Ursula Bloom (11 December 1892 – 29 October 1984) was a British novelist, biographer and journalist.
Ursula Bloom | |
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Born | Ursula Harvey Bloom 11 December 1892 Springfield, Essex, England |
Died | 29 October 1984 Nether Wallop, Hampshire, England | (aged 91)
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Occupation |
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Genre | Romantic fiction |
Biography
editUrsula Harvey Bloom was born on 11 December 1892 in Springfield, Chelmsford, Essex, the daughter of the Reverend James Harvey Bloom, about whom she wrote a biography, Parson Extraordinary. She also wrote about her gypsy ("Diddicoy") great-grandmother, Frances Graver (born 1809), who was known as the "Rose of Norfolk", a sobriquet used by Bloom as the title of her biography. Bloom lived for a number of years in Stratford-upon-Avon, which was the subject of another book, Rosemary for Stratford-upon-Avon.[1]
She wrote her first book at the age of seven. Charles Dickens was always a dominant influence: she had read every book of his before she was ten years of age, and then re-read them in her teens. A prolific author, she wrote over 500 books, an achievement that earned her recognition in the 1975 edition of Guinness World Records.[2] Many of her novels were written under various pen names, including Sheila Burns, Mary Essex, Rachel Harvey, Deborah Mann, Lozania Prole and Sara Sloane.[3][4] She appeared frequently on British television. Her journalistic experiences were written about in her book The Mightier Sword. Her hobbies included needlework, which she exhibited, and cooking. She was a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.[5]
Ursula Bloom married twice: firstly, in 1916, to Captain Arthur Brownlow Denham-Cookes of the 24th (Queen's) London Regiment, late of the Inner Temple (son of Colonel George Denham-Cookes of the 3rd King's Own Light Dragoons and Hon. Clara, daughter of Charles Brownlow, 2nd Baron Lurgan),[6] in the face of his family's "sniffy disapproval"; his aristocratic mother was by this time a wealthy widow, of Prince's Gate, Knightsbridge.[7] Their son, George Philip ("Pip") Jocelyn, was born in 1917 (he married in 1944, Lorna Jean Iris, daughter of Charles Lawson, of Romford, and had issue).[8] Arthur died of influenza in 1918, in the final days of the war.[9] In 1925 she married Charles Gower Robinson (d. 1979), a Royal Navy Paymaster Commander; they lived at 191, Cranmer Court, London SW3.[10][11][12] She died on 29 October 1984, aged 91, in a nursing home in Nether Wallop, Hampshire.[13]
List of works
edit(incomplete list:)
- The Driving of Destiny (1925)
- The Judge of Jerusalem (1926)
- Candleshades: The Story of a Soul (1928)
- Base Metal: The Story of a Man (1928)
- The Eternal Tomorrow (1929)
- To-morrow for Apricots (1930)
- This is Marriage (c. 1930)
- The Secret Lover (1931)
- Pack Mule (1931)
- Fruit on the Bough (1931)
- Log of a Naval Officer's Wife (1932)
- Better to Marry (1933)
- Wonder Cruise (1933)
- Pastoral (1934)
- Laughter in Cheyne Walk (1936)
- Three Cedars (1937)
- These Roots Go Deep (1937)
- Marriage of Pierrot (1937)
- A Cad's Guide to Cruising (1938)
- The Laughing Lady (1938)
- The Golden Venture (1938)
- The ABC of Authorship (1938)
- Beloved Creditor (1939)
- No Lady Meets No Gentleman (1940)
- The Flying Swans (1940)
- Golden Flame (1941)
- Age Cannot Wither (1942)
- Time, Tide and I (1942)
- Marriage in Heaven (1943)
- A Robin in a Cage (1943)
- The Fourth Cedar (1944)
- No Lady in Bed (1944)
- Me After the War: A Book for Girls Considering the Future (1944)
- Rude Forefathers (1945)
- The Changed Village (1945)
- The Faithless Dove (1945)
- The Painted Lady (1945)
- You and Your Child (1946)
- You and Your Holiday (1946)
- A Garden for My Child (1946)
- Three Sons (1946)
- Caravan for Three (1947)
- No Lady With a Pen (1947)
- Pumpkin the Pup (1947)
- Three Sisters (1947)
- Gipsy Flower (1949)
- Next Tuesday (1949)
- No Lady in the Cart (1949)
- You and Your Looks (1949)
- You and Your Needle (1950)
- You and Your Fun (1950)
- The Song of Philomel (1950)
- Three Girls Come to Town (1950)
- The King's Wife (1950)
- Mum's Girl Was No Lady (1951)
- How Dark My Lady! (1951)
- Pavilion (1952)
- Moon Song (1952)
- Nightshade at Morning (1952)
- Twilight of a Tudor (1953)
- The Gracious Lady (1953)
- Marriage of Leonora (1953)
- The Girl's Book of Popular Hobbies (1954)
- Hitler's Eva (1954)
- Trilogy (1954)
- Curtain Call for the Guv'nor (1954) the story of George Edwardes
- Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (1954)
- Daughters of the Rectory (1955)
- The Tides of Spring Flow Fast (1956)
- The Silver Ring (1956)
- Victorian Vinaigrette (1956)
- No Lady Has a Dog's Day (1956)
- The Girl Who Loved Crippen (1957) the story of Dr Crippen and Ethel Le Neve
- Brief Springtime (1957)
- The Elegant Edwardian (1957)
- The Abiding City (1958)
- Down to the Sea in Ships (1958)
- Monkey Tree in a Flower Pot (1958)
- Down to the Sea in Ships (1958)
- He Lit the Lamp: A Biography of Professor A. M. Low (1958) the story of Archibald Low
- Youth at the Gate (1959)
- Undarkening Green (1959)
- The Inspired Needle (1959)
- Sixty Years of Home (1960)
- The Thieving Magpie (1960)
- The Romance of Charles Dickens (1960)
- The Cactus Has Courage (1961)
- War isn't Wonderful (1961)
- A Sailor's Love (1961)
- Prelude to Yesterday (1961)
- Harvest-Home Come Sunday (1962)
- Ship in a Bottle (1962)
- Parson Extraordinary (1963) the story of Bloom's father, the Reverend James Harvey Bloom
- The Gated Road (1963)
- Mrs Bunthorpe's Respects (1963)
- The Rose of Norfolk (1964) the story of Bloom's great-grandmother Frances Graver
- The House That Died Alone (1964)
- The Ring Tree (1964)
- The Ugly Head (1965)
- Price Above Rubies (1965)
- The Mightier Sword (1966) the story of Bloom's forays into journalism
- The Dandelion Clock (1966)
- Rosemary for Stratford-on-Avon (1966) the story of the town by Bloom while she was living there
- A Roof and Four Walls (1967)
- Two Pools in a Field (1967)
- The Old Adam (1967)
- Casualty Ward (1968)
- Mediterranean Madness (1968)
- Weep Not for Dreams (1968)
- The Dragonfly (1968)
- The Flight of the Falcon (1969)
- The House of Kent (1969)
- The Hunter's Moon (1969)
- The Tune of Time (1970)
- Rosemary for Frinton (1970)
- The Caravan of Chance (1971)
- Rosemary for Chelsea (1971)
- The Duke of Windsor (1972)
- Edwardian Day-dream (1972)
- The Ten Day Queen (1972)
- Cheval Glass (1973)
- The Old Rectory (1973)
- The Old Elm Tree (1974)
- Mirage on the Horizon (1974)
- The Twisted Road (1975)
- Life is No Fairy Tale (1976)
- The Turn of Life's Tide (1976)
- The Great Queen Consort (1976) the story of Queen Mary
- The House on the Hill (1977)
- Now Barabbas Was a Robber (1977)
- Edward and Victoria (1977) the story of Queen Victoria and Edward VII
- Woman Doctor (1978)
as Sheila Burns
edit- The Passionate Adventure (1936)
- Wonder Trip (1939)
- The Stronger Passion (1941)
- Romance of Jenny W.R.E.N. (1945)
- Week-end Bride (1946)
- Air Liner (1948)
- Love Me To-morrow (1952)
- The Lasting Lover (1959)
- Theatre Sisters in Love (1963)
- Acting Sister (1968)
- Cornish Rhapsody (1972)
- The Bells Still Ring (1976)
as Mary Essex
edit- Haircut For Samson (1940)
- Nesting Cats (1941)
- Eve Didn't Care (1941)
- Marry To Taste (1942)
- Freddy For Fun (1943)
- The Amorous Bicycle (1944)
- Young Kangaroos Prefer Riding (1947)
- Six Fools and a Fairy (1948)
- Tea is so Intoxicating (1950)
as Lozania Prole
edit- Our Dearest Emma (1949)
- The Enchanting Courtesan (1955)
- When Doctors Love (1958)
- The Wild Daughter (1963)
- Henry's Golden Queen (1964)
- Marlborough's Unfair Lady (1965)
as Rachel Harvey
edit- The Loves of a Virgin Princess (1968)
- Nurse on Bodmin Moor (1970)
- The Love Story of Nurse Julie (1975)
References
edit- ^ The Rose of Norfolk, Ursula Bloom, Robert Hale and Company, 1964, p. 7
- ^ Guinness Book of World Records vol. 13, Sterling Publishing Co., 1975, p. 208
- ^ Twentieth-Century Romance and Gothic Writers, ed. James Vinson, Macmillan Publishers, 1982, p. 81
- ^ "Ursula Bloom (1892-1984)". www3.shropshire-cc.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 28 December 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
- ^ Twentieth-Century Romance and Gothic Writers, ed. James Vinson, Macmillan Publishers, 1982, p. 81
- ^ Dod's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of Great Britain, and Ireland for 1903, Low, Marston & Co., 1903, p. 470
- ^ Amidst Cheers, They Marched to War: Four Warwickshire Villages, One Century of Conflict, Hannah Spencer, Matador, 2018, p. 91
- ^ The Aeroplane, vol. LXVII, Temple Press Ltd, 1944, p. 292
- ^ Bloom, Ursula (1959), Youth at the Gate, Hutchinson, London
- ^ Twentieth-Century Romance and Gothic Writers, ed. James Vinson, Macmillan Publishers, 1982, p. 81
- ^ Who's Who: an annual biographical dictionary, 120th edition, A. & C. Black, 1968, p. 290
- ^ Who was Who: A Companion to Who's Who, Containing the Biographies of Those who Died, vol. 8, A. & C. Black, 1981, p. 68
- ^ "Ursula Bloom Dies at 91". Newcastle Journal. No. 43006. 31 October 1984. p. 2. Retrieved 4 March 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.