Agnes Romilly White

Agnes Romilly White
Born4 August 1872
Dungannon, County Tyrone, Ireland
Died11 June 1945 (age 72)
Antrim, Ireland
OccupationWriter
NationalityIrish

Agnes Romilly White (4 August 1872 – 11 June 1945) was an Irish novelist and poet, who wrote two novels in the 1930s, about an Irish village in the 1890s, and the human dramas and comedies therein.[1][2]

Biography

White was the born in Dungannon, Tyrone, the daughter of Rev. Robert White and his wife Anna Maria Matthews White.[3] Her father was the rector of St. Elizabeth's Church of Ireland[4] and was based in Dundonald, now a suburb of Belfast, from 1890 to 1912.[1][5] White had at least two sisters and two brothers. One of her brothers was Herbert Martin Oliver White, a lecturer at Queen's University, who was appointed to the Chair of English at Trinity College Dublin over the poet Austin Clarke.[6]

White died in 1945, at the age of 72, in Antrim.[7] Both of her novels were reprinted in the 1980s.[8] Trinity College Dublin holds a collection of her correspondence.[9][10]

Publications

White made the small village of Dundonald and the cottages famous in her two novels, Gape Row (1934) and Mrs. Murphy Buries the Hatchet (1936).[11] Reviews of White's work appeared in major publications. Country Life described Gape Row as "enchanting", "a fascinating picture of peasant life", "full of humour and humanity."[12] In the London Mercury, a reviewer wrote that "the plot is wound up rather too tidily—with the aid of coincidence and the local witch," in Mrs. Murphy Buries the Hatchet, "but the people are alive, and Mrs. Murphy's endless conversation is extremely entertaining."[13]

C. S. Lewis, who lived in Dundonald as a boy,[14] wrote about Gape Row to a friend: "It is not a very good novel" but added that "The scenery is quite well described, and it is probably the only chance you or I will ever have of seeing that landscape described in fiction."[15]

Her poetry appeared in Irish Monthly and The New Ireland Review.[16]

Novels

  • Gape Row (1934)[6]
  • Mrs. Murphy Buries the Hatchet (1936)[8]

Poetry

  • "Blossoms" (1897, Irish Monthly)[17]
  • "White Roses" (1897, Irish Monthly)[18]
  • "You Never Come" (1897, Irish Monthly)[19]
  • "A Grey House by the Sea" (1902, Irish Monthly)[20]
  • "After the Children's Practice" (1902, Irish Monthly)[21]
  • "Come!" (1902, Irish Monthly)[22]
  • "Dawn" (1902, The New Ireland Review)[23]
  • "Come Back, Asthore!" (1902, The New Ireland Review)[24]
  • "Daffodil" (1903, The Irish Monthly)[25]
  • "Window-Lights at Sea" (1903, The Irish Monthly)[26]

References

  1. ^ a b John Wilson Foster (14 December 2006). The Cambridge Companion to the Irish Novel. Cambridge University Press. pp. 156–. ISBN 978-1-139-82788-1.
  2. ^ Ingman, Heather; Gallchoir, Clíona Ó (26 July 2018). A History of Modern Irish Women's Literature. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-65458-6.
  3. ^ "Residents of a house 21 in Ballyregan (Dundonald, Down)". Census of Ireland 1911. The National Archives of Ireland. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  4. ^ Ganiel, Gladys; Holmes, Andrew R. (2024). The Oxford Handbook of Religion in Modern Ireland. Oxford University Press. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-19-886869-9.
  5. ^ "Dundonald Railway Station, Then and Now... DUNDONALD VILLAGE". Dundonaldrail.co.uk. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  6. ^ a b Norman Vance (11 June 2014). Irish Literature Since 1800. Routledge. pp. 173–. ISBN 978-1-317-87050-0.
  7. ^ England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995; Agnes Romilly White, probate date 24 October 1846; via Ancestry.
  8. ^ a b White, Agnes Romilly (1989). Mrs Murphy Buries the Hatchet. Internet Archive. Belfast: White Row Press. ISBN 978-1-870132-25-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  9. ^ Irish Manuscripts Commission. "Correspondence of Agnes Romilly White, Ulster writer, author of `Gape Row', mostly business and family correspondence, 1920-1946". Sources for Irish Women’s History. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
  10. ^ White, Agnes Romilly. "Correspondence with Family and Publishers". The National Archives; Trinity College Dublin. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
  11. ^ Aidan Campbell (15 April 2016). Belfast Through Time. Amberley Publishing Limited. pp. 19–. ISBN 978-1-4456-3660-3.
  12. ^ B.E.S. (12 May 1934). "Review of Gape Row". Country Life. 75 (1947): 493 – via Internet Archive.
  13. ^ "Review of Mrs. Murphy Buries the Hatchet". The London Mercury. 35 (205): 92. November 1936 – via Internet Archive.
  14. ^ Duriez, Colin (2 May 2013). C S Lewis: A biography of friendships. Lion Books. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-7459-5725-8.
  15. ^ Lewis, C. S. (Clive Staples) (1979). They stand together : the letters of C. S. Lewis to Arthur Greeves, 1914-1963. Internet Archive. New York : Macmillan Pub. Co. pp. 470–471. ISBN 978-0-02-553660-9.
  16. ^ Barr, Rebecca; Buckley, Sarah-Anne; Kelly, Laura (18 September 2015). Engendering Ireland: New Reflections on Modern History and Literature. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 174. ISBN 978-1-4438-8307-8.
  17. ^ White, Agnes Romilly (September 1897). "Blossoms". Irish Monthly. 25 (291): 472.
  18. ^ White, Agnes Romilly (November 1897). "White Roses". The Irish Monthly. 25 (293): 595.
  19. ^ White, Agnes Romilly (December 1897). "You Never Come". Irish Monthly. 25 (294): 633.
  20. ^ White, Agnes Romilly (March 1902). "A Grey House by the Sea". Irish Monthly. 30 (345): 180.
  21. ^ White, Agnes Romilly (May 1902). "After the Children's Practice". Irish Monthly. 30 (347): 261.
  22. ^ White, Agnes Romilly (June 1902). "Come!". Irish Monthly. 30 (348): 310.
  23. ^ White, Agnes Romilly (March 1902). "Dawn". The New Ireland Review. 17 (1): 16.
  24. ^ White, Agnes Romilly (April 1902). "Come Back, Asthore!". The New Ireland Review. 17 (2): 80.
  25. ^ White, Agnes Romilly. "Daffodil." The Irish Monthly 31, no. 357 (1903): 158-158.
  26. ^ White, Agnes Romilly. "Window-Lights at Sea." The Irish Monthly 31, no. 366 (1903): 700-700.

Further reading

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