suffrage movement when she wrote her biography.
Mitchell, David J. The Fighting Pankhursts: A Study in Tenacity. MacMillan, 1967.
306
St John, Christopher. Ethel Smyth. Longmans, Green, 1959.
xvii
Family and Intimate relationships
Edith Craig
EC
and Christopher St John
took lodgings in Smith Square, Westminster, where they lived for six years.
Melville, Joy. Ellen and Edy. Pandora, 1987.
175
Auerbach, Nina. Ellen Terry: Player in Her Time. W.W. Norton, 1987.
480
Holledge, Julie. Innocent Flowers: Women in the Edwardian Theatre. Virago, 1981.
Her youngest child, Christabel, who grew up to re-name herself Christopher St John
, circulated a fabricated story of her family and origins, and became well known as a suffragist playwright, biographer, and lesbian.
Family and Intimate relationships
Vita Sackville-West
Matheson was succeeded in VSW
's life by Evelyn Irons
, editor of the Daily Mail Women's Page, and then by Christopher St John
, whose Barn Theatre, Smallhythe, was of professional interest. Vita...
In the early 1930s—when the persecution of lesbians in general and Radclyffe Hall
in particular was raging in the wake of The Well of Loneliness trial—EC
, Christopher St John
, and Clare Atwood
Friends, Associates
George Bernard Shaw
He was an important figure in the lives and careers of almost innumerable women writers: a good friend of Annie Besant
, Sylvia Pankhurst
, Elizabeth Robins
, and Christopher St John
, a romantic...
Literary responses
Vita Sackville-West
There was a widespread feeling that VSW
had been too circumspect and scholarly. Virginia Woolf
told Vita that she found the book solid, strong, satisfactory
Woolf, Virginia. The Letters of Virginia Woolf. Editors Nicolson, Nigel and Joanne Trautmann, Hogarth Press, 1975–1980, 6 vols.
6: 49
, but wished she had allowed herself a...
names
Hrotsvit of Gandersheim
BirthName: Hrotsvit
Christopher St John
notes with satisfaction that Hrotsvit herself had recognised the derivation of her name in German words meaning strong voice.
St John, Christopher et al. “The Plays of Roswitha”. The Plays of Roswitha, translated by. Christopher St John, Benjamin Blom, 1966, p. xiv - xxiv.
xiv n
Self-constructed: of Gandersheim
Indexed: Hroswitha; Roswitha
Occupation
Edith Craig
The Pioneer Players produced Christopher St John
's The First Actress and Cicely Hamilton
's Jack and Jill and a Friend at their first matinee. Both plays deal with the the artistic establishment's exclusion of...
Occupation
Edith Craig
Despite her successes with the Pioneer Players and the Little Theatre movement, EC
was often unable to find work in London, possibly because of her relationship with Christopher St John
, possibly (as St...
Occupation
Inez Bensusan
These plays, written by amateur and professional writers, were made available for performance at public events in support of women's suffrage. Bensusan encouraged writers to produce plays dealing with a range of women's issues such...
Timeline
June 1908: The Women Writers' Suffrage League was established...
Whitelaw, Lis. The Life and Rebellious Times of Cicely Hamilton. Women’s Press, 1990.
68-74
Liggins, Emma. “The ’Sordid Story’ of an Unwanted Child: Militancy, Motherhood, and Abortion in Elizabeth Robins’s Votes for Women and Way Stations”. Women’s Writing, Vol.
25
, No. 3, Aug. 2018, pp. 347-61.
349
1 October 1910: The Times newspaper launched a Woman's S...
Building item
1 October 1910
The Times newspaper launched a Woman's Supplement.
British Library Catalogue. http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1489778087340&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&fromLo.
14 May 1920: Time and Tide began publication, offering...
Building item
14 May 1920
Time and Tide began publication, offering a feminist approach to literature, politics, and the arts: Naomi Mitchison
called it the first avowedly feminist literary journal with any class, in some ways ahead of its time...
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
Texts
St John, Christopher. “Biographical Note”. Edy: Recollections of Edith Craig, edited by Eleanor Adlard, 1st ed., Frederick Muller, 1949.
St John, Christopher. Edy: Recollections of Edith Craig. Editor Adlard, Eleanor, Frederick Muller, 1949.
St John, Christopher. Ellen Terry. John Lane, 1907.
St John, Christopher. Ethel Smyth. Longmans, Green, 1959.
Hamilton, Cicely, and Christopher St John. How the Vote Was Won. Woman’s Press, 1909.
Hamilton, Cicely, and Christopher St John. How the Vote Was Won. 1st ed., Dramatic Publishing Company, 1910.
St John, Christopher. Hungerheart. 1st ed., Methuen, 1915.
Gasquet, Francis Aidan et al. “Introduction”. The Plays of Roswitha, translated by. Christopher St John, Benjamin Blom, 1966, p. vii - xiii.
St John, Christopher. “Music of the Week”. Time and Tide, Vol.
1
, No. 1, p. 22.
Terry, Ellen. “Preface; Biographical Chapters”. Ellen Terry’s Memoirs, edited by Edith Craig and Christopher St John, Benjamin Blom, 1969, pp. v - xi; 279.
St John, Christopher, and Charles Thursby. The Coronation. International Suffrage Shop, 1911.
St John, Christopher. The Crimson Weed. Duckworth, 1900.
St John, Christopher. The First Actress. Utopia Press, 1909.
Heijermans, Herman. The Good Hope. Translators St John, Christopher and Jacob Thomas Grein, Hendersons, 1921.
Hrotsvit of Gandersheim, and Francis Aidan Gasquet. The Plays of Roswitha. Translator St John, Christopher, Chatto and Windus, 1923.
Hrotsvit of Gandersheim, and Francis Aidan Gasquet. The Plays of Roswitha. Translator St John, Christopher, Benjamin Blom, 1966, p. xxvi - xxxv; 158 pp.
St John, Christopher et al. “The Plays of Roswitha”. The Plays of Roswitha, translated by. Christopher St John, Benjamin Blom, 1966, p. xiv - xxiv.
Hamilton, Cicely, and Christopher St John. The Pot and the Kettle. 1909.
Heijermans, Herman. The Rising Sun. Translators St John, Christopher and M. V. Salvage, Labour Publishing Company, 1925.
Evreinov, Nikolai Nikolaevich. The Theatre of the Soul. Translators St John, Christopher and Marie Potapenko, Hendersons, 1915.
Despard, Charlotte, and Christopher St John. Woman in the New Era. The Suffrage Shop, 1910.