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Women in Wolverhampton's
History Women in the Arts | 1 | 2 | 3 | Three examples of Wolverhampton born women who have excelled in the arts are opera singer Dame Maggie Teyte, composer and broadcaster Emma Dorothea Barcroft and poet and author Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler. Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler (1860-1929)
Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler, c.1900 (Y1/FOWLE) Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler was born at 7 Summerfield Road, Chapel Ash, in April 1860. Her father was Henry Hartley Fowler, a solicitor, councillor and Mayor of Wolverhampton. He later became a Liberal Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton East from 1880 until 1908, when he was created the first Viscount Wolverhampton. Ellen was educated first at home with her sister Edith and then at a private school in London. She began writing at the age of seven. Initially she wrote a series of poems based upon current events. After 1888 she had several volumes of poetry published. In 1891 she published Verses Grave and Gay and 1895 Verses Wise and Otherwise. Her first novel, Cupid's Garden, was published in 1897 followed by Concerning Isabel Carnaby (1898) a novel that won wide public acclaim; by 1899 the book was on its fifteenth edition and 40,000 copies had been sold. The novel was translated into French and German and a Braille version was also produced. A Double Thread (1899) called by the Daily Graphic "The Novel of the Year" and The Farringdons (1900) followed. These books have settings instantly recognisable to the local people of Wolverhampton, Tettenhall and Sedgley. Express and Star, 24th June 1929 Express and Star, 24th June 1929 On 16th April 1903 Ellen married Alfred Felkin, a senior teacher at the Royal Naval School at Mottingham near Eltham. The reception was held at the family home of Woodthorne at Tettenhall. The couple moved to Wayside, Eltham following the wedding, where they continued to live until 1916 when they moved to Bournemouth. From the time of her marriage until the time of her death Ellen continued to publish her books and poems, the last being Signs and Wonders (1926). Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler
died on 22nd June 1929. She is buried with her husband at All Saints,
Branksome Park, Poole in Dorset.
Obituary, Express and Star, 24th June 1929 Other works of Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler include: Love's Argument & other poems (1900) The Angel and the Demon & others (1901) Kate of Kate Hall (1904) Miss Fallowfield's Fortune (1908) Ten Degrees Backward (1915) The Lower Pool (1923)
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