Ethel Maud de Fonblanque (later Harter)
(1858-1942), Poet and novelistSitter in 1 portrait
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Eve Feng
27 May 2020, 02:30
Hello Colin, I would like to get in touch with you about this. I am a descendant of the De Fonblanque Family (Great Grandfather is Edward Barrington De Fonblanque "Dolly"). I believe John Samuel De Fonblanque was Edward Barrington De Fonblanque's (Twice) Great Uncle. Do you perhaps have anymore information about Ethel or any other De Fonblanque family member?
Many thanks,
Eve
Colin Campbell
09 April 2019, 07:46
Update to my last email: Ethel Maud de Grenier de Fonblanque was born in Brighton in 1858, and was the younger daughter of Albany Bentham John de Fonblanque and Charlotte Naomi Fitzmaurice, and grand-daughter of John Samuel Martin Fonblanque, a lawyer and legal writer. The Fonblanques were originally of Huguenot descent and prominent in legal and literary circles during the Victorian era. A great uncle was Albany William Fonblanque, journalist and Editor of The Examiner, who published contributions by John Stuart Mills, William Makepeace Thackery and Charles Dickens. Ethel married firstly Aurthur Cornwell Chester-Master and secondly Arthur Harter. In 1894 she published a volume of poems entitled A Chaplet of Love Poems, mainly focused on poems from a mother to her children. In 1900 she published The Women of Britain (John Bumpas Limited), poetry focused on the suffering of women when sons and husbands go off to war. In 1922 she published a romantic novel , a Love Conference (Heinemann), and her general literary output ranged from 1880 to 1933. She was an executive member of the Anglo-Italian Literature and Dante Society and a member of the social set of the Sitwells. An auction of her possessions in 1939 included paintings by Fragonard and Sir Theodore Lawrence. She died in Sunningdale, on 4th October 1942.
Colin Campbell
29 May 2018, 06:08
The sitter is highly likely to be a remote relation of myself, Miss Ethel Maud de Fonblanque. She was born about 1860 and became a novelist: a volume of her poetry is called a Chaplet of Love Poems. She died about 1944. I have a photo of her aged 20 and a daguerrotype of her father, Albany. Can provide more details.
Colin Campbell
18 November 2020, 11:57
Hi Eve, several things:
The person with the definitive knowledge of the Fonblanques in Emma Cox who is a professional family historian too: she has a very large family tree for the Fonblanques which, I'm sure, she would be willing to share. Best to do a search under 'Emma Cox family historian'. Both Emma and I are descended from Edward William Cox (1809-1879, many details on Web) and his second wife, Rosalinda (Rosa) de Grenier Fonblanque, who was Ethel's aunt. The Fonblanque children moved to England in 1740 as Huguenot refugees and have interesting links further back.
From this source I have the following information on Albany Fonblanque, Ethel's father:
Albany Fonblanque, born 1829. Barrister at law. Deputy Judge at Constantinople in 1862. Judge of the Consular Court, Alexandria. Consul at Carthagena, New Orleans, Arkansas and Mississippi Districts. Author of books on law, fiction, poems, articles. Died 25th March 1924.
Ethel had a sister, Caroline de Grenier de Fonblanque who appears to have been the author of a travelogue 'Five Weeks in Iceland'.
Assuming that the family stayed together, and that Ethel was not placed in a boarding school, then this suggests Ethel would have been much travelled and possibly recently arrived from the USA when this photograph was taken by Silvy.
My great-grandma, Hebe Barlow, was a singer and minor songwriter and I know that Ethel provided the lyrics for some of her songs.
As for me, I can be found by looking for 'Colin Campbell Bristol' (science background).