Naomi Eleanor Clare Ellington Jacob (1 July 1884 – 27 August 1964), also known by the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

Ellington Gray, was an English writer, actress and broadcaster.

Biography

Early life

Naomi Jacob was born in

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city ...

in the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

, the first daughter of and Samuel Jacob. Her father served as

headmaster A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the teacher, staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school ...

of the

Ripon Grammar School Ripon Grammar School is a co-educational, boarding and day, selective grammar school in Ripon, North Yorkshire, England. It has been named top-performing state school in the north for nine years running by ''The Sunday Times''. It is one of the ...

, where her mother also work as teacher. Her maternal grandfather, Robert Ellington Collinson, was a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

of the town and owner of the Unicorn Hotel of Ripon, where the Prince of Wales once stayed. Her great-grandfather Thomas was the second chief police officer in Ripon. Her father was the son of a Jewish refugee from Prussia, but rejected his Jewish ancestry. Nonetheless, Jacob was much attached to her

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

-speaking paternal grandfather, a tailor, who maintained Jewish traditions, and later proudly drew attention to her Jewishness.

Career

After her parents' divorce, Jacob left for

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

to complete her education and work as a

student teacher A student teacher or prac teacher (''practice teacher'') is a college, university or graduate student who is teaching under the supervision of a certified teacher in order to qualify for a degree in education. The term is also often used intercha ...

. She soon left the teaching profession, however, to become an actress in revue. It was around the same time that she contracted

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

, a condition that was to affect her for the rest of her life. With physical activity becoming more difficult, Jacob channelled her creative efforts into writing. As well as a number of novels such as the ''Gollantz Saga'' and ''Wind on the Heath'', Jacob wrote

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...

, biographies and newspaper articles. Her mother also became a novelist, publishing under the name ''Nina Abbott''. Jacob had a strong circle of friends including Marguerite Broadfoote,

Radclyffe Hall Marguerite Antonia Radclyffe Hall (12 August 1880 – 7 October 1943) was an English poet and author, best known for the novel ''The Well of Loneliness'', a groundbreaking work in lesbian literature. In adulthood, Hall often went by the name Jo ...

, '

Little Tich Harry Relph (21 July 186710 February 1928),Russell, Dav"Relph, Harry (1867–1928)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, online edition, January 2011. Retrieved 1 August 2013 professionally known as Littl ...

Marie Lloyd Matilda Alice Victoria Wood (12 February 1870 – 7 October 1922), professionally known as Marie Lloyd (), was an English music hall singer, comedian and musical theatre actress. She was best known for her performances of songs such as " T ...

Bransby Williams Bransby Williams (born Bransby William Pharez; 14 August 1870 – 3 December 1961) was a British actor, comedian and monologist. He became known as "The Irving of the music halls". Early years Born in Hackney, London, the son of William Me ...

and many others. She was also active politically standing as a Labour parliamentary candidate and becoming involved with the

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

movement. Her novels often tackle the issue of prejudice against Jews, domestic violence and the political consequences of

pogrom A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russia ...

s in the nineteenth century. Many of these books were written before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and were based on the experiences of her paternal family who escaped violence in Western Prussia.

Later life

Jacob moved to

Lake Garda Lake Garda ( it, Lago di Garda or ; lmo, label=Eastern Lombard, Lach de Garda; vec, Ƚago de Garda; la, Benacus; grc, Βήνακος) is the largest lake in Italy. It is a popular holiday location in northern Italy, about halfway between ...

in 1930 because the weather was kinder to her lungs. There is a

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...

erected in her honour in

Sirmione Sirmione (Brescian: ; vec, Sirmion) is a comune in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy (northern Italy). It is bounded by Desenzano del Garda (Lombardy) and Peschiera del Garda in the province of Verona and the region of Veneto. It has a hist ...

, where she lived. She was well known in the town and her home was known as 'Casa Micky'. During the

she returned to the UK to help in the war effort. She worked for

Entertainments National Service Association The Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) was an organisation established in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, ...

producing morale boosting broadcasts and live performances for the troops. She never gave up her home in Italy and returned soon afterwards. She died in

in 1964.

Personal life

Jacob had a number of female lovers. She did not address

lesbianism A lesbian is a homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with fema ...

in her fiction.

Filmography

* ''The First Born'' (1928) * ''Glamour'' (1931)

Bibliography

Standalone novels

* ''The Plough'' (1928) * ''The Man Who Found Himself'' (1929) * ''The Beloved Physician'' (1930) * ''Seen Unknown...'' (1930) * ''Roots'' (1931) * ''Props'' (1932) * ''Groping'' (1933) * ''Poor Straws'' (1933) * ''Honour Come Back'' (1935) * ''The Loaded Stick'' (1935) * ''Barren Metal'' (1936) * ''The Lenient God'' (1936) * ''Time Piece'' (1936) * ''Fade Out'' (1937) * ''No Easy Way'' (1938) * ''Straws in Amber'' (1938) * ''Full Meridian'' (1939) * ''The Porcelain Clay'' (1939) * ''Susan Crowther'' (1940) * ''They Left the Land'' (1940) * ''The Cap of Youth'' (1941) * ''Under New Management'' (1941) * ''Leopards and Spots'' (1942) * ''White Wool'' (1943) * ''Honour's a Mistress'' (1946) * ''A Passage Perilous'' (1947) * ''Mary Of Delight'' (1949) * ''Every Other Gift'' (1950) * ''The Heart of the House'' (1950) * ''A Late Lark Singing'' (1951) * ''Just About Us'' (1953) * ''The Morning Will Come'' (1953) * ''Second Harvest'' (1953) * ''Antonia'' (1954) * ''Irish Boy'' (1955) * ''Prince China'' (1955) * ''Tales Of the Broad Acres'' (1955) * ''Wind on the Heath'' (1956) * ''What's To Come'' (1958) * ''Search for a Background'' (1960) * ''Three Men and Jennie'' (1960) * ''Strange Beginning'' (1961) * ''Great Black Oxen'' (1962) * ''Yolanda'' (1963) * ''Long Shadows'' (1964) * ''Flavia'' (1965)

The Gollantz Saga

* ''The Founder of The House'' (1935) * ''That Wild Lie'' (1930) * ''Young Emmanuel'' (1932) * ''Four Generations'' (1934) * ''Private Gollantz'' (1942) * ''Gollantz: London, Paris, Milan'' (1948) * ''Gollantz and Partners'' (1958)

References

* Paul Bailey, ''Like a Boiled Monkey : Naomi Jacob (1884-1964)''. In: ''Three queer lives: an alternative biography of Naomi Jacob, Fred Barnes and Arthur Marshall'' (London: Hamish Hamilton, 2001) p. 67-184 *George Malcolm Johnson, ''Jacob, Naomi Eleanor Clare (1884–1964)''. In: ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2004)

Citations

External links

Naomi Jacob Papers
at the

Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center The Mugar Memorial Library is the primary library for study, teaching, and research in the humanities and social sciences for Boston University. It was opened in 1966. Stephen P. Mugar, an Armenian immigrant who was successful in the grocery b ...

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

The Hilda Tablet plays

The family's love of wildlife.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacob, Naomi 1884 births 1964 deaths English stage actresses People from Ripon English lesbian writers English women novelists 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English women writers Actors from Middlesbrough Actresses from Yorkshire Jewish women writers English Jewish writers Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates