Ursula Bloom

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Ursula Bloom
BornUrsula Harvey Bloom
11 December 1892 (1892-12-11)
Springfield, Essex, England
Died29 October 1984 (1984-10-30) (aged 91)
Nether Wallop, Hampshire, England
Pen name
  • Sheila Burns
  • Mary Essex
  • Rachel Harvey
  • Deborah Mann
  • Lozania Prole
  • Sara Sloane
Occupation
  • Novelist
  • biographer
  • journalist
GenreRomantic fiction

Ursula Bloom (11 December 1892 – 29 October 1984) was a British novelist, biographer and journalist.

Biography

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Ursula Harvey Bloom was born on 11 December 1892 in Springfield, Chelmsford, Essex, the daughter of the Reverend James Harvey Bloom, about whom she wrote a biography, Parson Extraordinary. She also wrote about her gypsy ("Diddicoy") great-grandmother, Frances Graver (born 1809), who was known as the "Rose of Norfolk", a sobriquet used by Bloom as the title of her biography. Bloom lived for a number of years in Stratford-upon-Avon, which was the subject of another book, Rosemary for Stratford-upon-Avon.[1]

She wrote her first book at the age of seven. Charles Dickens was always a dominant influence: she had read every book of his before she was ten years of age, and then re-read them in her teens. A prolific author, she wrote over 500 books, an achievement that earned her recognition in the 1975 edition of Guinness World Records.[2] Many of her novels were written under various pen names, including Sheila Burns, Mary Essex, Rachel Harvey, Deborah Mann, Lozania Prole and Sara Sloane.[3][4] She appeared frequently on British television. Her journalistic experiences were written about in her book The Mightier Sword. Her hobbies included needlework, which she exhibited, and cooking. She was a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.[5]

Ursula Bloom married twice: firstly, in 1916, to Captain Arthur Brownlow Denham-Cookes of the 24th (Queen's) London Regiment, late of the Inner Temple (son of Colonel George Denham-Cookes of the 3rd King's Own Light Dragoons and Hon. Clara, daughter of Charles Brownlow, 2nd Baron Lurgan),[6] in the face of his family's "sniffy disapproval"; his aristocratic mother was by this time a wealthy widow, of Prince's Gate, Knightsbridge.[7] Their son, George Philip ("Pip") Jocelyn, was born in 1917 (he married in 1944, Lorna Jean Iris, daughter of Charles Lawson, of Romford, and had issue).[8] Arthur died of influenza in 1918, in the final days of the war.[9] In 1925 she married Charles Gower Robinson (d. 1979), a Royal Navy Paymaster Commander; they lived at 191, Cranmer Court, London SW3.[10][11][12] She died on 29 October 1984, aged 91, in a nursing home in Nether Wallop, Hampshire.[13]

List of works

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(incomplete list:)

  • The Driving of Destiny (1925)
  • The Judge of Jerusalem (1926)
  • Candleshades: The Story of a Soul (1928)
  • Base Metal: The Story of a Man (1928)
  • The Eternal Tomorrow (1929)
  • To-morrow for Apricots (1930)
  • This is Marriage (c. 1930)
  • The Secret Lover (1931)
  • Pack Mule (1931)
  • Fruit on the Bough (1931)
  • Log of a Naval Officer's Wife (1932)
  • Better to Marry (1933)
  • Wonder Cruise (1933)
  • Pastoral (1934)
  • Laughter in Cheyne Walk (1936)
  • Three Cedars (1937)
  • These Roots Go Deep (1937)
  • Marriage of Pierrot (1937)
  • A Cad's Guide to Cruising (1938)
  • The Laughing Lady (1938)
  • The Golden Venture (1938)
  • The ABC of Authorship (1938)
  • Beloved Creditor (1939)
  • No Lady Meets No Gentleman (1940)
  • The Flying Swans (1940)
  • Golden Flame (1941)
  • Age Cannot Wither (1942)
  • Time, Tide and I (1942)
  • Marriage in Heaven (1943)
  • A Robin in a Cage (1943)
  • The Fourth Cedar (1944)
  • No Lady in Bed (1944)
  • Me After the War: A Book for Girls Considering the Future (1944)
  • Rude Forefathers (1945)
  • The Changed Village (1945)
  • The Faithless Dove (1945)
  • The Painted Lady (1945)
  • You and Your Child (1946)
  • You and Your Holiday (1946)
  • A Garden for My Child (1946)
  • Three Sons (1946)
  • Caravan for Three (1947)
  • No Lady With a Pen (1947)
  • Pumpkin the Pup (1947)
  • Three Sisters (1947)
  • Gipsy Flower (1949)
  • Next Tuesday (1949)
  • No Lady in the Cart (1949)
  • You and Your Looks (1949)
  • You and Your Needle (1950)
  • You and Your Fun (1950)
  • The Song of Philomel (1950)
  • Three Girls Come to Town (1950)
  • The King's Wife (1950)
  • Mum's Girl Was No Lady (1951)
  • How Dark My Lady! (1951)
  • Pavilion (1952)
  • Moon Song (1952)
  • Nightshade at Morning (1952)
  • Twilight of a Tudor (1953)
  • The Gracious Lady (1953)
  • Marriage of Leonora (1953)
  • The Girl's Book of Popular Hobbies (1954)
  • Hitler's Eva (1954)
  • Trilogy (1954)
  • Curtain Call for the Guv'nor (1954) the story of George Edwardes
  • Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (1954)
  • Daughters of the Rectory (1955)
  • The Tides of Spring Flow Fast (1956)
  • The Silver Ring (1956)
  • Victorian Vinaigrette (1956)
  • No Lady Has a Dog's Day (1956)
  • The Girl Who Loved Crippen (1957) the story of Dr Crippen and Ethel Le Neve
  • Brief Springtime (1957)
  • The Elegant Edwardian (1957)
  • The Abiding City (1958)
  • Down to the Sea in Ships (1958)
  • Monkey Tree in a Flower Pot (1958)
  • Down to the Sea in Ships (1958)
  • He Lit the Lamp: A Biography of Professor A. M. Low (1958) the story of Archibald Low
  • Youth at the Gate (1959)
  • Undarkening Green (1959)
  • The Inspired Needle (1959)
  • Sixty Years of Home (1960)
  • The Thieving Magpie (1960)
  • The Romance of Charles Dickens (1960)
  • The Cactus Has Courage (1961)
  • War isn't Wonderful (1961)
  • A Sailor's Love (1961)
  • Prelude to Yesterday (1961)
  • Harvest-Home Come Sunday (1962)
  • Ship in a Bottle (1962)
  • Parson Extraordinary (1963) the story of Bloom's father, the Reverend James Harvey Bloom
  • The Gated Road (1963)
  • Mrs Bunthorpe's Respects (1963)
  • The Rose of Norfolk (1964) the story of Bloom's great-grandmother Frances Graver
  • The House That Died Alone (1964)
  • The Ring Tree (1964)
  • The Ugly Head (1965)
  • Price Above Rubies (1965)
  • The Mightier Sword (1966) the story of Bloom's forays into journalism
  • The Dandelion Clock (1966)
  • Rosemary for Stratford-on-Avon (1966) the story of the town by Bloom while she was living there
  • A Roof and Four Walls (1967)
  • Two Pools in a Field (1967)
  • The Old Adam (1967)
  • Casualty Ward (1968)
  • Mediterranean Madness (1968)
  • Weep Not for Dreams (1968)
  • The Dragonfly (1968)
  • The Flight of the Falcon (1969)
  • The House of Kent (1969)
  • The Hunter's Moon (1969)
  • The Tune of Time (1970)
  • Rosemary for Frinton (1970)
  • The Caravan of Chance (1971)
  • Rosemary for Chelsea (1971)
  • The Duke of Windsor (1972)
  • Edwardian Day-dream (1972)
  • The Ten Day Queen (1972)
  • Cheval Glass (1973)
  • The Old Rectory (1973)
  • The Old Elm Tree (1974)
  • Mirage on the Horizon (1974)
  • The Twisted Road (1975)
  • Life is No Fairy Tale (1976)
  • The Turn of Life's Tide (1976)
  • The Great Queen Consort (1976) the story of Queen Mary
  • The House on the Hill (1977)
  • Now Barabbas Was a Robber (1977)
  • Edward and Victoria (1977) the story of Queen Victoria and Edward VII
  • Woman Doctor (1978)

as Sheila Burns

[edit]
  • The Passionate Adventure (1936)
  • Wonder Trip (1939)
  • The Stronger Passion (1941)
  • Romance of Jenny W.R.E.N. (1945)
  • Week-end Bride (1946)
  • Air Liner (1948)
  • Love Me To-morrow (1952)
  • The Lasting Lover (1959)
  • Theatre Sisters in Love (1963)
  • Acting Sister (1968)
  • Cornish Rhapsody (1972)
  • The Bells Still Ring (1976)

as Mary Essex

[edit]
  • Haircut For Samson (1940)
  • Nesting Cats (1941)
  • Eve Didn't Care (1941)
  • Marry To Taste (1942)
  • Freddy For Fun (1943)
  • The Amorous Bicycle (1944)
  • Young Kangaroos Prefer Riding (1947)
  • Six Fools and a Fairy (1948)
  • Tea is so Intoxicating (1950)

as Lozania Prole

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  • Our Dearest Emma (1949)
  • The Enchanting Courtesan (1955)
  • When Doctors Love (1958)
  • The Wild Daughter (1963)
  • Henry's Golden Queen (1964)
  • Marlborough's Unfair Lady (1965)

as Rachel Harvey

[edit]
  • The Loves of a Virgin Princess (1968)
  • Nurse on Bodmin Moor (1970)
  • The Love Story of Nurse Julie (1975)

References

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  1. ^ The Rose of Norfolk, Ursula Bloom, Robert Hale and Company, 1964, p. 7
  2. ^ Guinness Book of World Records vol. 13, Sterling Publishing Co., 1975, p. 208
  3. ^ Twentieth-Century Romance and Gothic Writers, ed. James Vinson, Macmillan Publishers, 1982, p. 81
  4. ^ "Ursula Bloom (1892-1984)". www3.shropshire-cc.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 28 December 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  5. ^ Twentieth-Century Romance and Gothic Writers, ed. James Vinson, Macmillan Publishers, 1982, p. 81
  6. ^ Dod's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of Great Britain, and Ireland for 1903, Low, Marston & Co., 1903, p. 470
  7. ^ Amidst Cheers, They Marched to War: Four Warwickshire Villages, One Century of Conflict, Hannah Spencer, Matador, 2018, p. 91
  8. ^ The Aeroplane, vol. LXVII, Temple Press Ltd, 1944, p. 292
  9. ^ Bloom, Ursula (1959), Youth at the Gate, Hutchinson, London
  10. ^ Twentieth-Century Romance and Gothic Writers, ed. James Vinson, Macmillan Publishers, 1982, p. 81
  11. ^ Who's Who: an annual biographical dictionary, 120th edition, A. & C. Black, 1968, p. 290
  12. ^ Who was Who: A Companion to Who's Who, Containing the Biographies of Those who Died, vol. 8, A. & C. Black, 1981, p. 68
  13. ^ "Ursula Bloom Dies at 91". Newcastle Journal. No. 43006. 31 October 1984. p. 2. Retrieved 4 March 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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