Georgina Castle Smith (née Georgina Meyrick, pseudonym Brenda, 9 May 1845 – 27 December 1933) was a popular, productive English writer of didactic children's books. Some of her books highlighted the social needs of "street arabs" (homeless children) and encouraged people to donate clothing and food to them.Jarndyce Booksellers' catalogue ''Women Writers 1795–1927 Part I: A–F'' (London, Summer 2017).

Background

Georgina was the fourth child of a solicitor, William Meyrick (1809 or 1810–1898), in

Bayswater Bayswater is an area within the City of Westminster in West London. It is a built-up district with a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre, and is located between Kensington Gardens to the south, Paddington to the north-east, and ...

, London, and his wife Eliza (''née'' James, born 1817 or 1818). She suffered as a child from hay fever and

asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, cou ...

, which encouraged her to be bookish. Having appeared as the tenant of various premises in Bayswater, her father can no longer be traced after 1872. He may be the person of that name declared bankrupt in 1874. He appears to have deserted his family and died abroad.Charlotte Mitchell: Smith, Georgina Castle... ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford, UK: OUP, 2004/2008
Retrieved 2 April 2018.
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Work

All Georgina's books appeared under the pseudonym Brenda. The first, ''Nothing to Nobody'' (1873) predates the collapse to the family's finances. It tells of poverty and advocates practical philanthropy through the story of a Sunday school teacher reforming an orphan known as Daddy Long Legs. This was also published in the United States in an undated edition, probably from 1874. The success of ''Nothing to Nobody'' encouraged "Brenda" to write a second, similarly didactic story, about two orphan boys in East London, of whom the younger dies: ''Froggy's Little Brother'' (c. 1875). This sold steadily for fifty years and was a frequent choice as a prize book awarded to children. A film appeared in 1921.IMD
Retrieved 2 April 2018.
/ref> The illustrations for the second book were the work of a solicitor, Castle Smith (1849–1936). He and Georgina married shortly afterwards and settled in

St John's Wood St John's Wood is a district in the City of Westminster, London, lying 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Traditionally the northern part of the ancient parish and Metropolitan Borough of Marylebone, it extends east to west from ...

. They had five children. "Brenda" published 13 children's books over the next 15 years. A further eight appeared between 1890 and 1932, including a sequel to ''Froggy's Little Brother'' in 1914. ''Five Little Partridges, or, The Pilot's House'' deals with the seaside stay of a middle-class family and may refer to her own children. ''The Secret Terror'' (1909) is set in high society, partly in India, and was one of the two works of hers aimed at adult readers.

Retirement

The family retired to

Lyme Regis Lyme Regis is a town in west Dorset, England, west of Dorchester and east of Exeter. Sometimes dubbed the "Pearl of Dorset", it lies by the English Channel at the Dorset–Devon border. It has noted fossils in cliffs and beaches on the Heri ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

, where she died at her home, Corner Cottage, on 27 December 1933 and was buried in the cemetery there. The town community appears in ''The Earl's Granddaughter'' (1895), which describes how an upper-class girl is converted to good works.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Georgina Castle 1845 births 1933 deaths English women novelists English children's writers 19th-century English novelists 20th-century English novelists Pseudonymous women writers People from St John's Wood People from Lyme Regis 19th-century English women writers 20th-century English women writers 19th-century pseudonymous writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers