Edith Anna Œnone Somerville (2 May 1858 – 8 October 1949) was an Irish novelist who habitually signed herself as "E. Œ. Somerville". She wrote in collaboration with her cousin "Martin Ross" ( Violet Martin) under the pseudonym "

Somerville and Ross Somerville and Ross (Edith Somerville and Violet Florence Martin, writing under the name Martin Ross) were an Anglo-Irish writing team, perhaps most famous for their series of books that were made into the TV series ''The Irish R.M.''. The tele ...

". Together they published a series of fourteen stories and novels, the most popular of which were ''

The Real Charlotte ''The Real Charlotte'' is a novel (written between 1888 and 1890, and published in 1894) by the Anglo-Irish writing partnership Somerville and Ross, composed of Edith Somerville (1858–1949) and Violet Florence Martin (1862–1915). The first ...

'', published in 1894, and ''Some Experiences of an Irish R. M.'', published in 1899.

Early life and education

The eldest of eight children, Somerville was born on the island of

Corfu Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...

, then part of the

United States of the Ionian Islands The United States of the Ionian Islands ( el, Ἡνωμένον Κράτος τῶν Ἰονίων Νήσων, Inoménon-Krátos ton Ioníon Níson, United State of the Ionian Islands; it, Stati Uniti delle Isole Ionie) was a Greek state and a ...

, a British protectorate where her father was stationed.Boylan (1998) A year later, her father retired to Drishane, Castletownshend,

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...

, where Somerville grew up. Somerville is said to have dominated her sister and brothers in a family where women were encouraged to be bold. She received her primary education at home, and then attended

Alexandra College Alexandra College ( ir, Coláiste Alexandra) is a fee-charging boarding and day school for girls located in Milltown, Dublin, Ireland. The school operates under a Church of Ireland ethos. History The school was founded in 1866 and takes its ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

. In 1884 she went to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

for the first of several trips to study art at the

Académie Colarossi The Académie Colarossi (1870–1930) was an art school in Paris founded in 1870 by the Italian model and sculptor Filippo Colarossi. It was originally located on the Île de la Cité, and it moved in 1879 to 10 rue de la Grande-Chaumière in the ...

and

Académie Delécluse The Académie Delécluse was an atelier-style art school in Paris, France, founded in the late 19th century by the painter Auguste Joseph Delécluse. It was exceptionally supportive of women artists, with more space being given to women students ...

, and then spent a term at the

Westminster School of Art The Westminster School of Art was an art school in Westminster, London. History The Westminster School of Art was located at 18 Tufton Street, Deans Yard, Westminster, and was part of the old Royal Architectural Museum. H. M. Bateman described ...

Dean's Yard Dean's Yard, Westminster, comprises most of the remaining precincts of the historically greater scope of the monastery or abbey of Westminster, not occupied by its buildings. It is known to members of Westminster School as Green (referred to ...

, Westminster. At home, riding and painting were her absorbing interests.Boylan (1998)

Career

In January 1886, she met her cousin Violet Martin, and their literary partnership began the following year. Their first book, ''An Irish Cousin'', appeared in 1889, under the names Geilles Herring (from the maiden name of her ancestor, the wife of Sir Walter de Somerville of Linton and Carnwath) and Martin Ross, though the pen names were dropped after the first edition. In 1898 Edith Somerville went to paint at the

Etaples art colony The Étaples art colony consisted of artists working in the Étaples area of northern France at the turn of the 20th century. The colony had its heyday between 1880–1914, after which it was disrupted by World War I. Although broadly internationa ...

, accompanied by Violet. There they profited from their stay by conceiving together the stories later gathered in ''Some Experiences of an Irish R. M.'', completed the following year. By the time Violet died in 1915, they had published fourteen books together.Boylan (1998) Her cousin's death stunned Edith, who continued to write as "Somerville and Ross", claiming that they kept in contact through spiritualist séances. The precise nature of their relationship — whether they were romantic and sexual partners as well as literary collaborators and friends — has been the object of speculation by later writers. Somerville was a devoted sportswoman who, in 1903, had become master of the West Carbery Foxhounds. She was also active in the

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

movement, corresponding with Dame Ethel Smyth.Gifford (1887) She was in London still recovering from the shock of Violet's death when the

Easter Rising The Easter Rising ( ga, Éirí Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with t ...

of 1916 broke out. On 9 May, she wrote a letter to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'', blaming the British government for the state of affairs in Ireland.Gifford (1887) p. 160 After that, she tended towards

Nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...

, and as an adept musician at parties, she specialised in Irish tunes and Nationalist songs.Gifford (1887) p. 165 She had exhibitions of her pictures in Dublin and in London between 1920 and 1938, and was active as an illustrator of sporting picture books and children's picture books, including that of Ethel Penrose, another cousin. In 1936, her brother Henry Boyle Townsend Somerville, a retired Vice-Admiral in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

, was killed by the IRA at the family home in Castletownshend. She finished his book " Will Mariner" after his death.

Death and legacy

She died at Castletownshend in October 1949, aged 91, and is buried alongside Violet Florence Martin at Saint Barrahane's Church, Castletownsend.Gifford Lewis, ‘Somerville, Edith Anna Œnone (1858–1949)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 200
accessed 21 Aug 2017
/ref> A considerable archival legacy remains both at Castletownsend and in Trinity College Library. The ''Irish RM'' books were made into a TV series in 1983. ''Edith-a novel'', based on her life in the period 1921-22, by

Martina Devlin Martina Devlin is a novelist and newspaper columnist from Northern Ireland. Biography Devlin was born in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. She worked in Fleet Street for seven years before moving to Dublin. In England, she studied journal ...

, was published in 2022.

Bibliography

Collaborative novels

*''An Irish Cousin'' (1889) *''Naboth's Vineyard'' (1891) *''In the Vine Country'' (1893) nonfiction *''Through Connemara in a Governess Cart'' (1893) *''

'' (1894) *''Beggars on Horseback'' (1895) *''The Silver Fox'' (1897) *''Some Experiences of an Irish R. M.'' (1899) *''A Patrick's Day Hunt'' (1902) *''All on the Irish Shore'' (1903) *''Some Irish Yesterdays'' (1906) *''Further Experiences of an Irish R.M.'' (1908) *''Dan Russell the Fox'' (1911) *''In Mr Knox's Country'' (1915)

Solo novels

*''Irish Memories'' (1917) *''Mount Music'' (1919) *''The Big House of Inver'' (1925) *''The States through Irish Eyes'' (1930) *''An Incorruptible Irishman'' (1932) *''The Smile and the Tear'' (1933) *''The Sweet Cry of Hounds'' (1936) *''Sarah's Youth'' (1938) *''Maria and Some Other Dogs'' (1949)

References

Notes Sources * *

External links

* * *
The E. OE. Somerville and Martin Ross Exhibition
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Somerville, Edith Anna 1858 births 1949 deaths 19th-century Irish painters 20th-century Irish painters 19th-century Anglo-Irish people 20th-century Anglo-Irish people Irish women novelists Masters of foxhounds in Ireland People educated at Alexandra College People from County Cork 20th-century Irish women artists 19th-century Irish women artists Académie Delécluse alumni