Lillian Pyke

Lillian Maxwell Pyke (25 August 1881 – 31 August 1927) was an Australian children's writer who also wrote adult novels using the pseudonym Erica Maxwell.

Lillian Pyke
Pyke in 1924
Pyke in 1924
BornLillian Maxwell Heath
(1881-08-25)25 August 1881
Port Fairy, Victoria, Australia
Died31 August 1927(1927-08-31) (aged 46)
Brighton, Victoria, Australia
Pen nameErica Maxwell
Genre
  • Children's fiction
  • novelist
Children3, including Lawrence Richard Dimond Pyke
RelativesJohn Richard Pyke (grandson)

Pyke was born Lillian Maxwell Heath, the tenth child of Robert Mosely and Susannah Ellen Heath (née Wilson. She was educated at University High School in Melbourne.[1] Pyke worked as a teacher and journalist prior to her marriage.[2] She married Richard Dimond Pyke on 7 April 1906[3] and the couple moved to near Gympie, Queensland where he was an accountant for railway construction.[4] They had three children[2] before his death, by suicide, in December 1914.[5] He had been suffering from depression and had a breakdown at the end of an investigation into the relationship between him and fellow staff members, but there was no evidence of financial mismanagement.[6]

Pyke took her children to Melbourne where she took up writing again to support the family.[2]

Pyke died in hospital at Brighton, Victoria on 31 August 1927[7] and was buried in Box Hill Cemetery.[2] She had been suffering from chronic renal disease. She was survived by her two daughters and son.[8]

Works
  • Pyke, Lillian M. (1919), Camp kiddies: a story of life on railway construction, The Specialty Press[9]
  • Pyke, Lillian M. (1924), Brothers of the fleet, Sutcliffe, Norman (illustrator), Ward Lock
  • Pyke, Lillian M. (1924), Squirmy and bubbles: a school story for girls, Clark, Perce (illustrator), Whitcombe & Tombs[10]
  • Pyke, Lillian M. (1926), Three bachelor girls, Ward, Lock

References
  1. "Mrs Lillian M. Pyke". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 25, 291. Victoria, Australia. 1 September 1927. p. 14. Retrieved 30 September 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. Kingston, Beverley, "Pyke, Lillian Maxwell (1881–1927)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 30 September 2021
  3. "Family Notices". The Brisbane Courier. Vol. LXII, no. 15, 068. Queensland, Australia. 28 April 1906. p. 4. Retrieved 30 September 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. "Lillian M. Pyke". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  5. "Family Notices". The Age. No. 18, 631. Victoria, Australia. 5 December 1914. p. 7. Retrieved 30 September 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. "Magisterial Inquiry". Gympie Times and Mary River Mining Gazette. Vol. XLVII, no. 7315. Queensland, Australia. 15 December 1914. p. 5. Retrieved 30 September 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. "Family Notices". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 25, 291. Victoria, Australia. 1 September 1927. p. 1. Retrieved 30 September 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. "Death of an Australian Authoress". The Age. No. 22, 591. Victoria, Australia. 1 September 1927. p. 9. Retrieved 30 September 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. "Ladies Letter". Advocate, Melbourne. Vol. LI, no. 2461. Victoria, Australia. 22 November 1919. p. 35. Retrieved 30 September 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. Austlit. "Squirmy and Bubbles : A School Story for Girls | AustLit: Discover Australian Stories". www.austlit.edu.au. Retrieved 30 September 2021.


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