# Rachel Ferguson > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Rachel_Ferguson > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Rachel_Ferguson.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Ferguson > Source revision: 1353902911 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|English novelist, playwright and journalist}} {{more citations needed|date=June 2023}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox writer | name = Rachel Ferguson | image = Author Rachel Ferguson.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | pseudonym = | birth_name = Rachel Ethelreda Ferguson | birth_date = {{Birth date|1892|10|17|df=yes}} | birth_place = The Nest, Church Grove, [Hampton Wick](/source/Hampton_Wick), England | death_date = {{Death date and age|1957|11|26|1892|10|17|df=yes}} | death_place = [Kensington](/source/Kensington), England | resting_place = | occupation = Journalist, Author | language = | nationality = British | ethnicity = | citizenship = | education = [Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts](/source/Royal_Academy_of_Dramatic_Arts) | alma_mater = | period = | genre = | subject = | movement = | notableworks = | spouse = | partner = | children = | relatives = | influences = | influenced = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = }} '''Rachel Ferguson''', (1892–1957) was an English [novelist](/source/novelist), [playwright](/source/playwright) and [journalist](/source/journalist). She wrote twelve novels, three memoirs, four satirical works, two biographies, and one play. == Life == '''Rachel Ethelreda Ferguson''' was born on 17 October 1892 at The Nest, Church Grove, [Hampton Wick](/source/Hampton_Wick). She was the third child of Robert Norman Ronald Ferguson, a Treasury Clerk, and his wife, Rose Geraldine (née Cumberbatch). Her grandfather was the physician [Robert Ferguson](/source/Robert_Ferguson_(physician)). She was educated at home and then sent to a finishing school in Florence, Italy. By the age of 16 she was a fierce campaigner for women's rights and considered herself a [suffragist](/source/suffragist): "I was as militant as authority allowed me to be. I wanted to go to prison but was refused on the score of age."{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/invisible-ink-no-125--rachel-ferguson-7791194.html|title=Invisible Ink: No 125 - Rachel Ferguson|website=[Independent.co.uk](/source/Independent.co.uk) |date=26 May 2012}} She went on to become a leading member of the [Women's Social and Political Union](/source/Women's_Social_and_Political_Union). In 1911 she became a student at the [Royal Academy of Dramatic Art](/source/Royal_Academy_of_Dramatic_Art) and began a career on the stage, using the name Rachel Verney.{{cite book|last=Ferguson|first=Rachel|title=We Were Amused|year=1958|publisher=Jonathan Cape}} She also had a small role in the film ''[The Ring and the Rajah](/source/The_Ring_and_the_Rajah)''.{{cite book|last=Ferguson|first=Rachel|title=We Were Amused|year=1958|publisher=Jonathan Cape|page=134}} When her theatrical career was cut short by the advent of [World War I](/source/World_War_I), Ferguson joined the [Women's Volunteer Reserve](/source/Women's_Volunteer_Reserve) and also took to writing in earnest. She wrote for ''[Punch](/source/Punch_(magazine))'' ("As far as I know, I was the first woman ever to sign her articles"{{cite book|last=Ferguson|first=Rachel|title=We Were Amused|year=1958|publisher=Jonathan Cape|page=182}}), and was the drama critic for the ''[Sunday Chronicle](/source/Sunday_Chronicle)'', writing under the name 'Columbine'.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bloomsbury.com/author/rachel-ferguson/|title = Rachel Ferguson: Bloomsbury Publishing (UK)}} In 1923 she published her first novel, ''False Goddesses'', but it was not until 1931, when she published the absurdist novel ''The Brontës Went to Woolworths'', that she gained national recognition. She subsequently wrote ten more novels. Ferguson died in Kensington in 1957 at the age of 65. ==Works== ===Novels=== *''False Goddesses'' (1923) *''The Brontës Went to Woolworths'' (1931) (Reprinted as a [Virago Press](/source/Virago_Classic) in 1988 and as part of the [Bloomsbury Group](/source/Bloomsbury_Group) in 2009) *''The Stag at Bay'' (1932) *''Popularity's Wife'' (1932) *''A Child in the Theatre'' (1933) *''A Harp in Lowndes Square'' (1936) (Reprinted by Dean Street Press in 2016) *''Alas, Poor Lady'' (1937) (Reprinted by [Persephone Books](/source/Persephone_Books) in 2006) *''A Footman for the Peacock'' (1940) (Reprinted by Dean Street Press in 2016) *''Evenfield'' (1942) (Reprinted by Dean Street Press in 2016) *''The Late Widow Twankey'' (1943) *''A Stroll Before Sunset'' (1946) *''Sea Front'' (1954) ===Memoir=== *''Passionate Kensington'' (1939) *''Royal Borough'' (1950) *''We Were Amused'' (1958) ===Satire=== *''Sara Skelton: The Autobiography of a Famous Actress'' (1929) *''Victorian Bouquet: Lady X Looks On'' (1931) *''Nymphs and Satires: Humorous Sketches'' (1932) *''Celebrated Sequels'' (1934) ===Biography=== *''Memoirs of a Fir Tree: The Life of Elsa Tannenbaum'' (1946) *''And Then He Danced: The Life of Espinosa by Himself'' (1946) ===Play=== *''Charlotte Brontë: A Play in Three Acts'' (1933) ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== *{{OL author|866294A}} *[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/56228 Oxford DNB] *[http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/rachel-ferguson-/ Author's Page Persephone Books] *''[http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/alas-poor-lady.html Alas, Poor Lady] ''at Persephone Books {{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferguson, Rachel}} Category:1892 births Category:1957 deaths Category:20th-century English actresses Category:20th-century English memoirists Category:20th-century English women novelists Category:20th-century English novelists Category:Actors from the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Category:British women theatre critics Category:English satirists Category:English women biographers Category:English women dramatists and playwrights Category:English women memoirists Category:Journalists from London Category:People from Hampton, London Category:Suffragists from London Category:Women's Social and Political Union Category:Writers from the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Category:20th-century English women journalists Category:20th-century English journalists --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Rachel Ferguson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Ferguson) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Ferguson?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.