Rachel Ferguson, (1892–1957) was an English

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

. She wrote twelve novels, three memoirs, four satirical works, two biographies, and one play.

Life

Rachel Ethelreda Ferguson was born on 17 October 1892 at The Nest, Church Grove,

Hampton Wick Hampton Wick, formerly a village, is a Thames-side area of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, and is contiguous with Teddington and Kingston upon Thames. It is buffered by Bushy Park, one of the Royal Parks of London from Hampton and ...

. She was the third child of Robert Norman Ronald Ferguson, a Treasury Clerk, and his wife, Rose Geraldine (née Cumberbatch). Her grandfather was the physician Robert Ferguson. She was educated at home and then sent to a finishing school in Florence, Italy. By the age of 16 she was a fierce campaigner for women's rights and considered herself a suffragist: "I was as militant as authority allowed me to be. I wanted to go to prison but was refused on the score of age." She went on to become a leading member of the

Women's Social and Political Union The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and ...

. In 1911 she became a student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began a career on the stage, using the name Rachel Verney. She also had a small role in the film ''

The Ring and the Rajah ''The Ring and the Rajah'' is a 1914 British silent drama film directed by Harold M. Shaw and starring Edna Flugrath, Arthur Holmes-Gore and Vincent Clive.Nowell-Smith p.134 It was written by Anne Merwin. Cast * Edna Flugrath as Edith Blayne ...

''. When her theatrical career was cut short by the advent of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Ferguson joined the

Women's Volunteer Reserve The Women's Emergency Corps was a service organisation founded in 1914 by Evelina Haverfield, Decima Moore, and the Women's Social and Political Union to contribute to the war effort of the United Kingdom in World War I. The corps was intended to t ...

and also took to writing in earnest. She wrote for ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

'' ("As far as I know, I was the first woman ever to sign her articles"), and was the drama critic for the '' Sunday Chronicle'', writing under the name 'Columbine'. In 1923 she published her first novel, ''False Goddesses'', but it was not until 1931, when she published the absurdist novel ''The Brontës Went to Woolworths'', that she gained national recognition. She subsequently wrote ten more novels. Ferguson died in Kensington in 1957 at the age of 65.

Works

Novels

*''False Goddesses'' (1923) *''The Brontës Went to Woolworths'' (1931) (Reprinted as a

Virago Press Virago is a British publisher of women's writing and books on Feminism, feminist topics. Started and run by women in the 1970s and bolstered by the success of the Women's Liberation Movement (WLM), Virago has been credited as one of several Briti ...

in 1988 and as part of the

Bloomsbury Group The Bloomsbury Group—or Bloomsbury Set—was a group of associated English writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the first half of the 20th century, including Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster and Lytton Strac ...

in 2009) *''The Stag at Bay'' (1932) *''Popularity's Wife'' (1932) *''A Child in the Theatre'' (1933) *''A Harp in Lowndes Square'' (1936) (Reprinted by Dean Street Press in 2016) *''Alas, Poor Lady'' (1937) (Reprinted by

Persephone Books ''Persephone Books'' is an independent publisher based in Bath, England. Founded in 1999 by Nicola Beauman, Persephone Books reprints works largely by women writers of the late 19th and 20th century, though a few books by men are included. Th ...

in 2006) *''A Footman for the Peacock'' (1940) (Reprinted by Dean Street Press in 2016) *''Evenfield'' (1942) (Reprinted by Dean Street Press in 2016) *''The Late Widow Twankey'' (1943) *''A Stroll Before Sunset'' (1946) *''Sea Front'' (1954)

Memoir

*''Passionate Kensington'' (1939) *''Royal Borough'' (1950) *''We Were Amused'' (1958)

Satire

*''Sara Skelton: The Autobiography of a Famous Actress'' (1929) *''Victorian Bouquet: Lady X Looks On'' (1931) *''Nymphs and Satires: Humorous Sketches'' (1932) *''Celebrated Sequels'' (1934)

Biography

*''Memoirs of a Fir Tree: The Life of Elsa Tannenbaum'' (1946) *''And Then He Danced: The Life of Espinosa by Himself'' (1946)

Play

*''Charlotte Brontë: A Play in Three Acts'' (1933)

References

External links

*
Oxford DNBAuthor's Page Persephone Books
*

''at Persephone Books {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferguson, Rachel 1892 births 1957 deaths English women novelists 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English women writers