tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post8690577142776979803..comments2024-03-28T12:00:55.653-07:00Comments on FURROWED MIDDLEBROW: Update: The Edwardians (Part 2 of 4)Furrowed Middlebrowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-30258041953745798582023-11-10T00:53:52.236-08:002023-11-10T00:53:52.236-08:00To update: Mabel Barnes Grundy's mother was bo...To update: Mabel Barnes Grundy's mother was born Sarah Goddard of Park Hall in Staffordshire, and Mabel's father John Gaskell was one of the Gaskells of Clifton Hall in Lancashire (so perhaps a relation of Mrs Gaskell?). As such was a cousin of Lord Clive of India and a descendant of Thomas Goddard, Director of The Bank of England. Mabel and her first husband - Lecturer in Chemistry at The Royal Navy College, Greenwich - Frank Barnes lived at The Red House in Richmond-upon-Thames. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-1216665893632489892016-03-25T13:02:36.611-07:002016-03-25T13:02:36.611-07:00That's so interesting, Andrew, thanks for shar...That's so interesting, Andrew, thanks for sharing it. I never get tired of hearing from people with connections to these authors--I need to trace my English roots a bit more and see if I can muster any connections myself! By the way, I can't tell you how many times I've found information about an author's appropriate birth year (probably self-reported, such as in census records), and then the actual birth certificate has been found a number of years earlier--shaving a few years off of one's age has always been popular!Furrowed Middlebrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-76153610247490916472016-03-24T07:31:14.572-07:002016-03-24T07:31:14.572-07:00Mabel Barnes Grundy is cousin-by-marriage to my gr...Mabel Barnes Grundy is cousin-by-marriage to my grandmother. We believe she was born in 1869 but sometimes she gave her year of birth as 1880! Her first husband is a relative of mine: a scientist called Frank Barnes Grundy (1871-1910) and they lived at 1 Helena Terrace overlooking the River Thames at Richmond. They had no children. I vaguely knew she later married a diplomat. Sadly we have no photos of her! <br />Andrew Stewart MacKay Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-22282902227744501512014-06-05T22:18:24.772-07:002014-06-05T22:18:24.772-07:00Thanks for all of this wonderful information! The...Thanks for all of this wonderful information! The Two Miss Speckles surely belongs on my Hopeless Wish List when I revise it (as I've been meaning to do for months now), and Hilary on Her Own is sounding right up my alley too--I've just downloaded it from Google Books, though heaven knows when I'll have time to actually dive in. Thanks for the lovely teasers! (And by the way your comments are teasers in a sense too, since you're staying anonymous!) Love the Bronte photo too--how will anyone ever be able to determine if it could be real, I wonder?Furrowed Middlebrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-81149632411939109302014-06-05T22:01:06.864-07:002014-06-05T22:01:06.864-07:00CAUTION: Contains Plot Spoilers.
"THE Two Mi...CAUTION: Contains Plot Spoilers.<br /><br />"THE Two Miss Speckles. By Mabel Barnes-Grundy. (Published by Hutchinson & Co. 9s. 6d.) This is a tale of two sisters living in Bath under war conditions, but the atmosphere seems to be more that of Cranford or Quality, and the characters of the sisters resemble somewhat those in these two classics. In this case the younger, Unity, is completely dominated by her severe elder sister, and her life is nearly wrecked because Euphemia did not consider a suitor named William Onions a fit mate for a Speckles. The story tells how the sisters, inspired by a quotation from George Bernard Shaw which they do not understand, decide that they are not pulling their weight in the war effort, and that they might take into their comfortable home some of the unfortunates driven from their own homes and miserable in lodgings or hotels. The contrasting characters of these paying guests are fitted into a Bath that seems to be still in the last century. There are some amusing scenes, as of Miss Unity lying in bed revelling in the tales of Edgar Allan Poe while she hugs a "very hot bottle" and ends her orgy with a piece of chocolate. How many have tried that way of "escape" in these war years? The book ends happily with the romantic marriage with her lover, and her niece with the wounded R.A.F. officer." — "The National and English Review"; Vol. 127; 1946<br />http://books.google.com/books?id=d9HUAAAAMAAJAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-41283174214354847982014-06-05T21:58:49.648-07:002014-06-05T21:58:49.648-07:00I initially had my heart set on "The Two Miss...I initially had my heart set on "The Two Miss Speckles" (1946), as it has to do with the taking in of paying guests. (I've posted a synopsis found online in a separate comment.)<br /><br />But, as is often the case, the titles I'm most eager to read aren't available online, or are too pricey. But I've found more than enough to make me happy in "Hilary on Her Own" (1908). Miss Hilary Forrest, age 22, grown weary of a comfortable life at home, announces, "I want to work, to live, to make a career, to see life." I would have preferred an older heroine, a spinster ideally, but through Hilary, who will find employment as a secretary and then seek housing, I've made the acquaintance of the delightful Sparrow sisters, Miss Susie and Miss Bobbie...<br /><br />"The door opened gently, and a very diminutive and quite the sweetest-looking little lady I had ever met entered the room shyly, and yet composedly." This is Miss Susie, with a figure "so slight that one could imagine her being able to crawl through one of the old-fashioned croquet-hoops with ease." (Here I envisioned tiny actress Esma Cannon : )<br /><br />I devoured Chapters 12 and 13—"In Quest of a Boarding-House" and "Of the Misses Sparrow's High-Class Boarding House". Hilary's fellow boarders are, at the start, an elderly woman and six gentlemen.<br /><br />Sweet and sunny so far, with humorous touches too—"Mr. Inglis had been known to regard the parlour-maid with both eyes at one and the same time (perhaps in a moment of mental abstraction)"—the very thing I enjoy as a break from middlebrow with a little more substance, and vintage crime fiction.<br /><br />And, yes, the possibility of a connection to Elizabeth Gaskell, however remote, is most intriguing. I was reminded of Mrs. Gaskell recently with regards to her Brontë connection. A possible photographic image of the three sisters (thought to be an 1850s copy of an 1840s original) is the subject of a fascinating study. It has yet to be authenticated, or dismissed. <br />http://www.brontesisters.co.uk/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-66050789180713622332014-06-05T06:48:02.779-07:002014-06-05T06:48:02.779-07:00Wow, thanks so much for all of this! I've add...Wow, thanks so much for all of this! I've added it to my database. Have you been reading Barnes-Grundy's work as well? I have one of her novels on my Kindle, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Her maiden name makes me wonder if she could be related to Elizabeth Gaskell, but I suppose that's asking too much!Furrowed Middlebrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-43651238811196197602014-06-05T02:46:04.180-07:002014-06-05T02:46:04.180-07:00Postscript to the above. A little extra from “The ...Postscript to the above. A little extra from “The London Gazette” as to her final movements. <br /><br />Name of Deceased: WILEMAN, Mabel Sarah<br /><br />Address, description and date of death of Deceased: Various hotels but latterly at Bournemouth, Widow. 16th January, 1952.<br /><br />Solicitor information is provided as well. Page image viewable at https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/39477/page/1165Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-26478939009680539842014-06-04T19:42:34.632-07:002014-06-04T19:42:34.632-07:00I've become very interested in Mabel Barnes-Gr...I've become very interested in Mabel Barnes-Grundy, so thought I'd share what I've come across. Alas, I haven't succeeded in finding a photo of her either; hopefully one will surface someday : ) An image of her second husband can be viewed at: http://www.takaoclub.com/britishconsuls/alfred_ernest_wileman.htm<br /><br />Extract: <br />"...Alfred Ernest Wileman married Mabel Sarah Grundy, the widowed daughter of John Gaskell and Sarah Goddard, in 1918 at St Martin’s, London. Mabel Sarah Barnes Grundy was a prolific author of historically-based romantic fiction, publishing over 25 titles between 1902 and 1946.<br /><br />Alfred Ernest Wileman died on 15 February 1929 within a few days of his 69th birthday while wintering on the Riviera at the Riviera Palace Hotel, Menton, France. After his death his widow Mabel Sarah Wileman donated his collection of butterflies and moths to the Natural History department of the British Museum, now the Natural History Museum. Mabel Sarah Wileman died aged 83 at 61 Russian Drive, Stoneycroft, Liverpool, on 16 January 1952."<br /><br />OTHER <br />Christening (1869)<br />https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JMMY-VL6<br /><br />First Marriage (1896) to Frank Barnes Grundy<br />https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/2D1F-177<br /><br />Residence (1901)<br />https://familysearch.org/search/record/results?count=20&query=%2Bsurname%3AGrundy~%20%2Brecord_country%3AEngland%20%2Bresidence_place%3A%22Fowey%2C%20Cornwall%2C%20England%22~<br /><br />Second Marriage (1918) to Alfred E. Wileman<br />https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/26J3-35R<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-34548251206881563262013-12-07T22:21:56.178-08:002013-12-07T22:21:56.178-08:00This is wonderful too. It seems like you've d...This is wonderful too. It seems like you've done research on Horn? OCEF apparently got some of her information wrong, as they speculated she died about 1924. They did mention that her married name was Weigall. I'll be sure and update her information when I do the next revision of the full list. Thanks so much! And I'm definitely intrigued by Edward and I now, it's been bumped up my "to read" list.Furrowed Middlebrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110409019861653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-8738086705884084382013-12-07T18:09:33.462-08:002013-12-07T18:09:33.462-08:00Kate Horn can be very good. Her real name was C.E...Kate Horn can be very good. Her real name was C.E.C. Weigall (1866-1951). She published some novels under that name (first name Constance) but mostly she published as Kate Horn. Mysteriously, her last novel was published in 1927, though she lived to 1951 (died in Portsmouth, England). Her writing has a liveliness and life-affirming outlook which I enjoy. One of the very hardest authors in terms of finding her books! "Edward and I" often available in old editions. "Frivole" can be found--it is a sort of sequel. There is a haunting beauty to "Edward and I" which is hard to define. She had three children; one son killed in WWI. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5595702824833504762.post-52993378337127231452013-10-01T14:47:16.967-07:002013-10-01T14:47:16.967-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Thickethouse.wordpresshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17187303460677067276noreply@blogger.com