Frances Forbes-Robertson (after marriage, Frances Harrod; 1866 – 23 May 1956) was a British artist, novelist, and actor. Among her publications can be counted ''The Devil's Pronoun'' (1894), ''Odd Stories'' (1897), ''The Potentate'' (1898), ''Mother Earth'' (1902), ''The Hidden Model'' (1902), ''What We Dream'' (1903), ''Trespass'' (1928), and ''Stained Wings'' (1930).

Biography

Frances Mary Desirée Forbes-Robertson was born in 1866. She was the youngest child of John Forbes-Robertson, a theatre critic and journalist from

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, and his wife Frances. The eldest of the eleven children in the family was

Johnston Forbes-Robertson Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson (16 January 1853 – 6 November 1937''Sir Johnston Forbes Robertson, Beauty And Grace in Acting'', Obituaries, ''The Times'', 8 November 1937.) was an English actor and theatre manager and husband of actress Gertru ...

, the actor. Two other brothers, Ian Forbes-Robertson (1859–1936), and

Norman Forbes-Robertson Norman Forbes-Robertson (24 September 1858 – 28 September 1932), known professionally as Norman Forbes, was an English actor and art dealer. He was the brother of actor Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson and a friend of Ellen Terry, Oscar Wilde, ...

(1858–1932) also became actors, and a third,

Eric Forbes-Robertson Eric Forbes-Robertson (1865–1935) was a British figure and landscape painter. He was the brother of two actors Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson and Norman Forbes-Robertson. Biography Eric trained at the Académie Julian in Paris in the late 188 ...

(1865–1935) became a painter. She was the sister-in-law of the actress

Maxine Elliott Maxine Elliott (February 5, 1868 – March 5, 1940) was an American actress and businesswoman. Early life Born Jessie Dermott on February 5, 1868, to Thomas Dermott, a sea captain and Adelaide Hill Dermott, she had a younger sister, actress G ...

, and the great-aunt of actress

Meriel Forbes Meriel Forbes, Lady Richardson (13 September 1913 – 7 April 2000) was an English actress. She was a granddaughter of Norman Forbes-Robertson and great-niece of Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson. After making her stage debut with her father's tour ...

(granddaughter of her brother Norman), who married actor

Ralph Richardson Sir Ralph David Richardson (19 December 1902 – 10 October 1983) was an English actor who, with John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier, was one of the trinity of male actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. He wo ...

. Forbes-Robertson was educated in convents in France and Italy. Frances Harrod

She married Henry Dawes Harrod, F.S.A. in 1900, and was the mother of

Roy Harrod Sir Henry Roy Forbes Harrod (13 February 1900 – 8 March 1978) was an English economist. He is best known for writing ''The Life of John Maynard Keynes'' (1951) and for the development of the Harrod–Domar model, which he and Evsey Domar devel ...

, the economist. Forbes-Robertson (known also by her married surname, Harrod) was the author of ''The Potentate'', ''Mother Earth'', ''The Hidden Model'', ''Odd Stories'', ''The Devil's Pronoun'', ''What We Dream'', ''Taming of the Ponte'', ''Trespass'' and ''Stained Wings''. She also published other works of fiction, such as those contributed to the ''Times Literary Supplement'', ''Westminster Gazette'', and ''

The Pall Mall Magazine ''The Pall Mall Magazine'' was a monthly British literary magazine published between 1893 and 1914. Begun by William Waldorf Astor as an offshoot of ''The Pall Mall Gazette'', the magazine included poetry, short stories, serialized fiction, and ge ...

''. She died in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, 23 May 1956.

Selected works

As Frances Forbes-Robertson

* ''The Devil's Pronoun'', 1894 * ''Odd Stories'', 1897 * ''The Potentate'', 1898

As Frances Harrod

* ''Mother Earth'', 1902 * ''The Hidden Model'', 1902 * ''What We Dream'', 1903 * ''Trespass'', 1928 * ''Stained Wings'', 1930

References

Attribution

* *

Bibliography

External links

*
Review of ''The Potentate''
in ''The Sketch'', vol. 22, June 15, 1898 {{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes-Robertson, Frances 1866 births 1956 deaths 19th-century British novelists 19th-century British short story writers 20th-century British novelists 20th-century British short story writers 19th-century British women writers 20th-century British women writers