Florence Marryat
Encyclopedia
Florence Marryat was a British author and actress. The daughter of author Capt. Frederick Marryat
and his wife Catherine, she was particularly known for her sensational novels and her involvement with several celebrated spiritual mediums of the late nineteenth century. Her works include There is No Death (1891) and The Spirit World (1894).
, Sussex, in 1833, daughter of author and naval Captain Frederick Marryat
and his wife, Catherine (nee Shairp). Her parents separated when Marryat was young; her childhood was divided between her parents' residences, where she was privately educated.
Shortly before her 21st birthday, she wed Thomas Ross Church, an officer in the Madras staff corps of the British Army in India
; they spent the first seven years of their married life travelling India extensively before she returned to England in 1860 without her husband, who apparently visited only occasionally. She had eight children with Church, three of them while in India. She wrote her first novel, Love’s Conflict (1865), while her young children were suffering from scarlet fever, to distract herself from “sad thoughts”. The novel met with modest success and was followed by Too Good for Him and Woman Against Woman in the same year. In all, she wrote at least 70 novels, some of them treating such then-controversial themes as marital cruelty, adultery, spiritualism and alcoholism. In 1872, she wrote a biography of her father, Life and Letters of Captain Marryat. She also contributed to newspapers and magazines and authored some short stories and works for the stage. From 1872 to 1876 she edited the monthly magazine London Society.
By the mid-1870s Marryat was an internationally successful author and was living together with her future husband, Colonel Francis Lean of the Royal Marine Light Infantry. Church eventually sued for divorce in 1878, citing his wife’s adultery as the grounds. In 1876 to 1877, she collaborated with George Grossmith
in writing and performing a comic touring entertainment called Entre Nous. This piece consisted of a series of piano sketches, alternating with scenes and costumed recitations, including a two-person "satirical musical sketch", really a short comic opera
, by Grossmith called Cups and Saucers
. Marryat and her husband divorced in 1879; later that year, she wed Colonel Francis Lean, but they then divorced in 1880.
At the age of 43, in 1881, Marryat returned to the stage, playing the role of Hephzibah Horton in a drama she had written based on her novel Her World Against a Lie. The next year, she joined a D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
touring company in Gilbert and Sullivan
's Patience
, playing the role of Lady Jane. In 1884 she played Queen Altemire in a revival of W. S. Gilbert
's fairy comedy The Palace of Truth
in London with Herbert Beerbohm Tree
. She later appeared in her own one-woman show, Love Letters, and appeared as a lecturer, dramatic reader and public entertainer. She continued performing until 1890, when she played Casandra Doolittle in an operetta called The Dear Departed, and she continued writing for the rest of her life. In the 1890s, she ran a school of journalism and Literary Art. Some of her best known books on spiritualism included There Is No Death (1891), The Spirit World (1894) and A Soul on Fire. She wrote a lighthearted book about her travels in the United States called Tom Tiddler's Ground (1886).
Marryat died in 1899 from diabetes and pneumonia
and is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery
in London.
Frederick Marryat
Captain Frederick Marryat was an English Royal Navy officer, novelist, and a contemporary and acquaintance of Charles Dickens, noted today as an early pioneer of the sea story...
and his wife Catherine, she was particularly known for her sensational novels and her involvement with several celebrated spiritual mediums of the late nineteenth century. Her works include There is No Death (1891) and The Spirit World (1894).
Life
Marryat was born in BrightonBrighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
, Sussex, in 1833, daughter of author and naval Captain Frederick Marryat
Frederick Marryat
Captain Frederick Marryat was an English Royal Navy officer, novelist, and a contemporary and acquaintance of Charles Dickens, noted today as an early pioneer of the sea story...
and his wife, Catherine (nee Shairp). Her parents separated when Marryat was young; her childhood was divided between her parents' residences, where she was privately educated.
Shortly before her 21st birthday, she wed Thomas Ross Church, an officer in the Madras staff corps of the British Army in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
; they spent the first seven years of their married life travelling India extensively before she returned to England in 1860 without her husband, who apparently visited only occasionally. She had eight children with Church, three of them while in India. She wrote her first novel, Love’s Conflict (1865), while her young children were suffering from scarlet fever, to distract herself from “sad thoughts”. The novel met with modest success and was followed by Too Good for Him and Woman Against Woman in the same year. In all, she wrote at least 70 novels, some of them treating such then-controversial themes as marital cruelty, adultery, spiritualism and alcoholism. In 1872, she wrote a biography of her father, Life and Letters of Captain Marryat. She also contributed to newspapers and magazines and authored some short stories and works for the stage. From 1872 to 1876 she edited the monthly magazine London Society.
By the mid-1870s Marryat was an internationally successful author and was living together with her future husband, Colonel Francis Lean of the Royal Marine Light Infantry. Church eventually sued for divorce in 1878, citing his wife’s adultery as the grounds. In 1876 to 1877, she collaborated with George Grossmith
George Grossmith
George Grossmith was an English comedian, writer, composer, actor, and singer. His performing career spanned more than four decades...
in writing and performing a comic touring entertainment called Entre Nous. This piece consisted of a series of piano sketches, alternating with scenes and costumed recitations, including a two-person "satirical musical sketch", really a short comic opera
Comic opera
Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...
, by Grossmith called Cups and Saucers
Cups and Saucers
Cups and Saucers is a one-act "satirical musical sketch" written and composed by George Grossmith. It was first produced in 1876 on tour as a vehicle for Grossmith and Florence Marryat, as part of Entre Nous, their series of piano sketches...
. Marryat and her husband divorced in 1879; later that year, she wed Colonel Francis Lean, but they then divorced in 1880.
At the age of 43, in 1881, Marryat returned to the stage, playing the role of Hephzibah Horton in a drama she had written based on her novel Her World Against a Lie. The next year, she joined a D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...
touring company in Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
's Patience
Patience (opera)
Patience; or, Bunthorne's Bride, is a comic opera in two acts with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. First performed at the Opera Comique, London, on 23 April 1881, it moved to the 1,292-seat Savoy Theatre on 10 October 1881, where it was the first theatrical production in the...
, playing the role of Lady Jane. In 1884 she played Queen Altemire in a revival of W. S. Gilbert
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
's fairy comedy The Palace of Truth
The Palace of Truth
The Palace of Truth is a three-act blank verse "Fairy Comedy" by W. S. Gilbert first produced at the Haymarket Theatre in London on 19 November 1870, partly adapted from Madame de Genlis's fairy story, Le Palais de Vérite. The play ran for approximately 140 performances and then toured the British...
in London with Herbert Beerbohm Tree
Herbert Beerbohm Tree
Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree was an English actor and theatre manager.Tree began performing in the 1870s. By 1887, he was managing the Haymarket Theatre, winning praise for adventurous programming and lavish productions, and starring in many of its productions. In 1899, he helped fund the...
. She later appeared in her own one-woman show, Love Letters, and appeared as a lecturer, dramatic reader and public entertainer. She continued performing until 1890, when she played Casandra Doolittle in an operetta called The Dear Departed, and she continued writing for the rest of her life. In the 1890s, she ran a school of journalism and Literary Art. Some of her best known books on spiritualism included There Is No Death (1891), The Spirit World (1894) and A Soul on Fire. She wrote a lighthearted book about her travels in the United States called Tom Tiddler's Ground (1886).
Marryat died in 1899 from diabetes and pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
and is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in Kensal Green, in the west of London, England. It was immortalised in the lines of G. K. Chesterton's poem The Rolling English Road from his book The Flying Inn: "For there is good news yet to hear and fine things to be seen; Before we go to Paradise by way of...
in London.
Works
Marryat always used the name Marryat professionally, beginning with her first novel, Love's Conflict (1865), which she wrote to distract herself when her children developed scarlet fever. She published 67 more novels before her death, as well as various non-fiction works such as The Life and Letters of Captain Marryat (1872) and Gup (1868), an account of garrison life in India. There is No Death (1891) and The Spirit World (1894) give accounts of séances she attended.Sources
- Fodor, Nandor. "Florence Marryat," An Encyclopaedia of Psychic Science (1934).
- "Florence Marryat." The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IX. Published. New York: Robert Appleton Company (1910).