Fannie Gallaher
Fannie Gallaher | |
|---|---|
 Advert for F. M. Gallaher's books for children in 1889 | |
| Born | Francesca Mary Gallaher 30 May 1854 Cork, Ireland |
| Died | 22 December 1935 (aged 81) Ditchling, Sussex, England |
| Other names | Sydney Starr and F. M. Gallaher |
| Education | Alexandra College |
| Occupation(s) | writer, novelist and teacher |
| Employer(s) | Alexandra College and Adeline Marie Russell, Duchess of Bedford |
| Notable work | Katty the Flash: a mould of Dublin mud (1880) |
| Relatives | Patrick Gallaher (grandfather) |
Francesca (Fannie) Mary Gallaher aka Sydney Starr and F. M. Gallaher (30 May 1854 – 22 December 1935) was an Irish writer, novelist and teacher.
Early life
[edit]Gallaher was born in Cork in 1854, but the family soon moved to Dublin where she grew up.[1] Her parents were Sarah Gallaher (née Russell) and John Blake Gallaher, who was the editor of the Freeman's Journal for nearly thirty years.[2] Her grandfather was ventriloquist Patrick Gallaher. She had two brothers who were writers and associates of James Joyce.[3]
Career
[edit]Teaching
[edit]Gallaher attended Alexandra College, Dublin, and she after graduating was employed there as a teacher.[1]
Writing
[edit]Gallaher was also a writer. In 1880 her novel Katty the Flash: a mould of Dublin mud, centred on an impoverished woman who has a non-marital baby,[4][5] was published.[2] The same year her publishers also released A Son of Man under the pseudonym of Sydney Starr.[6]
Katty the Flash was successful and it was republished in the New York Sun and the Temple Bar magazine. Temple Bar attributed it to "Miss Gallaher", but the New York Sun was criticised by the Weekly Irish Times for allowing it to be amended and published under the name[1] of her rival May Laffan Hartley.[7] Gallaher's letter of protest to the plagiarism and unwelcome changes to her story were published in 1883. The confusion continued with a modern index still attributing Gallaher's story to Hartley.[7] Later critics have noted the stories "urban realism"[1] whilst representing women as significant figures who are either good or bad.[7]
Gallaher also wrote stories for children that were published in the 1880s.[citation needed] She wrote books on the teaching of domestic science that were used in schools in Northern Ireland[8] and were considered essential for new families by The Dublin Journal of Medical Science.[9]
Personal secretary
[edit]In 1884 she was employed as personal private secretary to Adeline Marie Russell. Duchess of Bedford and a campaigner for penal reform. Gallaher continued in this job until 1920 when Russell died and left her with an annuity of £400 per year.[1]
Death and legacy
[edit]Fannie Gallaher died at St. Georges Retreat, nursing home in Ditchling, Sussex on 22 December 1935.[1][10]
An anthology notes that Gallaher and Laffan's works described Irish urban settings in a new way that was continued by James Joyce and James Stephens.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f Cashman, Dorothy. "Gallaher, Francesca (Fannie) Mary". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
- ^ a b Kahn, Helena Kelleher (2005). Late Nineteenth-century Ireland's Political and Religious Controversies in the Fiction of May Laffan Hartley. ELT Press, University of North Carolina at Greensboro. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-944318-18-8.
- ^ "JJON - John Blake Gallaher". www.jjon.org. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
- ^ Pierse, Michael (2018). A History of Irish Working-Class Writing. Cambridge University Press. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-107-14968-7.
- ^ Murphy, James H. (13 January 2011). Irish Novelists and the Victorian Age. OUP Oxford. p. 165. ISBN 978-0-19-161659-4.
- ^ Starr, Sydney (1880). Katty the flash: a mould of Dublin mud. M. H. Gill & Son.
- ^ a b c d Deane, Seamus; Carpenter, Andrew; Bourke, Angela; Williams, Jonathan (1991). The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing. NYU Press. p. 927. ISBN 978-0-8147-9907-9.
- ^ Gallaher, F. M. (1890). Short lessons in domestic science (2nd ed.). Browne & Nolan.
- ^ The Dublin Journal of Medical Science. Fannin & Company. 1885. p. 43.
- ^ The London Gazette. 20 March 1936. p. 1851.