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Eliza Margaret Jane Humphreys (14 June 1850 – 1 January 1938) (born Gollan) was an English novelist.[1]

Eliza Humphreys
Born14 June 1850 
Died1 January 1938  (aged 87)
OccupationWriter, editor 

Biography


Eliza Margaret Jane Gollan was born at Gollanfield in Inverness-shire, the daughter of John Gollan, a Scottish businessman and his wife, the daughter of the manager of the Bank of Bengal.[2] Her father travelled extensively, visiting India and Australia. Eliza received little formal education, but her talent for story writing was apparent at an early age. She used her experience of Australia to write a semi-autobiographical novel Sheba in 1889, using the pen-name ‘Rita’.[2] Another novel, Episodes, was originally published using the pen-name 'E. Jayne Gilbert.'

Eliza was married twice: first to the Anglo-German musician Karl Booth, with whom she had three sons. This unhappy marriage later provided Eliza with material for 4 novels Saba Macdonald (1906) The Grandmothers (1927), The Wand’ring Darling (1928) and Jean and Jeanette (1929). The marriage to Booth ended, but the author went on to a happy union with Anglo-Irish singer William Humphreys, with whom she had a daughter. Humphreys used the stage name, Desmond Humphreys, and after their marriage Eliza was known as Mrs. W. Desmond Humphreys.[2] Eliza spent her married life in Cork, Ireland, Bournemouth and Bath, Somerset. In 1910, she was listed as one of the celebrities of Bournemouth, with books published in French, German and Italian; at the time she was undertaking a tour of America.

The dedication in the first edition of Saba Macdonald reads: To "THE EMANACIPATED WOMAN" who owes her present freedom of mind, morals, and pastimes, to such repression and tyranny as formed the discipline of youth in days such as this book commemorates.[3]

Writing as ‘Rita’, Eliza was prolific (she wrote 120 published works) and popular (Peg the Rake (1894) sold 160,000 copies). Her stories often featured aristocratic characters, and exotic settings. Eliza was a woman earning by her own success, and she helped to found the Lyceum Club Writers’ Club for Women.[4] She was critical of ideas being imported from America.

After meeting Madame Blavatsky she became interested in Theosophy and wrote Calvary: A Tragedy of Sects (1909) exploring religious themes. This was one of her books that was made into a film. After the First World War Eliza struggled financially, as her husband became an invalid and her style of writing went out of fashion. However Queen Mary liked her books and ordered a complete set.

Eliza Humphrey’s final book was an autobiography Recollections of a Literary Life (1936). She died of heart failure in Bath, England on 1 January 1938; her husband died in the following year.[2]


Literature


A Man of no Importance is set in Salwych, which "Rita" based strongly on Droitwich Spa in Worcestershire, after visiting the town for treatment at its brine baths, in 1906.


Biography


A biography, "Rita" The Forgotten Author. has been written by Paul Jones.[4]


Novels and short stories


The Iron Stair, A romance of Dartmoor (1916)
"The Iron Stair, A romance of Dartmoor" (1916)
  1. The Millionaire Girl
  2. The Other Woman
  3. The Boots at No. 40
  4. The Passing of Miss Flint
  5. The Crank
  6. Riviera studies: The brave Mariana, The Tremblement at Bussana, The Haunted Bedroom, The Sealed Door
  7. The treacherous mountain
  8. The valley of desolation
  9. A Test of Endurance

References


  1. Eliza Humphreys google.com/site/bygonelore, accessed 26 December 2018
  2. "Humphreys [née Gollan], Eliza Margaret Jane [pseud. Rita; known as Mrs W. Desmond Humphreys] (1850–1938), novelist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/45494. Retrieved 10 March 2021. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. Saba Macdonald, by "Rita" 1906.
  4. Paul Jones: "Rita" The Forgotten Author amazon.co.uk, accessed 26 December 2018




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