Maude Gertrude Annesley Webster-Wedderburn Hadden Rider Brownlow (11 January 1871 – 6 November 1930) was a British novelist who published under the name Maude Annesley.

Maude Annesley
Born11 January 1871 Edit this on Wikidata
Newcastle-under-Lyme Edit this on Wikidata
Died6 November 1930 Edit this on Wikidata (aged 59)
Spouse(s)Henry Alexander Hadden, William Henry Rider, Harry Blaikie Brownlow Edit this on Wikidata

She was born Maude Gertrude Annesley Webster-Wedderburn on 11 January 1871 in Newcastle-under-Lyme, the daughter of Major George Gordon Trophime-Gérard de Lally-Tollendal Webster-Wedderburn, son of James Webster-Wedderburn, and Caroline Teresa Dixon.[1][2]

She married Henry Alexander Hadden, a solicitor, in 1892. Still married to Hadden, Annesley moved to Paris with William Henry Rider, a publisher, in 1902. The ensuing divorce was a public scandal.[3]

Annesley was a contributor to The Fortnightly Review, The Westminster Gazette, and other publications. She published a number of novels mainly featuring, in the words of Sandra Kemp, "restless daughters and wives." Some of them featured supernatural elements, like the clairvoyant protagonist of The Door of Darkness (1909) or the sinister hypnotist of Shadow-Shapes (1911).[4] Two of her novels were adapted for film: Wind Along the Waste (1910) as Shattered Dreams (1922) and The Wine of Life (1907) as the 1924 film of the same name.[5]

According to her great-grandson John Stewart, Rider introduced Annesley to "the world of the occult, the Golden Dawn, Swinburne, MacGregor Mather, drugs and orgies," which eventually took their toll on her. Her third husband had her institutionalized at Camberwell House Lunatic Asylum in Peckham.[3]

Maude Annesley died on 6 November 1930.[6]

Personal life

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Maude Annesley was married three times:

  • Henry Alexander Hadden, in 1892. They had a daughter, Betty Valentia Hadden Stewart (1893-1978)[1]
  • William Henry Rider, in 1902.[1]
  • Major Harry Blaikie Brownlow, in 1915.[1]

Bibliography

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  • The Wine of Life (1907)[7]
  • The Door of Darkness (1909)[7]
  • This Day's Madness (1909)[7]
  • Wind Along the Waste (1910)[7]
  • All Awry (1911)[7]
  • Shadow-Shapes (1911)[7][8]
  • Nights and Days (1912)[7]
  • The Sphinx in the Labyrinth (1913)[7]
  • My Parisian Year: A Woman's Point of View (1914)[7]
  • Blind Understanding (1915)[7]
  • The Player (1922)[7]
  • Where I Made One (1923)[7]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 2, page 2984.
  2. ^ Wedderburn, Alexander Dundas Ogilvy (1898). The Wedderburn book. A history of the Wedderburns in the counties of Berwick and Forfar, designed of Wedderburn, Kingennie, Easter Powrie, Blackness, Balindean and Gosford ... 1296-1896. [With plates, including portraits, facsimiles and genealogical tables.]. National Library of Scotland. S.l., : For private circulation. pp. 334–335.
  3. ^ a b Stewart, John (2008-03-14). Byron and the Websters: The Letters and Entangled Lives of the Poet, Sir James Webster and Lady Frances Webster. McFarland. p. 198. ISBN 978-0-7864-3240-0.
  4. ^ Kemp, Sandra (1997). Edwardian fiction : an Oxford companion. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-811760-5.
  5. ^ The complete index to literary sources in film. London: Bowker-Saur. 1999. ISBN 978-3-11-095194-3.
  6. ^ The Times, Friday, Nov  7, 1930
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Who was who in literature, 1906-1934. Detroit: Gale Research Company. 1979. ISBN 978-0-8103-0402-4.
  8. ^ Bleiler, Everett Franklin (1983). The guide to supernatural fiction. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press.