Gladys Skelton (6 September 1885 – 29 September 1975) was an Australian and United Kingdom poet, novelist and playwright who wrote using the pseudonym John Presland.
Early life edit
Gladys Skelton was born Gladys Williams in Melbourne in 1885.[1]
Career edit
Skelton gained history honours at Girton College, Cambridge University and was a university lecturer in English literature and lecturer in history and economics.[2][3] She was one of a group of women writers who used a male pseudonym.[3] In 1928, after a charge by Lord Birkenhead that women writers were inferior, she wrote in their defence and of her use of a pseudonym.[4]
Personal life edit
In 1920 Skelton obtained a divorce from her husband John Herbert Skelton on the grounds of desertion and adultery but the decree nisi was rescinded in 1921.[5] Skelton married Francis Edmund Bendit in Hampstead in March 1943.[6]
She died in England in 1975.[1]
Selected works edit
Novels edit
- Frustration (1925)
- Dominion (1925) - based on the life of Cecil Rhodes
- Barricade (1926)
- Escape me - Never! (1929)[7]
- Mosaic (1929)
- The Charioteer (1930)
- Albatross (1931)[8]
Poetry edit
- The Deluge and Other Poems (1911)
- Songs of Changing Skies (1913)
- Poems of London and Other Verses (1918)
- The Shaken Reed (1943)
- Selected Poems (1961)
Plays edit
- The Marionettes (1907) - a puppet show[9]
- Joan of Arc (1909) - historical drama[9]
- Mary Queen of Scots (1910) - historical drama[9]
- Manin and the Defence of Venice (1911)[1]
- Marcus Aurelius (1912)[9]
- Belisarius, General of the East (1913)[9]
- King Monmouth (1916)[9]
- Satni (1929)[9]
Non-fiction edit
- Vae Victis: the life of Ludwig von Benedek, 1804-1881. (1934)
- Women in the civilized state (1934)
References edit
- ^ a b c "Gladys Skelton". AusLit. Archived from the original on 18 August 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
- ^ "Author of a new novel". Illustrated London News: 14. 10 March 1928 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ a b "Women in the case". Staffordshire Sentinel. 18 November 1929. p. 6 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Sex and the Novelist. A Defence of the Woman Writer". Nottingham Evening Post. 16 March 1928. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Decree Rescinded. Skelton v. Skelton". The Times (London). 10 May 1921. p. 4 – via Times Digital Archive.
- ^ "Marriages". The Times (London). 22 March 1943. p. 1 – via Times Digital Archive.
- ^ "For her Child's Sake". Leeds Mercury. 16 May 1928. p. 4 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Airship Commander". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 23 September 1931. p. 6 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ a b c d e f g Nicoll, Allardyce (1973). English drama, 1900-1930; the beginnings of the modern period. Cambridge [England]: University Press. p. 894. ISBN 0-521-08416-4. OCLC 588815.