Elizabeth Lydia Rosabelle, Lady Clifford ( Bonham, formerly de la Pasture; 1866 – 30 October 1945), as known as Mrs Henry de la Pasture, was an English novelist, dramatist and children's writer. Her children's novel ''The Unlucky Family'' has been called a classic of its genre.
Biography
She was born Elizabeth Lydia Rosabelle Bonham in
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, daughter of Edward Bonham of
Bramling
Bramling is a hamlet five miles (8 km) east of Canterbury in Kent, England. It lies on the A257 road between Littlebourne and Wingham. The local public house is called ''The Haywain''. The population of the hamlet taken at the 2011 Census ...
,
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, a British
consul
Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...
.
A Roman Catholic, she married, in 1887, Henry Philip Ducarel de la Pasture of
Llandogo
Llandogo ( cy, Llaneuddogwy) is a small village in Monmouthshire, south Wales, between Monmouth and Chepstow in the lower reaches of the Wye Valley AONB, two miles north of Tintern. It is set on a steep hillside overlooking the River Wye and acro ...
Priory,
Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...
. The couple moved at
Aldrington
Aldrington is an area of the city of Brighton and Hove, previously part of the old borough of Hove. For centuries it was meadow land along the English Channel stretching west from the old village of Hove to the old mouth of the River Adur, and i ...
, near
Hove
Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th cen ...
, when Edmée, the elder of their two daughters was born in 1890. Edmée was known by the pseudonym
E. M. Delafield
Edmée Elizabeth Monica Dashwood, née de la Pasture (9 June 1890 – 2 December 1943), commonly known as E. M. Delafield, was a prolific English literature, English author. She is best known for her largely autobiographical ''Diary of a Pr ...
(married name Edmée Dashwood) and authored the ''Provincial Lady'' series, but predeceased her mother in 1943, whom she failed to mention in her ''Who's Who'' entry.
[''The Feminist Companion to Literature in English'', eds Virginia Blain, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy (London: Batsford, 1990), p. 279.] The younger daughter, Yolande Friedl, called Yoé, was a medical doctor, who died in London in 1976.
Her first marriage ended in 1908 with the death of her husband. Two years later she married Sir
Hugh Clifford
Sir Hugh Charles Clifford, (5 March 1866 – 18 December 1941) was a British colonial administrator.
Early life
Clifford was born in Roehampton, London, the sixth of the eight children of Major-General Sir Henry Hugh Clifford and his wife Jos ...
, a colonial administrator and a friend of the novelist
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in t ...
,
with whom she lived between 1912 and 1929 successively in the
Gold Coast
Gold Coast may refer to:
Places Africa
* Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana:
** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642)
** Dutch G ...
(where she edited an album in 1908),
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
,
Ceylon
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
and
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
. He ended his career as
Governor of the Straits Settlements
The governor of the Straits Settlements was appointed by the British East India Company until 1867, when the Straits Settlements became a Crown colony. Thereafter the governor was appointed by the Colonial Office. The position existed from 1826 ...
. In 1918, she was appointed a
CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
.
Works
Fiction
Extra titles and information:
*''The Little Squire'' (1893). Children's novel, later dramatised
*''A Toy Tragedy'' (1894). Children's novel, translated as ''Jeanne, la petit mère'' by Bl. de Méry, 1914
*''Deborah of Tod's'' (1897). Later dramatised, reprinted 1898 and 1908
*''Adam Grigson'' (1899). Reprinted 1908
*''Catherine of Calais'' (1901). Reprinted 1907
*''Cornelius'' (1903).
Reprinted 1909
*''Peter's Mother'' (1905). Dramatised and acted at Sandringham by royal command in 1906, reprinted 1906, 1907 and 1912
*''The Lonely Lady of Grosvenor Square'' (1906). Reprinted 1907 and 1909
*''The Unlucky Family'' (1907). Children's novel, reprinted 1908, 1946, 1980 and 1988. In his 1980 preface
Auberon Waugh
Auberon Alexander Waugh (17 November 1939 – 16 January 2001) was an English journalist and novelist, and eldest son of the novelist Evelyn Waugh. He was widely known by his nickname "Bron".
After a traditional classical education at Downside ...
called it "one of the great classics of its genre".
*''The Grey Knight: An Autumn Love Story'' (1908)
*''Catherine's Child'' (1908)
*''The Tyrant'' (1909). Reprinted 1910
*''Master Christopher'' (1911)
*''Erica'' (1912). Entitled ''The Honorable Mrs. Garry'' for the 1912 Canadian and 1913 American editions
*''Michael Ferrys'' (1913). Entitled ''Michael'' for the American edition
Plays
*''The Man from America'' (1905). Sentimental comedy
*''The Lonely Millionaires'' (1905)
*''Her Grace the Reformer'' (1907)
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:De La Pasture, Henry, Mrs
1866 births
1945 deaths
British dramatists and playwrights
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
English Roman Catholics
English women novelists
Spouses of British politicians
English women dramatists and playwrights
Wives of knights