Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Edith Somerville
-
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.
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
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 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
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
Publishing
Martin Ross
Edith Somerville and MR
published All on the Irish Shore, a collection of hunting stories they had previously printed in magazines, with Somerville
's illustrations.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
135
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers.
255
Textual Production
Martin Ross
An Irish Cousin, the first collaborative novel by Edith Somerville
(here calling herself Geilles Herring) and MR
, appeared.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
71
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers.
247-8
Publishing
Martin Ross
Edith Somerville and MR
published another collection of their magazine stories, Some Irish Yesterdays, with Somerville
's illustrations.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
141
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers.
256
Publishing
Martin Ross
The novel Naboth's Vineyard appeared from Spencer Blackett
, expanded and re-written by MR
and Edith Somerville
at the request of a friend, from a short story they had published in The Lady's Pictorial.
Collis, Maurice. Somerville and Ross: A Biography. Faber and Faber.
63, 73
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers.
248-9
Textual Production
Martin Ross
MR
and Edith Somerville
published another hunting novel: Dan Russel the Fox: An Episode in the Life of Miss Rowan.
Cummins, Geraldine. Dr. E. Œ. Somerville: A Biography. Andrew Dakers.
258
Textual Production
Martin Ross
Edith Somerville
and MR
published their third book, Through Connemara in a Governess Cart, with illustrations by W. W. Russell
based on sketches by Somerville.
A governess cart is almost tub-shaped, with high sides...
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...
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
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
...
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...
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...
