Alice Corkran

Alice Abigail Corkran was an Irish author of children's fiction and an editor of children's magazines. Born in France to Irish parents, she grew up in the stimulating environment of her mother's literary salon. She was a playmate of Robert Browning's ageing father, and still had his workbooks in her possession when she died. As well as writing a number of well received novels, she edited first the Bairn's Annual and then The Girl's Realm, being the founder of that magazine's Guild of Service and Good Fellowship, which maintained a cot at the Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children, among other charitable works.

Alice Corkran
Born(1843-05-20)20 May 1843
Paris, France
Died3 February 1916(1916-02-03) (aged 72)
Boscombe, then Hampshire but now Dorset, England
NationalityIrish[note 1][1]
Occupation(s)Writer and editor
Years active1876 – 1912
Known forWriting and editing children's fiction
Notable workDown the Snow Steps

Early life

Alice Corkran was born in Paris, France to John Frazer Corkran (1808 – 1884) and Louisa Walsh (1823 – 1892). She was the second oldest of five children: three girls, and two boys. Her father began life as a dramatist and had a play, The Painter of Italy, well received at the Theatre Royal, Dublin on 9 March 1840, but by that time he was already in Paris.[2][note 2][3] He was the Paris correspondent of the Morning Herald[note 3][4] and the Evening Standard.[5][6]

John was in Paris for all the excitement of the 1848 revolution and he wrote a book: History of the National Constituent Assembly from May, 1848 (1849)[5] that was said to be still the standard text on the constituent assembly more than 30 years later.[7]

Louisa Corkran married her husband in Dublin in June or July 1839.[8] They were soon in Paris where their five children were born; the first, Henrietta, was born on 21 October 1841.

Louisa's salon in Paris was frequented by M. Vigny, and by the whole literary group that acknowledged him as the leader. The poet Robert Browning was a friend, and his wife travelled twice a year to Paris to visit Louisa.[9]

Thackeray, then writing Vanity Fair, was also a friend of the family and almost acted as a fairy godfather to the children.[10] When the family returned to London, her house in Bloomsbury became a rendezvous for many eminent men and women of letters.[7]

Alice Corkran grew up in a stimulating environment. She was the playmate of Robert Browning's father, and she used to accompany the old man on his rambles along the quays in search of subjects to sketch. She was the old man's favourite.[11] She published some of his sketches to illustrate an article about the Brownings in The Girl's Realm in 1905.[12] She still had his old notebooks with their sketches when she died.[13]

Corkran was educated at home and studied art in Paris until the family had to leave Paris following some reverses of fortune.[14] They moved to Bloomsbury in London.

Works

Longer works

Corkran's fame rested in particular on her first novel Bessie Lang as well as her other novel Down the Snow Stairs. These works were cited occasionally to reference the author.[13][15][10] Both attracted very positive critical attention on first publication. Of Bessie Lang reviewers said:

  • "so sweet, so simple, and at the same time so strongly descriptive is the style in which this tale is told that it seems to have caught some feature of merit from each part in the telling." – The Examiner[16]
  • "If Miss Corkran is a novice in fiction, as her title-page would seem to indicate, she is a writer who may well have a future before her, for the pretty and touching tale she here gives us is told with a simplicity and absence of straining after effect which bespeak a true feeling for her art, whilst the beauty and pathos of many touches in it are unquestionable." – The Graphic[17]
  • "Indeed, so many the principal elements of a high-class work are undoubtedly to be found in " Bessie Lang," that the authoress may claim to have stepped at once into foremost place amongst contemporary writers of fiction. The reader will probably not have perused many pages without being agreeably reminded of such writings as those of Mrs. Gaskell, Mrs. Oliphant, Mrs. Craik, Miss Thackeray, whose works edify and interest by their purity and power rather than any perceptible straining after effect." – Birmingham Daily Gazette[18]

Down the Snow Stairs also attracted a favourable critical response:

  • "It is quite as enthralling as "Alice in Wonderland," but much more human and real. At the same time, every page is bathed in the golden and undying light of romance, without which a child's story-book is as uninteresting to little folks as an auctioneer's catalogue." – Sheffield Independent[19]
  • "We have rarely read anything better of its kind than "Down the Snow Stairs"." – The Scotsman[20]
  • "one of the most charming children’s stories imaginable, and will assuredly be very popular" – John Bull[21]
  • "We have to place this book alongside of Carrol's Alice in Wonderland...A better and brighter book we have not read for a long time." – Aberdeen Press and Journal[22]

After 1890, all of Corkran's longer works were non-fiction. Her non-fiction works were also well received by critics, and one of her obituaries referred to her book on Leighton as an excellent critical biography.[13]

The source for the following data is the British Library Catalogue (BL Cat.), supplemented and cross-checked against Kirk,[14] Sutherland,[23] Watson,[24] Library Hub Discover, and the Circulating Library database,[25] supplemented by searches of the used book trade.[26] The year of publication has been corrected from the nominal year, where necessary, by checking for reviews of the books in newspaper archives.[note 4]

Novels and non-fiction longer works by Corkran
NoYearTitleIllustrationsPagesPublisherCat.BLIAHT
11876Bessie Lang295London: William Blackwood & SonsYesYesYesYes
21879Latheby Towers. A novel1,833 (v.1 275, v.2 292, v.3 266)London : Richard Bentley & SonYesYesYesNo
31882The Adventures of Mrs. Wishing-to-be and other stories(3 f.p. colour illust.)192London : Blackie & SonYesNoYesYes
41883The Wings of Courage and the Cloud Spinner (translated from George Sand192London : Blackie & SonYesNoNoNo
51886Down the Snow StairsGordon Browne (60 illust. inc. 5 f.p.)257London : Blackie & SonYesNoYesYes
61887Margery Merton's GirlhoodGordon Browne (6 f.p. illust.)286London : Blackie & SonYesNoNoNo
71888Meg's FriendRobert Fowler (6 f.p. illust.)288London : Blackie & SonYesNoNoNo
81888Joan's Adventures at the North Pole and elsewhereb/w f.piece by Horace Petherick160London : Blackie & SonYesNoNoNo
91889The Fatal HouseNo143London : Ward & DowneyYesYesNoNo
101892The Poets' Corner, or Haunts and homes of the poetsAllan Barraud66London: Ernest NisterYesYesYesYes
111903Miniatures (Little Books on Art)52 b/w plates206London : Methuen & Co.NoNoNoNo
121904Frederic Leighton (Little Books on Art)3 b/w plates221London : Methuen & Co.YesNoNoYes
131905The Romance of Woman's InfluenceIllustrated: f.piece and portraits377London : Blackie & SonYesNoNoNo
141908The National Gallery16 b/w plates234London : Wells Gardner, Darton & Co.YesNoYesNo
151910The Dawn of British HistoryM. Lavars Harry (160+ illust. Inc. 16 f.p.)246London : George G. Harrap & Co.YesNoYesNo
161910The Life of Queen Victoria for boys and girlsAlan Wright (8 colour illust.)150London: T. C. & E. C. JackYesNoNoNo

Legend for the column headings:

Margery Merton's Girlhood is available online at Google Books, and Meg's Friend as a Gutenberg eText.

One work stands out on the list as being very dissimilar from the others, The Fatal House. This is a cheaply-priced (one shilling) melodrama completely unlike Corkran's other output, and there are no references on the title page to her other works. As noted in the table above, it is available as an online text at the British Library. The Morning Post said of the book: "Miss Alice Corkran has written a tale sufficiently full of mystery and horror to satisfy the most voracious appetite. "The Fatal House" exercises a baneful influence on all who reside under its roof. The history of its owners is one of crime, vice, and debauchery ; nothing but evil survives within its sin-tainted walls. Such ample evidence of this is adduced, that the unhappy wife of the last owner, in a state bordering on delirium, burns the house and its contents to the ground, thus lifting the curse which she feels has been laid upon it. It is an un- canny story from beginning to end, and its tone is morbid and unpleasant."[27]

Anthologies

Corkran published three anthologies of her stories:

  • The Adventures of Mrs. Wishing-To-Be and Other Stories (see within longer works above) contained the title story, plus "Willie and Mary in Search of Fairy Land" and "Wish-Day".
  • Mischievous Jack and Other Stories contained "Mischievous Jack and the Old Fisherman" and "A Little King" which had both appeared in the first volume of The Bairn's Annual in 1885;[28] and "Boppy's Repentance".
  • The Young Philistine, and Other Stories contained the title story, previously published as "A Young Philistine" in Merry England in 1885;[29] "Pere Perrault's Legacy", which had first appeared as "How Pere Perrault Spent his Legacy" in Belgravia in July 1882;[30] "A Village Genius" first published as "Mademoiselle Angele" in The Gentleman's Annual for 1881; and the lead story of the collection "The English Teacher at the Convent", which Sutherland said was notable among the short stories of Corkran, which "have some charm".[23] The story is a version of "Miss Martha's Bag", which appeared in the first number of Merry England.[31] The Athenaeum said of this collection that: "We find in Miss Corkran’s work a delicacy of touch, a fine humour, and a pathos which give to these little stories something of the charm and finish of a miniature."[32]
Anthologies of stories by Alice Corkran
NoYearTitlePagesPublisherBL Cat.
11886The Young Philistine: and other stories232London: Burns & OatesYes
21888Mischievous Jack, and other stories64London: Blackie & SonYes

The Young Philistine and other stories is available online at Google Books. Other anthologies that Corkran contributed to were:

  • The story "Pea Blossom" in Stories Jolly: Stories New: Stories Strange & Stories True. A Series of New and Original Tales For Boys and Girls, From Six to Fourteen Years Old (1889), edited by H. C. Adams, and published in London by Skeffington & Son
  • "The Adventures of a Would-Be King of the Giants" in The Children's Hour. A collection of stories & poems, (1896), edited by May Bateman and published in London by Simpkin & Marshall. This publication was sold in aid of the Princess May's Invalid Children's Aid Association.[33]
  • An unnamed story in the anthology 52 Stories for the Little Ones (1902), published in London by Hutchinson & Co. as part of their "52" series[34]

Editing and shorter works

Corkran edited the Bairn's Annual from 1885 to 1890 and contributed articles to it at the same time. The 1885 Annual is available online at Google Books. The annual was well received with the Freeman's Journal saying: "This is one of the most well-arranged and interesting children's books that we have seen for a long time, containing little stories of almost every class, and an original song with music. There is an etching as a frontispiece entitled "In Disgrace", which is worth all the money the book costs."[35] That front-piece was by William Luker jnr.[36]

The first issue of The Girl's Realm was published in 1898 with Corkran as both a contributor[37] and editor.[38] The first edition of the magazine, with 140 illustrations, was well reviewed. In the advert for The Girl's Realm in the London Daily News of 26 October 1898, the following reviewer comments about the magazine are quoted:[37]

  • "far out-distances anything of the kind hitherto offered" – World
  • "The variety in this number is extraordinary. . . The public reflects great credit on all concerned in its production..." – Daily News:
  • "appears to mix all the desirable ingredients of a girl's reading in happy proportion." – Queen

The Girl's Realm ran for 17 volumes from November 1898 to November 1915.[39] It then seems to have been folded into The Woman at Home, where Corkran was the editor for three years, resigning in early 1902.[40] She remained involved with the magazine, not only as a contributor,[41] but also as the founder and guiding spirit of the Guild of Service and Good Fellowship, one of the leading features of the magazine.[42]

The guild was founded in April 1900 by Corkran and charged a nominal subscription to members. The guild supported a cot at the Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children, and also provided a scholarship to the Royal College of Music. Other activities included providing Christmas treats, one in Bethnal Green for 117 children and one in Kensal Green for 360 children, with the Guild members themselves providing the presents.[43] The guild had over 2,300 members by 1905.[44]

Kirk, who wrote in 1891, reported that Corkran "is now a journalist, contributing to many London papers."[14] Corkran contributed stories and pieces to a range of publications, including the magazines:

  • The Gentleman's Annual for 1881 - "Mademoiselle Angele". Available at Google Books.
  • Belgravia - "How Pere Perrault Spent his Legacy". Available at Google Books.
  • Merry England - "Miss Martha's Bag", "A Face in the Window" (Aug 1883), "The Doctor's Guest" (Mar 1884), "A Young Philistine", "Pere Perrault's Legacy", "A Village Genius". Also articles. Available at Internet Archive.
  • The Bairn's Annual - "Mischievous Jack and the Old Fisherman" and "A Little King". Available at Google Books.
  • The Gentleman's Magazine - "Doctor Gregory", (Mar 1892). Available at Google Books.
  • Aunt Judy's Magazine
  • The Girl's Realm
  • The Lady's Realm
  • Atalanta[45]
  • The Scottish Art Review[46]
  • The Leeds: Mercury Supplement[47]
  • Jabberwock[48]

In 1902, after leaving the editorship of The Girl's Realm, Corkran was a literary reviewer in the Daily News and was also contributing articles to various London papers.[49]

Later life and death

Corkran's mother, Louisa, died in 1882. She had been in declining health for some time and in her final years she depended largely on her daughter Alice's care.[7] Corkran's father died in 1884 and her parents are buried together at Brompton Cemetery.[50][51]

Corkran had a health scare in October 1892 when she was run over by a brougham in Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London. Her leg was badly injured and she suffered from shock, and recovered only slowly, so that it was the end of the year before she could resume literary work.[52]

In 1901, Corkran was living in Mecklenburgh Square with her sister Harriet and Richard Whiteing.[53] She was still living with Whiteing (who had separated from his wife) at the time of the 1911 census where she described her position in the house as inmate, which the enumerator corrected to the approved term boarder.

Both her sisters died in 1911. Henrietta, who died on 17 March 1911, had never married.[54] Her sister Mary had married Barclay V. Head of the British Museum[55] and had one daughter, Alice Augusta Louisa, who was living with her father at the time of the 1911 census (immediately after her mother's death on 30 March 1911).[56] The dates of the deaths of the two brothers is uncertain, but Whiteing says that Alice was the last remaining survivor of her branch of the family,[11] and one death notice referred to her being the last surviving child of her late father.[57]

Corkran was plagued by poverty in her later years[23] and also suffered from declining health. She died suddenly, but not unexpectedly, on 2 February 1916.[10] Her niece, Alice Augusta Louisa Head, was an executrix of her will.

Notes
  1. Although she lived her whole adult life in England, she repeatedly described herself as Irish. Both her parents were Irish and she was born in Paris. She was the eighth interviewee for the "distinguished Irishwomen in London" series in the Lady of the House and her interview appeared in the July 1891 edition.
  2. The play must have been a success as it was also presented in the Theatre Royal the following May.
  3. While the supplement to Allibone, the Stanford Companion, and the New Cambridge Bibliography gave the name of the paper as the London Herald, the Art Correspondent of the East Anglican Daily Times, who was very knowledgeable about the family, named it as the Morning Herald, which was from the same stable as the Evening Standard.
  4. It was common practice at the time to date children's books for the following year as they were normally published for Christmas, and would still look "fresh" the following Christmas. This practice is described in the page on G. A. Henty.

References
  1. ""Lady of the House"". Irish Times (Wednesday 15 July 1891): 5. 15 July 1891.
  2. "Theatre Royal, Dublin". Dublin Evening Post (Tuesday 10 March 1840): 3. 10 March 1840.
  3. "Theatre Royal, Dublin". Freeman's Journal (Friday 15 May 1840): 1. 15 May 1840.
  4. "At the Studios". East Anglian Daily Times (Tuesday 31 March 1896): 3. 31 March 1896.
  5. Kirk, John Foster (1891). "Corkran, John Frazer". A Supplement To Allibone S Critical Dictionary Of English Literature British And American Authors Vol I. Vol. I. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company. p. 389. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  6. "Author: John Frazer Corkran (1808–1884)". At the Circulating Library: A database of Victorian Fiction 1837-1901. Archived from the original on 5 August 2016. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  7. "A Famous Literary Lady". Glasgow Evening Post (Wednesday 02 March 1892): 2. 2 March 1892.
  8. "Marriages". Dublin Morning Register (Tuesday 02 July 1839): 4. 2 July 1839.
  9. "A Memory of Mrs Browning". The Tewkesbury Register, and Agricultural Gazette. (Saturday 08 April 1911): 7. 8 April 1911.
  10. "Death of Miss Corkran". Bournemouth Guardian (Saturday 12 February 1916): 8. 12 February 1916.
  11. Whiteing, Richard (1915). My Harvest. London: Hodder & Stroughton. p. 261.
  12. "The Library". The Queen (Saturday 21 January 1905): 41. 21 January 1905.
  13. "Lady Author's Death". Belfast Telegraph (Wednesday 09 February 1916): 3. 9 February 1916.
  14. Kirk, John Foster (1891). "Corkran, Miss Alice Abigail". A Supplement To Allibone S Critical Dictionary Of English Literature British And American Authors Vol I. Vol. I. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company. p. 389. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  15. "Men and Matters". Globe (Saturday 05 February 1916): 8. 5 February 1916.
  16. "Minor Notices". The Examiner (Saturday 11 November 1876): 16. 11 November 1876.
  17. "New Novels". Graphic (Saturday 02 December 1876): 16. 2 December 1876.
  18. "Literature". Birmingham Daily Gazette (Monday 15 January 1877): 8. 15 January 1877.
  19. "Literary Notes: Blackie and Son". Sheffield Independent (Thursday 14 October 1886): 6. 14 October 1886.
  20. "Christmas Books". The Scotsman (Saturday 09 October 1886): 12. 9 October 1886.
  21. "Miscellaneous Notices: Down the Snow Stairs". John Bull (Saturday 02 October 1886): 10. 2 October 1886.
  22. "Literature: Messrs. Blackie & Son's Announcements". Aberdeen Press and Journal (Monday 25 October 1886): 2. 25 October 1886.
  23. Sutherland, John (1989). "Corkran, Alice (Abigail)". The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. p. 150.
  24. Watson, George (1971). "Children's Books: Principal Writers". The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, Volume 3, 1800-1900. pp. 1096–7.
  25. "Author: Alice Corkran (1856–1916)". At the Circulating Library: A database of Victorian Fiction 1837-1901. Archived from the original on 12 October 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  26. "Corkran, Alice". AbeBooks.com. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  27. "Untitled". Morning Post (Wednesday 10 April 1889): 8. 10 April 1889.
  28. "Christmas Books for Children". Tablet (Saturday 14 November 1885): 21. 14 November 1885.
  29. "Merry England". Sheffield Daily Telegraph (Thursday 06 August 1885): 3. 6 August 1885.
  30. "Belgravia for July". Field (Saturday 24 June 1882): 16. 24 June 1882.
  31. "Reviews: Merry England". Wells Journal (Thursday 10 May 1883): 3. 10 May 1883.
  32. "Literature". The Athenaeum (3089): 57. 8 January 1887. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  33. "For the Benefit of the Princess May's Invalid Children's Aid Association". The Queen (Saturday 19 December 1896): 38. 19 December 1896.
  34. "Publishers Announcements". Pall Mall Gazette (Friday 05 December 1902): 3. 5 December 1902.
  35. "The Bairn's Annual for 1885-86". Freeman's Journal (Friday 06 November 1885): 2. 6 November 1885.
  36. "The Bairn's Annual for 1885-6". Aberdeen Free Press (Monday 26 October 1885): 3. 26 October 1885.
  37. "Advert for The Girl's Realm". London Daily News (Wednesday 26 October 1898): 7. 26 October 1898.
  38. "Social Record". Hull Daily Mail (Friday 07 October 1898): 2. 7 October 1898.
  39. Watson, George (1971). "Newspapers and Magazines: Magazines and Reviews: Monthly Magazines". The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, Volume 3, 1800-1900. p. 1854.
  40. "Jottings of a Journalist". The Tatler (Wednesday 09 April 1902): 33. 9 April 1902.
  41. "Christmas Carols". Mid Sussex Times (Tuesday 16 December 1902): 7. 16 December 1902.
  42. "The Woman at Home". Globe (Friday 07 April 1916): 6. 7 April 1916.
  43. "The Girl's Realm Guild". The Queen (Saturday 21 September 1901): 29. 21 September 1901.
  44. "Girl's Realm Guild". The Queen (Saturday 21 January 1905): 28. 21 January 1905.
  45. "Literary Notes: Blackie and Son". Shoreditch Observer (Saturday 18 February 1893): 4. 18 February 1893.
  46. "Publications: The Scottish Art Review". Glasgow Evening Post (Saturday 30 March 1889): 3. 30 March 1889.
  47. "Leeds Mercury Supplement". Leeds Mercury (Friday 22 July 1904): 3. 22 July 1904.
  48. "The New Magazines". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser (Monday 24 July 1905): 8. 24 July 1905.
  49. "Notes by "Observer"". Worcestershire Chronicle (Saturday 29 November 1902): 4. 29 November 1902.
  50. Office of works and successors: Royal Parks and Pleasure Gardens. "Series Number: Work 97; Piece Number: 151". Brompton Cemetery Records. Kew, London: The National Archives.
  51. Office of works and successors: Royal Parks and Pleasure Gardens. "Series Number: Work 97; Piece Number: 175". Brompton Cemetery Records. Kew, London: The National Archives.
  52. "Personal Jottings". Worcestershire Chronicle (Saturday 31 December 1892): 6. 31 December 1892.
  53. "People who Write". The Tatler (Wednesday 11 September 1901): 18. 11 September 1901.
  54. "Wills and Probates 1858-1996: Pages for Corkran and Year of Death 1911, p. 207". Find a Will Service. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  55. "Marriages". Morning Advertiser (Friday 27 August 1869): 8. 27 August 1869.
  56. "Wills and Probates 1858-1996: Pages for Head and Year of Death 1911, p. 207". Find a Will Service. Archived from the original on 19 September 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  57. "Births Marriages and Deaths: Deaths: Corkran". Bournemouth Guardian (Saturday 05 February 1916): 1. 5 February 1916.
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