Julia Frankau (née Davis; 30 July 1859 – 17 March 1916)
was a successful novelist who wrote under the name Frank Danby. Her first novel was published in 1887: ''Dr. Phillips: A Maida Vale Idyll''. Its portrayal of London Jews and Jewish life, and its depiction of murder by a doctor were controversial. This was followed by more Frank Danby novels and by books on other subjects, including engraving, which were sometimes written under her own name. Frankau continued to write until the time of her death.
Biography
Frankau's father was Hyman Davis (1824–1875), a London
portrait photographer
Portrait photography, or portraiture, is a type of photography aimed toward capturing the personality of a person or group of people by using effective lighting, backdrops, and poses. A portrait photograph may be artistic or clinical. Frequentl ...
, though she and her older siblings were born 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 ...
, where Davis practised as a
dentist
A dentist, also known as a dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry (the diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the mouth, oral cavity and other aspects of the craniofaci ...
during the 1850s. On returning to London in the early 1860s, the Davis family lived first in
Bruton Street
Bruton Street is a street in London's Mayfair district.
It runs from Berkeley Square in the south-west to New Bond Street in the north-east, where it continues as Conduit Street.
Notable residents have included Field Marshal John Campbell, 2nd ...
, Mayfair, before moving to
Maida Vale
Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district consisting of the northern part of Paddington in West London, west of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn. It is also the name of its main road, on the continuous Edgware Road. Maida Vale is p ...
.
She was a sister of the
librettist
A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major litu ...
Owen Hall
Owen Hall (10 April 1853 – 9 April 1907) was the principal pen name of the Irish-born theatre writer, racing correspondent, theatre critic and solicitor, James "Jimmy" Davis, when writing for the stage. After his successive careers in law ...
(1853–1907) and the
gossip columnist
A gossip columnist is someone who writes a gossip column in a newspaper or magazine, especially a gossip magazine. Gossip columns are material written in a light, informal style, which relates the gossip columnist's opinions about the personal li ...
and
fashion writer Mrs Aria (1861–1931). For a brief period during her early teens, she was home-tutored by
Laura Lafargue
Jenny Laura Marx (26 September 1845 – 25 November 1911) was a socialist activist. The second daughter of Karl Marx and Jenny von Westphalen, she married revolutionary writer Paul Lafargue in 1868. The two committed suicide together in 1911.
L ...
, a daughter of
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
. Another of her brothers, Harrie Davis, emigrated to
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, where he was employed as manager of the
Gettysburg Cyclorama
''The Battle of Gettysburg'', also known as the Gettysburg Cyclorama, is a cyclorama painting by the French artist Paul Philippoteaux depicting Pickett's Charge, the climactic Confederate attack on the Union forces during the Battle of Gettysburg ...
and also went on to pursue a journalistic career.
She married the London cigar importer
Arthur Frankau
Arthur Frankau (February 1849 – 21 November 1904) was the son of Bavarian-born Joseph Frankau (previously Frankenau), a Jewish merchant who moved to London from Frankfurt in 1837. Arthur ran the firm successfully, but suffered a bad shock fr ...
(1849–1904) in 1883. They lived first at 103 Gloucester Terrace (
London W), moving to 32a Weymouth Street in the later 1880s. Two of their three sons were author
Gilbert Frankau
Gilbert Frankau (21 April 1884 – 4 November 1952) was a popular British novelist. He was known also for verse (he was a war poet of World War I), including a number of verse novels, and short stories.
He was born in London into a Jewish fami ...
(1884–1952) and actor
Ronald Frankau
Ronald Hugh Wyndham Frankau (22 February 1894 – 11 September 1951) was an English comedian who started in cabaret and made his way to radio and films.
Family
Frankau was born in London, the third child of Arthur Frankau, son of Joseph Fran ...
(1894–1951) (thus Julia Frankau is grandmother of novelist
Pamela Frankau
Pamela Sydney Frankau (3 January 1908 – 8 June 1967) was a popular English novelist from a prominent artistic and literary family. She was abandoned by her novelist father Gilbert Frankau at an early age, and she became a prolific writer. S ...
and actress
Rosemary Frankau
Rosemary A. Frankau (14 April 1933 – 16 April 2017) was a British actress, born in Marylebone, London. She played Beattie Harris in nine series of the sitcom ''Terry and June'' between 1979 and 1987.
Early life and career
Frankau was e ...
, and great-grandmother of bibliographer
Timothy d'Arch Smith and scriptwriter
Sam Bain
Sam Bain (born 3 August 1971) is a British comedy writer, best known for the Channel 4 sitcom ''Peep Show''. He attended St Paul's School in London before graduating from the University of Manchester, where he met his writing partner Jesse Armst ...
), and their daughter was the
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
don
Don, don or DON and variants may refer to:
Places
*County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON
*Don (river), a river in European Russia
*Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name
*Don, Benin, a town in Benin
*Don, Dang, a vill ...
Joan Bennett
Joan Geraldine Bennett (February 27, 1910 – December 7, 1990) was an American stage, film, and television actress. She came from a show-business family, one of three acting sisters. Beginning her career on the stage, Bennett appeared in more t ...
(1896–1986), one of the "constellation of critics" called by the
defence
Defense or defence may refer to:
Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups
* Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare
* Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks
* Defense industr ...
in the
Lady Chatterley Trial
''R v Penguin Books Ltd'' was the public prosecution in the United Kingdom of Penguin Books under the ''Obscene Publications Act 1959'' for the publication of D. H. Lawrence's 1928 novel ''Lady Chatterley's Lover''. The trial took place over ...
. In this connection, Julia herself was credited by
Mrs Belloc Lowndes with having been "one of the very few to recognise the genius of
D. H. Lawrence
David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...
".
Julia's sister Florette married architect
Marcus E. Collins in 1889, thus connecting the Davis and Frankau families with
Arthur Collins of
Drury Lane Theatre
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Drur ...
, theatrical manager Horace Collins, and stage director Frank Collins. Florette Collins published one novel in 1906, whereupon her sisters suggested she should content herself with being "the beauty of the family". The actor
Henry Irving
Sir Henry Irving (6 February 1838 – 13 October 1905), christened John Henry Brodribb, sometimes known as J. H. Irving, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility ( ...
joined Arthur and Julia Frankau's family circle after Mrs Aria became his mistress in the 1890s.
During the 1890s, Julia Frankau began to research and write on
engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ...
, ultimately publishing (under her own married name) three books on the subject. Her sister Eliza recalled: "having started a small collection of eighteenth-century engravings of
mezzotint
Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the '' intaglio'' family. It was the first printing process that yielded half-tones without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzotint achieves tonali ...
and
stipple
Stippling is the creation of a pattern simulating varying degrees of solidity or shading by using small dots. Such a pattern may occur in nature and these effects are frequently emulated by artists.
Art
In printmaking, stipple engraving is ...
, she particularly favoured the English stipple colour prints, and because no book existed telling her what she wanted to know about them, she set to work and wrote one."
[Mrs Aria, ''My Sentimental Self'', Chapman & Hall 1922 p. 56] After she returned to fiction – or, to use her own phrase, "relapsed into novel writing"
["Frankau, Julia (1859–1916)"]
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 26 July 2011 – in 1902, ''
The Sketch
''The Sketch'' was a British illustrated weekly journal. It ran for 2,989 issues between 1 February 1893 and 17 June 1959. It was published by the Illustrated London News Company and was primarily a society magazine with regular features on roy ...
'' found "something quaint in the thought that Mrs Frankau – who, as 'Frank Danby', has recently published that brilliant study of contemporary manners (and morals), ''Pigs in Clover'' – should be, as she is without question, the greatest living authority on that daintiest product of the eighteenth century, the colour-print."
The commercial success of ''Pigs in Clover'', which coincided with a substantial inheritance from Arthur's late brother and business partner Edwin Frankau (1854–1903), permitted Arthur and Julia Frankau to move from
Weymouth Street
Weymouth Street lies in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster and connects Marylebone High Street with Great Portland Street. The area was developed in the late 18th century by Henrietta Cavendish Holles and her husband Edward Ha ...
to 11
Clarges Street
Clarges Street is a street in the City of Westminster, London. The street runs from Clarges Mews in the north to Piccadilly in the south. It is crossed by Curzon Street.
History
Clarges Street was built in the early 18th century and is proba ...
, as well as acquiring a seaside retreat named Clover Cottage (now 13 South Cliff,
Eastbourne
Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...
). Their Clarges Street house was said to have been occupied at one time by
Emma, Lady Hamilton
Dame Emma Hamilton (born Amy Lyon; 26 April 176515 January 1815), generally known as Lady Hamilton, was an English maid, model, dancer and actress. She began her career in London's demi-monde, becoming the mistress of a series of wealthy men ...
, thus providing inspiration for Frank Danby's ''Story of Emma, Lady Hamilton''.
[Mrs Belloc Lowndes, ''The Merry Wives of Westminster'', Macmillan, 1946 p. 57]
Dr Phillips
The first Frank Danby novel, originally published by
Vizetelly in 1887, was a somewhat controversial social satire set in the affluent
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
Maida Vale world where the author herself – "a Jewish girl from an
Anglo-Jewish
British Jews (often referred to collectively as British Jewry or Anglo-Jewry) are British citizens who identify as Jewish. The number of people who identified as Jews in the United Kingdom rose by just under 4% between 2001 and 2021.
History
...
family of impeccable
orthodoxy
Orthodoxy (from Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion.
Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Antiquity, but different Churc ...
" – had grown up.
''Punch'' was said to have commented: "It should never have been written. Having been written, it should never have been published. Having been published, it should not be read."
''Dr Phillips'' earned notoriety on two counts. "The Jews in Frankau's novel are repugnant. They are almost without exception uneducated, narrow, clannish, vulgar, materialistic, and tasteless." "Imagine the shock," recalled Horace Collins, "when it was discovered that the book contained characters with obvious likenesses to members of the family and cronies of my mother. Their idiosyncrasies and weaknesses had been held up to ridicule with mordant wit and subtle irony. ... ''Dr Phillips'' was, in fact, in advance of the times and might be deemed to have been the precursor of the smart Society type of novel."
The second controversial aspect was the conduct of the eponymous doctor, who deliberately administers a lethal
morphia
Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a pain medication, and is also commonly used recreationally, or to make other illicit opioids. The ...
overdose to his (German-Jewish) wife in the hope of being able to marry his (
Gentile
Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jew". Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is generally used as a synonym for ...
) mistress, the mother of his illegitimate daughter. It was bruited at the time of publication that the fictional Jewish Dr Phillips (named Dr Abrams in a pre-publication draft) was based on the real-life (Jewish) surgeon
Ernest Abraham Hart
Ernest Abraham Hart (26 June 18357 January 1898) was an English medical journalist. He was the editor of ''The British Medical Journal''.
Biography
Hart was born in London, the son of a Jewish dentist. He was educated at the City of London sc ...
, then editor of the ''
British Medical Journal
''The BMJ'' is a weekly peer-reviewed medical trade journal, published by the trade union the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world's oldest general medical journals. Origi ...
'', whose first wife had died by "accidental poisoning" in 1861. Mrs Aria insisted that ''Dr Phillips'' had "fluttered the dovecotes of Maida Vale, rattled the skeletons in the cupboards and the stout ladies at the card-tables, but never merited the popular suspicion that the hero was taken from life."
On the other hand, Mrs Belloc Lowndes suggested that the characters in ''Dr Phillips'' had been more closely based on real-life individuals than those of any other Frank Danby novel, recalling particularly that the character of Dr Phillips "was supposed to have been drawn from a well-known doctor, and he must have felt the cap fitted his head, for he bought up and destroyed every copy he was able to procure."
"The scandal of ''Dr Phillips'' was compounded by publication the following year of
Amy Levy
Amy Judith Levy (10 November 1861 – 9 September 1889) was an English essayist, poet, and novelist best remembered for her literary gifts; her experience as the second Jewish woman at Cambridge University, and as the first Jewish student at N ...
's ''Reuben Sachs'' (1888). Levy was almost as harsh in her delineation of Jewish manners and morals, and the two works became linked in public discussion, the notoriety of each reinforcing that of the other."
Later novels
Mrs Aria commented that ''The Sphinx's Lawyer'' was "written to defend the undefendable
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
" – she and Frank Danby having both, through their brother Owen Hall, met Wilde in their youth. It is probably not accidental that "Sphinx" was Wilde's name for their mutual friend and fellow-writer
Ada Leverson
Ada Esther Leverson ( née Beddington; 10 October 1862 – 30 August 1933) was a British writer who is known for her friendship with Oscar Wilde and for her work as a witty novelist of the fin-de-siècle.
Family
Leverson was born into a Jewis ...
. ''The Sphinx's Lawyer'' was dedicated to Owen Hall who, according to its author, vehemently disapproved both the story and its subject matter. The printed dedication, addressed directly to her brother, fills a page and a half, insisting: "your harsh criticism has intensified my conviction of the righteousness of the cause I plead ... I have heard all your argument; I know where I stand. It is at the foot of the Throne of Mercy, with my client by my side, the client of the Sphinx's Lawyer. You, as well as I, know what he was in his brilliant youth, you, as well as I, know how weak he was in his strength, of what flawed physique and untoward inheritance. ''Pity'' was the one unsounded note in the chorus of execration that followed this poor leper to his grave, and beyond it; to awaken pity I have written."
''The Heart of a Child'' (1908), a less controversial tale based on a
storyline devised by Owen Hall, enjoyed great commercial success as a novel, was twice filmed as a
motion picture
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
, and rewritten in 1920 by Gilbert Frankau as a
stage play
A play is a work of drama, usually consisting mostly of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and intended for theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Reading (process), reading. The writer of a play is called a playwright.
Pla ...
– in which form it did not succeed, though Frankau noted that the novel itself was still earning royalties in the Summer of 1939. The heroine Sally Snape was played by
Edna Flugrath in the first film version,
Alla Nazimova
Alla Nazimova (Russian: Алла Назимова; born Marem-Ides Leventon, Russian: Марем-Идес Левентон; June 3 Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._May_22.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>O ...
in the second, and
Renée Kelly in Gilbert Frankau's theatrical adaptation. Her most popular novel was ''Joseph in Jeopardy'' (1912).
[
''Twilight'' was a novel completed by Frank Danby on her deathbed, about a female author on her deathbed who is inspired to write about the death of a female author. The character of the ailing Jane Vevaseur is a semi-autobiographical portrayal of Julia Frankau, while her loving sister Eliza Aria is represented by the character of Ella Lovegrove.][ The title itself is a doubly resonant ]play on words
Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phone ...
– the dictum
In general usage, a dictum ( in Latin; plural dicta) is an authoritative or dogmatic statement. In some contexts, such as legal writing and church cantata librettos, ''dictum'' can have a specific meaning.
Legal writing
In United States legal ter ...
"Work whilst ye have the light" is quoted several times by the narrator, alluding to the fact that she (like Frank Danby) is running out of time; and it transpires that Dr Kennedy, Jane Vevaseur's medical attendant, brought about the death of writer Margaret Capel some years previously by deliberately administering a lethal overdose of what the narrator refers to as "hyoscine", a drug known in its day as "Twilight Sleep". Unlike the undetected murder in ''Dr Phillips'', however, this one is conducted with great reluctance at the patient's own poignant request.
"Notes for Collectors" provides publishing history for her writing including color plates of covers.[Smith,Timothy D'Arch. 2022. "Julia Frankau ('Frank Danby'): Art Critic and Novelist Some Notes for Collectors." ''The Book Collector'' 71 no.3: 395-415.
]
Works
* Essays in the ''Saturday Review''
* ''Dr. Phillips: A Maida Vale Idyll'' (1887)
* ''A Babe in Bohemia'' (1889)
* ''The Copper Crash'' (1889)
* A chapter of ''The Fate of Fenella
''The Fate of Fenella'' was an experiment in consecutive novel writing inspired by J. S. Wood and published in his magazine ''The Gentlewoman'' in twenty-four parts between 1891 and 1892. When first published in book form its title was ''The Fate ...
'' (1891/92), an experiment in consecutive novel writing
* ''Eighteenth Century Colour Prints: An Essay on Certain Stipple Engravers & Their Work in Colour'' (1900) - published in her real name
* ''John Raphael Smith
John Raphael Smith (1751 – 2 March 1812) was a British painter and mezzotinter. He was the son of Thomas Smith of Derby, the landscape painter, and father of John Rubens Smith, a painter who emigrated to the United States.
Biography
Bapt ...
: His Life and Works'' (1902) - published in her real name
* ''Pigs in Clover'' (1903)
* ''Eighteenth Century Artists and Engravers: William Ward ARA, James Ward James Ward may refer to:
Military
*James Ward (Medal of Honor, 1864) (1833–?), American Civil War sailor
* James Ward (Medal of Honor, 1890) (1854–1901), American Indian Wars soldier
*James Allen Ward (1919–1941), New Zealand pilot and Vi ...
RA'' (1904) - published in her real name
* ''Baccarat'' (1904)
* ''The Sphinx's Lawyer'' (1906)
* ''A Coquette in Crape'' (1907)
* ''The Heart of a Child'' (1908)
* ''An Incompleat Etonian'' (1909)
* ''Sebastian'' (1909)
* ''The Story of Emma, Lady Hamilton
Dame Emma Hamilton (born Amy Lyon; 26 April 176515 January 1815), generally known as Lady Hamilton, was an English maid, model, dancer and actress. She began her career in London's demi-monde, becoming the mistress of a series of wealthy men ...
'' (1910) - later reissued as ''Nelson's Legacy''
* ''Let the Roof Fall In'' (1910)
* ''Joseph in Jeopardy'' (1912)
* ''Full Swing'' (1914)
* ''Twilight'' (1916)
* ''Mothers and Children'' (1918) - a collection of previously unpublished stories edited by her son Gilbert Frankau
Gilbert Frankau (21 April 1884 – 4 November 1952) was a popular British novelist. He was known also for verse (he was a war poet of World War I), including a number of verse novels, and short stories.
He was born in London into a Jewish fami ...
References
External links
Death note in the ''New York Times''
Portrait
Portrait
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frankau, Julia
1863 births
1916 deaths
Writers from Dublin (city)
19th-century British novelists
20th-century British novelists
English satirists
English Jewish writers
Jews and Judaism in London
Pseudonymous women writers
Frankau family
19th-century pseudonymous writers
20th-century pseudonymous writers