Violet Tweedale

Violet Tweedale

Violet Tweedale, née Chambers (1862 – 10 December 1936[1]), was a Scottish author, poet, and spiritualist.[2]

Life and work

Violet Chambers was born in Edinburgh, the eldest daughter of Robert Chambers, editor of Chambers' Journal, and the granddaughter of Robert Chambers, the publisher and founder of W & R Chambers. In her teens she assisted her father in his work, and in 1889 moved to London where she had her first novel, "And They Two", published, and became involved in humanitarian "rescue work" in the East End. In 1891, she married Clarens Tweedale.[2][3]

In London, she moved in the best social circles, counting amongst her friends, poet Robert Browning, artist Frederic Leighton, Anne Proctor (mother of Adelaide Proctor) and many others. She also had influential contacts abroad including, Marie, Countess of Caithness, Duchess of Medina Pomar (Papal States), who was close to prominent Theosophist, Helena Blavatsky.[4]

Claiming to be psychic from a young age,[5] she became involved in Spiritualism and Theosophy, and was a close associate of Helena Blavatsky.[4] She worked with the mediums Charles Williams and Cecil Husk (1847–1920), and was called as an expert witness when trance medium, Meurig Morris, sued the Daily Mail for libel in April 1932—although the case went against Morris, no fraud or dishonesty on the medium's part was proven.[6] Tweedale was also a member of the Order of the Golden Dawn.

She was a prolific writer of short stories, published as anthologies, and novels, often with a romantic or supernatural theme. She wrote over 30 books on spiritual subjects, such as "The Cosmic Christ" (1930), and her own personal psychic experiences were documented in "Ghosts I have Seen" (1920).[2] Apart from her literary output, she was a gifted amateur artist, embroiderer, accomplished pianist and fine golfer; she was also a skilled orator who spoke up for workers' rights.[3][7]

Bibliography (selected)

Non-fiction
Fiction
  • An Empty Heritage (1908).
  • Her Grace's secret (Jacobs, 1901).
  • The hazards of life (John Long, 1904)
  • The honeycomb of life (1904).
  • Lord Eversleigh's Sins (John Long, 1905).
  • Lady Sarah's son (1906).
  • The portals of love (J. Long, 1906).
  • The sweets of office (Long, 1907).
  • The Quenchless Flame (John Long, London, 1909).
  • Hypocrites and sinners (J. Long, 1910).
  • A Reaper of the Whirlwind (John Long, 1911).
  • The House of the Other World (John Long Ltd., London, 1913)
  • An unholy alliance (1915).
  • Love and war (1916).
  • Wingate's wife (J. Long, 1916).
  • The heart of a woman (Hurst and Blackett Ltd., 1917).
  • The Veiled Woman (H. Jenkins, 1918).
  • The Beautiful Mrs. Davenant (Frederick A. Stokes, New York, 1920).
  • The Green Lady (Herbert Jenkins, 1921).
  • The Passing Storm (1922).
  • The Mammonist (Hutchinson, 1927).

References

  1. ↑ Notice in The London Gazette, 20 February 1937 (accessed 16 Aug 2015).
  2. 1 2 3 Violet Tweedale, Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology, Thomson Gale, 2000 (Answers.com).
  3. 1 2 Every woman's encyclopaedia, volume 2 p. 1380 (1910-12).
  4. 1 2 H. P. Blavatsky as seen by Violet Tweedale (Theosophy: modern, history and archives, accessed 19 Feb 2011).
  5. ↑ Tweedale, Ghosts I have seen, 1919, p. 9 ff.
  6. ↑ Morris, Mrs. L. A. Meurig (Lewis Spence. Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, 1920, pp. 612-3).
  7. ↑ Dorothy Campbell Hurd , amateur Golfer (accessed 19 Feb 2011).
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