{{short description|British novelist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}} {{Use British English|date=October 2016}} {{infobox writer | name = Ursula Bloom | image = Ursula Bloom.jpg | birth_name = Ursula Harvey Bloom | pseudonym = {{hlist|Sheila Burns|Mary Essex|Rachel Harvey|Deborah Mann|Lozania Prole|Sara Sloane}} | birth_place = Springfield, Essex, England | birth_date = {{birth date text|11 December 1892}} | death_place = Nether Wallop, Hampshire, England | death_date = {{death date and age text|29 October 1984|11 December 1892}} | occupation = {{flatlist| * Novelist * biographer * journalist }} | genre = Romantic fiction }} '''Ursula Bloom''' (11 December 1892 – 29 October 1984) was a British novelist, biographer and journalist.
== Biography == 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''.<ref>The Rose of Norfolk, Ursula Bloom, Robert Hale and Company, 1964, p. 7</ref>
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''.<ref>Guinness Book of World Records vol. 13, Sterling Publishing Co., 1975, p. 208</ref> Many of her novels were written under various pen names, including '''Sheila Burns''', '''Mary Essex''', '''Rachel Harvey''', '''Deborah Mann''', '''Lozania Prole''' and '''Sara Sloane'''.<ref>Twentieth-Century Romance and Gothic Writers, ed. James Vinson, Macmillan Publishers, 1982, p. 81</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www3.shropshire-cc.gov.uk/bloom.htm |title=Ursula Bloom (1892-1984) |website=www3.shropshire-cc.gov.uk |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131228100752/http://www3.shropshire-cc.gov.uk/bloom.htm |archive-date=28 December 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> 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.<ref>Twentieth-Century Romance and Gothic Writers, ed. James Vinson, Macmillan Publishers, 1982, p. 81</ref>
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),<ref>Dod's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of Great Britain, and Ireland for 1903, Low, Marston & Co., 1903, p. 470</ref> in the face of his family's "sniffy disapproval"; his aristocratic mother was by this time a wealthy widow, of Prince's Gate, Knightsbridge.<ref>Amidst Cheers, They Marched to War: Four Warwickshire Villages, One Century of Conflict, Hannah Spencer, Matador, 2018, p. 91</ref> 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).<ref>The Aeroplane, vol. LXVII, Temple Press Ltd, 1944, p. 292</ref> Arthur died of influenza in 1918, in the final days of the war.<ref>Bloom, Ursula (1959), ''Youth at the Gate'', Hutchinson, London</ref> In 1925 she married Charles Gower Robinson (d. 1979), a Royal Navy Paymaster Commander; they lived at 191, Cranmer Court, London SW3.<ref>Twentieth-Century Romance and Gothic Writers, ed. James Vinson, Macmillan Publishers, 1982, p. 81</ref><ref>Who's Who: an annual biographical dictionary, 120th edition, A. & C. Black, 1968, p. 290</ref><ref>Who was Who: A Companion to Who's Who, Containing the Biographies of Those who Died, vol. 8, A. & C. Black, 1981, p. 68</ref> She died on 29 October 1984, aged 91, in a nursing home in Nether Wallop, Hampshire.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002240/19841031/011/0002|title=Ursula Bloom Dies at 91|date=31 October 1984|work=Newcastle Journal|access-date=4 March 2019|issue=43006|page=2|url-access=subscription |via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref>
== List of works == (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 === * ''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 === * ''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) * ''Full Fruit Flavour'' (1949) * ''Tea is so Intoxicating'' (1950) * ''A Gentleman Called James'' (1951)
=== as Lozania Prole === * ''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 === * ''The Loves of a Virgin Princess'' (1968) * ''Nurse on Bodmin Moor'' (1970) * ''The Love Story of Nurse Julie'' (1975)
== References == {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloom, Ursula}} Category:1892 births Category:1984 deaths Category:20th-century English novelists Category:20th-century pseudonymous writers Category:British women biographers Category:English Romani people Category:English women non-fiction writers Category:People from the City of Chelmsford Category:People from Stratford-upon-Avon Category:20th-century pseudonymous women writers Category:Writers from Essex Category:Writers from Warwickshire Category:20th-century English women novelists Category:20th-century English biographers Category:20th-century English women journalists Category:20th-century English journalists