{{Short description|English novelist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [[File:Helen Mathers 0001.jpg|thumb|Helen Mathers ''ca.'' 1893 by Stanislaw Walery]]
'''Ellen Buckingham Mathews''' (26 August 1849 – 10 March 1920) was a popular English novelist during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She was also known as Mrs Reeves<ref>{{cite journal|title=Mathers, Helen (Mrs. Henry Mathers)|journal=Who's Who|page= 1667|year=1919|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015047639912;view=1up;seq=1709}}</ref> after her marriage in 1877 to Dr. Henry Albert Reeves (1841–1914)<ref name=LCVL/><ref>{{cite journal|journal=The Midland Medical Miscellany|title=Henry Albert Reeves|year=1882|volume=1|issue=5|pages=65–66|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TScCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA64-IA3}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Reeves, Henry Albert|journal=Who's Who|page= 1676|year=1913|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3453201;view=1up;seq=1710}}</ref> but was best known under her pen name, '''Helen Mathers'''.<ref name=LCVL/>
==Biography== She was born in Misterton, Somerset, to Thomas Mathews, a horsehair manufacturer, and Maria Ann Mathews.<ref name="1871census">''1871 England Census''</ref> Her first novel, ''Comin' thro' the Rye'' was published in 1875. It was partly based on people in her life and on her own early romantic experiences. She also acknowledged Rhoda Broughton as an early influence. She continued to write until her death.
She was educated at a boarding school in Chantry near Frome in Somerset. In her first novel, ''Comin' thro' the Rye'', she describes some of her experiences at school. ''Mr Russell'' in the novel was the Rev. Mr. Fussell in real life, who was the Lord of the manor and founder of the school. In the novel she calls the village Charteris. From 1875 to 1895, the novel sold more than 35,000 copies.<ref name=LCVL>{{cite book|title=The Longman Companion to Victorian Literature|chapter=Mathers, Helen|year=2009|edition= 2nd|page=426|isbn=9781317863335|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X2KuBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA426|last1=Sutherland|first1=John|publisher=Routledge }}</ref>
Due to a confusion of titles, some sources attribute a number of books by Scottish novelist Anne S. Swan to Mathers. Mathers published a short novel entitled ''Land o' the Leal, by the Author of Comin' Thro' the Rye''" in 1878.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bell |first1=Bill |last2=Finkelstein |first2=David |last3=McCleery |first3=Alistair |title=The Edinburgh History of the Book in Scotland: Professionalism and diversity 1880-2000 |date=2007 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-0-7486-1829-3 |page=395 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=13vgAAAAMAAJ&q=Swan+The+Land+o%27+the+Leal+pseudonym+David+Lyall,+in+1896 |access-date=21 July 2024 |language=en}}</ref>
She died in Brondesbury in 1920.<ref>{{cite news |title=Death of Helen Mathers |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000649/19200313/200/0008 |access-date=21 July 2024 |work=Liverpool Daily Post |date=13 March 1920 |page=8 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>
== Bibliography == *''Comin’ Thro' the Rye'', 1875 *''The Token of the Silver Lily'', 1877. Poetry *''Cherry Ripe!: A Romance'', 1878 *''Land o' the Leal'', 1878 *''As He Comes up the Stair'', 1878 *''My Lady Greensleeves'', 1879 *''Story of a Sin'', 1882 *''Eyre's Acquittal'', 1883 *''Sam's Sweetheart'', 1883 *''Jock o' Hazelgreen'', 1884 (also contains ''The Land o' the Leal'' and other stories) *''Found Out: A Story'', 1885 *''Murder or Manslaughter'', 1885 *''The Fashion of this World'', 1886 *''Blind Justice'', 1890 *''The Mystery of No 13'', 1891 *''My Jo, John: A Novel'', 1891 *''T'other Dear Charmer'', 1892 *''The Fate of Fenella'', 1892. Mathers contributed one chapter to this multi-author novel. *''A Study of a Woman'', 1893 *''What the Glass Told'', 1893 *''A Man of Today'', 1894 *''The Lovely Malincourt: A Novel'', 1895 *''The Rebel'', 1896 *''The Juggler and the Soul'', 1896 *''The Sin of Hagar'', 1896 *''Bam Wildfire: A Character Sketch'', 1898 *''Becky'', 1900 *''Cinders: A Novel'', 1901 *''Honey'', 1902 *''Venus Victrix (What the Glass Told; The Mystery of No. 13; What the Glass Told; My Jo, John)'', 1902 *''Dahlia and Other Stories'', 1903 *''Dimples'', 1903 *''Griff of Griffithscourt'', 1903 *''The Face in the Mirror and Other Stories'', 1903 *''The New Lady Teazle and other stories'', 1903 *''Side-shows'', 1904 *''The Ferryman'', 1905 *''Tally, Ho!'', 1906 *''Pigskin and Petticoat'', 1907<ref>{{cite journal|title=Review of ''Pigskin and Petticoat'' by Helen Mathers|date=December 14, 1907|issue=4181|journal=The Athenaeum|page=762|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=__I_PcOFSw8C&pg=PA762}}</ref> *''The Pirouette and Other Stories'' (2nd edition, 1907) *''Gay Lawless'', 1908 *''Love the Thief'', 1909 *''Man is Fire, Woman is Tow and Other Stories'', 1912
==References== {{Reflist}}
== Sources == *{{cite ODNB|id=55633|title=Reeves, Helen Buckingham|first=Andrew|last=Maunder}}
== External links == * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Helen Mathers}} * {{Librivox author |id=10876}} * {{cite book |title=Godey's Magazine |author=Louis Antoine Godey, Sarah Josepha Buell Hale |year=1897 |publisher=The Godey company |isbn= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o90RAAAAYAAJ&q=Helen+Mathers&pg=PA176 }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathers, Helen}} Category:1849 births Category:1920 deaths Category:Victorian novelists Category:Victorian women writers Category:19th-century English women novelists Category:19th-century English novelists Category:Writers from Somerset Category:19th-century pseudonymous writers Category:19th-century English short story writers Category:20th-century English short story writers Category:Victorian short story writers Category:English magazine editors Category:English women magazine editors Category:People from South Somerset (district) Category:20th-century pseudonymous women writers Category:19th-century pseudonymous women writers