Frances Fitzgerald Elmes

Frances Fitzgerald Elmes (23 April 1867 – 7 February 1919) was a British-Australian feminist writer and columnist based in Melbourne and London.^[1][2][3] Her columns, short stories, two books and a play appeared under a variety of pen names, including F. F. Elmes, Frances Fitzgerald, F. F., and Frances Fitzgerald Fawkner.

Frances Fitzgerald Elmes

Biography

Frances Fitzgerald Elmes was born in Somerset, England, 23 April 1867. She emigrated to Australia with her family and was raised in Berwick, Victoria, where her father was a medical practitioner. She became a journalist and wrote for The Australasian, The Argus and, after returning to England in 1905, the British Australasian.^[2]

In London, Elmes established a relationship with the British Australasian's editor, Charles Henry Chomley (who was married to her close friend Ethel Chomley), during which she is reported to have had two children, a son in 1906 and a daughter in 1908. The relationship was apparently accepted by Chomley's wife and mother.^[4][5]

Elmes died in Hammersmith, London on 7 February 1919^[6] during the Spanish flu epidemic. After her death, her children were brought up by their father and his wife.^[4]

Selected works

• Fitzgerald, Frances. The New Woman, a play, performed but not published, 1895.^[1]
• Elmes, F. F. The Melbourne Cookery Book: compiled especially with the view of assisting the housewife in the cottage and villa home who must carefully study ways and means. Melbourne: Fraser and Jenkinson, 1906. OCLC 221287128
• Elmes, F. F. "Fashions in Whims: A London Sketch", The Argus, 29 February 1908, 6.
• F. F. "The 'Tail' of a Fish", The Age, 24 April 1915, 18.
• Fitzgerald, Frances. The Children at Kangaroo Creek, London: British Australasian, 1916. OCLC 560859564
• Fitzgerald, Frances. "The Woman Pays", British Australasian, 16 August 1917, 31.