Edith Anna Œnone Somerville (2 May 1858 – 8 October 1949) was an
Irish novelist who habitually signed herself as "E. Œ. Somerville". She wrote in collaboration with her cousin "Martin Ross" (
Violet Martin) under the pseudonym "
Somerville and Ross
Somerville and Ross (Edith Somerville and Violet Florence Martin, writing under the name Martin Ross) were an Anglo-Irish writing team, perhaps most famous for their series of books that were made into the TV series ''The Irish R.M.''. The tel ...
". Together they published a series of fourteen stories and novels, the most popular of which were ''
The Real Charlotte
''The Real Charlotte'' is a novel (written between 1888 and 1890, and published in 1894) by the Anglo-Irish writing partnership Somerville and Ross, composed of Edith Somerville (1858–1949) and Violet Florence Martin (1862–1915).
The first ...
'', published in 1894, and ''Some Experiences of an Irish R. M.'', published in 1899.
Early life and education
The eldest of eight children, Somerville was born on the island of
Corfu
Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...
, then part of the
United States of the Ionian Islands
The United States of the Ionian Islands ( el, Ἡνωμένον Κράτος τῶν Ἰονίων Νήσων, Inoménon-Krátos ton Ioníon Níson, United State of the Ionian Islands; it, Stati Uniti delle Isole Ionie) was a Greek state and am ...
, a British protectorate where her father was stationed.
[Boylan (1998)] A year later, her father retired to
Drishane,
Castletownshend
Castletownshend (, literally "town of the castle") is a village about south-east of Skibbereen, in County Cork, Ireland. The village developed around a small 17th-century castle built by Richard Townsend, whose descendants still reside there.
...
,
County Cork
County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...
, where Somerville grew up. Somerville is said to have dominated her sister and brothers in a family where women were encouraged to be bold.
[ She received her primary education at home, and then attended ]Alexandra College
Alexandra College ( ir, Coláiste Alexandra) is a fee-charging boarding and day school for girls located in Milltown, Dublin, Ireland. The school operates under a Church of Ireland ethos.
History
The school was founded in 1866 and takes its ...
in Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
. In 1884 she went to Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
for the first of several trips to study art at the Académie Colarossi and Académie Delécluse
The Académie Delécluse was an atelier-style art school in Paris, France, founded in the late 19th century by the painter Auguste Joseph Delécluse. It was exceptionally supportive of women artists, with more space being given to women students ...
, and then spent a term at the Westminster School of Art
The Westminster School of Art was an art school in Westminster, London.
History
The Westminster School of Art was located at 18 Tufton Street, Deans Yard, Westminster, and was part of the old Royal Architectural Museum.
H. M. Bateman described ...
in Dean's Yard
Dean's Yard, Westminster, comprises most of the remaining precincts of the historically greater scope of the monastery or abbey of Westminster, not occupied by its buildings. It is known to members of Westminster School as Green (referred to ...
, Westminster. At home, riding and painting were her absorbing interests.[Boylan (1998)]
Career
In January 1886, she met her cousin Violet Martin, and their literary partnership began the following year. Their first book, ''An Irish Cousin'', appeared in 1889, under the names Geilles Herring (from the maiden name of her ancestor, the wife of Sir Walter de Somerville of Linton and Carnwath) and Martin Ross, though the pen names were dropped after the first edition. In 1898 Edith Somerville went to paint at the Etaples art colony
The Étaples art colony consisted of artists working in the Étaples area of northern France at the turn of the 20th century. The colony had its heyday between 1880–1914, after which it was disrupted by World War I. Although broadly internationa ...
, accompanied by Violet. There they profited from their stay by conceiving together the stories later gathered in ''Some Experiences of an Irish R. M.'', completed the following year. By the time Violet died in 1915, they had published fourteen books together.[Boylan (1998)] Her cousin's death stunned Edith, who continued to write as "Somerville and Ross", claiming that they kept in contact through spiritualist séances. The precise nature of their relationship — whether they were romantic and sexual partners as well as literary collaborators and friends — has been the object of speculation by later writers.
Somerville was a devoted sportswoman who, in 1903, had become master of the West Carbery Foxhounds. She was also active in the suffragist
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
movement, corresponding with Dame Ethel Smyth
Dame Ethel Mary Smyth (; 22 April 18588 May 1944) was an English composer and a member of the women's suffrage movement. Her compositions include songs, works for piano, chamber music, orchestral works, choral works and operas.
Smyth tended t ...
.[Gifford (1887)] She was in London still recovering from the shock of Violet's death when the Easter Rising
The Easter Rising ( ga, Éirí Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the a ...
of 1916 broke out. On 9 May, she wrote a letter to ''The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'', blaming the British government for the state of affairs in Ireland.[Gifford (1887) p. 160] After that, she tended towards Nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
, and as an adept musician at parties, she specialised in Irish tunes and Nationalist songs.[Gifford (1887) p. 165]
She had exhibitions of her pictures in Dublin and in London between 1920 and 1938, and was active as an illustrator of sporting picture books and children's picture books, including that of Ethel Penrose, another cousin.
In 1936, her brother Henry Boyle Townsend Somerville, a retired Vice-Admiral in the Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
, was killed by the IRA
Ira or IRA may refer to:
*Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name
*Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name
*Iran, UNDP code IRA
Law
*Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...
at the family home in Castletownshend. She finished his book " Will Mariner" after his death.
Death and legacy
She died at Castletownshend in October 1949, aged 91, and is buried alongside Violet Florence Martin at Saint Barrahane's Church, Castletownsend.[Gifford Lewis, ‘Somerville, Edith Anna Œnone (1858–1949)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 200]
accessed 21 Aug 2017
/ref> A considerable archival legacy remains both at Castletownsend and in Trinity College Library.
The ''Irish RM'' books were made into a TV series in 1983.
''Edith-a novel'', based on her life in the period 1921-22, by Martina Devlin
Martina Devlin is a novelist and newspaper columnist from Northern Ireland.
Biography
Devlin was born in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. She worked in Fleet Street for seven years before moving to Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the c ...
, was published in 2022.
Bibliography
Collaborative novels
*''An Irish Cousin'' (1889)
*''Naboth's Vineyard'' (1891)
*''In the Vine Country'' (1893) nonfiction
*''Through Connemara in a Governess Cart'' (1893)
*''The Real Charlotte
''The Real Charlotte'' is a novel (written between 1888 and 1890, and published in 1894) by the Anglo-Irish writing partnership Somerville and Ross, composed of Edith Somerville (1858–1949) and Violet Florence Martin (1862–1915).
The first ...
'' (1894)
*''Beggars on Horseback'' (1895)
*''The Silver Fox'' (1897)
*''Some Experiences of an Irish R. M.'' (1899)
*''A Patrick's Day Hunt'' (1902)
*''All on the Irish Shore'' (1903)
*''Some Irish Yesterdays'' (1906)
*''Further Experiences of an Irish R.M.'' (1908)
*''Dan Russell the Fox'' (1911)
*''In Mr Knox's Country'' (1915)
Solo novels
*''Irish Memories'' (1917)
*''Mount Music'' (1919)
*''The Big House of Inver'' (1925)
*''The States through Irish Eyes'' (1930)
*''An Incorruptible Irishman'' (1932)
*''The Smile and the Tear'' (1933)
*''The Sweet Cry of Hounds'' (1936)
*''Sarah's Youth'' (1938)
*''Maria and Some Other Dogs'' (1949)
References
Notes
Sources
*
*
External links
*
*
*
The E. OE. Somerville and Martin Ross Exhibition
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Somerville, Edith Anna
1858 births
1949 deaths
19th-century Irish painters
20th-century Irish painters
19th-century Anglo-Irish people
20th-century Anglo-Irish people
Irish women novelists
Masters of foxhounds in Ireland
People educated at Alexandra College
People from County Cork
20th-century Irish women artists
19th-century Irish women artists
Académie Delécluse alumni