 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
|
|||||
|
 |
 |
Biography of Edith Anna OEnone SomervilleName: Edith Anna OEnone SomervilleBirth Date: May 2, 1858 Death Date: October 8, 1949 Place of Birth: Corfu, Greece Nationality: Irish Gender: Female Occupations: writer Edith Anna OEnone Somerville Edith Anna OEnone Somerville (1858-1949), who in collaboration with her cousin Violet Martin published under the pseudonym "Somerville and Ross," wrote the popular Experiences of an Irish R. M. stories, as well as one of the finest Irish novels of the 19th century, The Real Charlotte.Although she was born (May 2, 1858) on the island of Corfu, where her father, Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Henry Somerville, was stationed, Edith Anna OEnone Somerville returned by the age of one to Ireland, where she lived most of the rest of her life and where her stories and novels are set. Her mother was Adelaide Eliza Coghill. Edith was the eldest of eight children, all of them boys except Edith and one sister. Upon his retirement in 1859 her father returned the family to his home at Drishane House in the parish of Castlehaven in the western part of County Cork. The Somervilles (and also the Martins, to …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…her the Gregory gold medal, its most important honor. She remained an ardent feminist, was chair of the Munster Women's Franchise League, and continued to ride, paint, and write into her final years. On October 8, 1949, Somerville died in Castletownshend, where she is buried beside her beloved cousin and collaborator, Violet Martin. Associated Works Experiences of an Irish R.M. Further Reading The Irish R. M. stories are currently available in paperback. Biographies include Geraldine Cummins, Dr. E. OE Somerville: A Biography (1952); Maurice S. Collis, Somerville and Ross: A Biography (1968); and Violet G. Powell, The Irish Cousins: The Books and Background of Somerville and Ross (1970). A short introduction is John Cronin, Somerville and Ross (1972), and a more scholarly study is Hilary Robinson, Somerville & Ross: A Critical Appreciation (1980).Lewis, Gifford, Somerville and Ross: the world of the Irish R.M., Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England; New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Viking, 1985. |