Hudson, Elizabeth

Edith Anna Oenone Somerville was born on 2 May 1858 in Corfu, Greece, where her father, a British army lieutenant colonel, was stationed. He retired to Ireland a year later, and Somerville grew up at Drishane House in County Cork. She attended Alexandra College and studied painting in London, Dusseldorf and Paris, but soon returned to Ireland.

In January of 1886, Somerville first met her younger cousin Violet Martin (almost always referred to as Martin Ross). The two began writing together, and in 1889 they published their first book, An Irish Cousin . They went on to collaborate on fourteen books, their most famous being the novel, The Real Charlotte (1894) and a collection of stories, Some Experiences of an Irish R.M. (1899). They lived together for many years at Drishane House, also traveling around Ireland and Europe. They were both accomplished horsewomen and enthusiastic fox hunters. In 1889 Martin suffered a riding accident from which she never fully recovered. She died in 1915, and while Somerville continued to write, her works did not receive the acclaim she enjoyed with her cousin.

After Martin's death, Somerville often traveled abroad. She also became interested in spiritualism and spirit writings, befriending the medium Geraldine Cummins, and frequently attempting to contact her cousin and other relatives who had passed away. Somerville died in Ireland on 3 October 1949.

Originally from Syracuse, New York, Elizabeth Hudson traveled to France during World War I to assist in the relief efforts for children left destitute by the war. While in France, she trained as a volunteer nurse, and served at the American Military Hospital No. 1 (also known as the American Ambulance Hospital) in Paris. She also served as a "marraine de guerre," a correspondent with soldiers, many of whom wrote to her even after the war. During World War II, Hudson served on the board of directors for the Coordinating Council of French Relief Societies.

Around 1925, she wrote to the Irish author Edith Somerville, and soon after, paid a visit to Somerville in Ireland. The two became friends, writing and visiting each other frequently. After the death of Hudson's good friend and companion, Dorothy Sturges, Somerville comforted Hudson by trying to contact Sturges using automatic writing. In the early 1930s Hudson began compiling a bibliography of first editions of books by Somerville and Ross. The project was postponed, first by the slowness of the editor who accepted the project, A. J. A. Symons, then by the outbreak of World War II, and finally by the death of Symons. A Bibliography of the First Editions of the Works of OE. Somerville and Martin Ross was eventually published in 1942 by the Sporting Gallery and Bookshop in New York. Elizabeth Hudson died in Syracuse, New York, in 1973, at the age of 88.

From the guide to the Elizabeth Hudson collection of E. Œ. Somerville & personal papers, 1879-1970, (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)

Epithet: wife of John Hudson of London

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000001124.0x0002fd