Eden Phillpotts (4 November 1862 – 29 December 1960) was an English author, poet and dramatist. He was born in Mount Abu, India, was educated in Plymouth, Devon, and worked as an insurance officer for ten years before studying for the stage and eventually becoming a writer.

Life

Eden Phillpotts was a great-nephew of Henry Phillpotts, Bishop of Exeter. His father Henry Phillpotts was a son of the bishop's younger brother Thomas Phillpotts. James Surtees Phillpotts the reforming headmaster of

Bedford School Bedford School is a 7–18 Single-sex education, boys Public school (United Kingdom), public school in the county town of Bedford in England. Founded in 1552, it is the oldest of four independent schools in Bedford run by the Harpur Trust. Bed ...

was his second cousin. Eden Phillpotts was born on 4 November 1862 at Mount Abu in

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

. His father Henry was an officer in the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

, while his mother Adelaide was the daughter of an

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British Raj, British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 3 ...

officer posted in Madras, George Jenkins Waters.''Dictionary of National Biography'', article by Thomas Moult Henry Phillpotts died in 1865, leaving Adelaide a widow at the age of 21. With her three small sons, of whom Eden was the eldest, she returned to England and settled in

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

.Eden Phillpotts, ''From the Angle of 88'', 1952 Phillpotts was educated at Mannamead School in Plymouth. At school he showed no signs of a literary bent. In 1879, aged 17, he left home and went to London to earn his living. He found a job as a clerk with the Sun Fire Office. Phillpotts' ambition was to be an actor and he attended evening classes at a drama school for two years. He came to the conclusion that he would never make a name as an actor but might have success as a writer. In his spare time out of office hours he proceeded to create a stream of small works which he was able to sell. In due course he left the insurance company to concentrate on his writing, while also working part-time as assistant editor for the weekly ''Black and White'' magazine. Eden Phillpotts maintained a steady output of three or four books a year for the next half century. He produced poetry, short stories, novels, plays and mystery tales. Many of his novels were about rural

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

life and some of his plays were distinguished by their effective use of regional dialect. Eden Phillpotts died at his home in Broadclyst near

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

, Devon, on 29 December 1960.

Personal life

Phillpotts was for many years the President of the Dartmoor Preservation Association and cared passionately about the conservation of Dartmoor. He was an agnostic and a supporter of the

Rationalist Press Association The Rationalist Association was a charity in the United Kingdom which published '' New Humanist'' magazine between 1885 and 2025. Since 2025, the Rationalist Press has been the publishing imprint of Humanists UK. The original Rationalist Press ...

. Phillpotts was a friend of

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...

, who was an admirer of his work and a regular visitor to his home. She dedicated her 1932 novel '' Peril at End House'' to Phillpotts, and in her autobiography, she expressed gratitude for his early advice on fiction writing and quoted some of it.

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...

was another Phillpotts admirer. Borges mentioned him numerous times, wrote at least two reviews of his novels, and included him in his "Personal Library", a collection of works selected to reflect his personal literary preferences. Philpotts allegedly sexually abused his daughter Adelaide. In a 1976 interview for a book about her father, Adelaide described an incestuous "relationship" with him that she says lasted from the age of five or six until her early thirties, when he remarried. When she herself finally married at the age of 55 her father never forgave her, and never communicated with her again.James Y. Dayananda, 'Phillpotts , (Mary) Adelaide Eden (1896–1993)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Sept 201
accessed 9 May 2017
/ref>

Writings

Phillpotts wrote a great many books with a Dartmoor setting. One of his novels, '' Widecombe Fair'' (1913), inspired by an annual

fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Fairs showcase a wide range of go ...

at the village of Widecombe-in-the-Moor, provided the scenario for his comic play '' The Farmer's Wife'' (1916). It went on to become a 1928 silent film of the same name, directed by

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

. It was followed by a 1941 remake, directed by Norman Lee and Leslie Arliss. It became a BBC TV drama in 1955, directed by Owen Reed. Jan Stewer played Churdles Ash. The BBC had broadcast the play in 1934. He co-wrote several plays with his daughter Adelaide Phillpotts, ''The Farmer's Wife'' and '' Yellow Sands'' (1926); she later claimed their relationship was incestuous. Eden is best known as the author of many novels, plays and poems about

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, South West England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite that forms the uplands dates from the Carb ...

. His Dartmoor cycle of 18 novels and two volumes of short stories still has many avid readers despite the fact that many titles are out of print. Philpotts also wrote a series of novels, each set against the background of a different trade or industry. Titles include: ''Brunel's Tower'' (a pottery) and ''Storm in a Teacup'' (hand-papermaking). Among his other works is ''The Grey Room'', the plot of which is centred on a haunted room in an English manor house. He also wrote a number of other mystery novels, both under his own name and the pseudonym Harrington Hext. These include: ''The Thing at Their Heels'', '' The Red Redmaynes'', ''The Monster'', ''The Clue from the Stars'', and ''The Captain's Curio''. ''The Human Boy'' was a collection of schoolboy stories in the same genre as

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...

's '' Stalky & Co.'', though different in mood and style. Late in his long writing career he wrote a few books of interest to science fiction and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

readers, the most noteworthy being '' Saurus'', which involves an alien reptilian observing human life.

Eric Partridge Eric Honeywood Partridge (6 February 1894 – 1 June 1979) was a New Zealand–United Kingdom, British lexicography, lexicographer of the English language, particularly of its slang. His writing career was interrupted only by his service in the ...

praised the immediacy and impact of his dialect writing.

Photographs

Postbridge Clapper Bridge 2005-07-21.jpg, The clapper bridge at Postbridge, which is the central location of Phillpotts' novel ''The Thief of Virtue''.

Works

Novels *''The End of a Life'' (1891) *''Folly and Fresh Air'' (1891) *''A Tiger's Club'' (1892)
''A Deal with the Devil''
(1895)
''Some Every-day Folks''
(1895)
''My Laughing Philosopher''
(1896)
''Down Dartmoor Way''
(1896)
''Lying Prophets: A Novel''
(1897) *''Children of the Mist'' (1898) *''Sons of the Morning'' (1900)
''The Good Red Earth''
(1901) *''The River'' (1902)
''Old Delabole''
(1903)
''The Golden Fetich''
(1903) *'' The American Prisoner'' (1904)
''The Farm of the Dagger''
(1904) *''The Secret Woman'' (1905) *''The Poacher's Wife'' (1906) AKA ''Daniel Sweetland'' (1906) *''The Sinews of War: A Romance of London and the Sea'' (1906) with

Arnold Bennett Enoch Arnold Bennett (27 May 1867 – 27 March 1931) was an English author, best known as a novelist, who wrote prolifically. Between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaborati ...

*''Doubloons'' (1906) with Arnold Bennett *''The Portreeve'' (1906) *''The Whirlwind'' (1907)
''The Human Boy Again''
(1908)
''The Mother''
(1908)
''The Virgin in Judgment''
(1908) AKA ''A Fight to Finish'' (1911)
''The Statue: A Story of International Intrigue and Mystery''
(1908) with Arnold Bennett
''The Three Brothers''
(1909)
''The Fun of the Fair''
(1909) *'' The Haven'' (1909)
''The Flint Heart: A Fairy Story''
(1910) *''The Thief of Virtue'' (1910) *''The Beacon'' (1911)
''Demeter's Daughter''
(1911) *''The Three Knaves'' (1912) *''The Forest on the Hill'' (1912)
''The Lovers: A Romance''
(1912) *''Widecombe Fair'' (1913)
''The Joy of Youth''
(1913)
''The Old Time Before Them''
(1913)
''Faith Tresilion''
(1914) *''The Master of Merripit'' (1914) *''Brunel's Tower'' (1915)
''The Green Alleys: A Comedy''
(1916)
''The Human Boy and the War''
(1916) *''The Banks of Colne: (the Nursery)'' (1917) *''The Girl and the Faun'' (1917)
''The Spinners''
(1918)
''From the Angle of Seventeen''
(1912) *''Evander'' (1919)
''Storm in a Teacup''
(1919) *''Miser's Money'' (1920)
''Eudocia''
(1921)

(1921) *''The Bronze Venus'' (1921) *''Orphan Dinah'' (1920)
''The Red Redmaynes''
(1922) *''Pan and the Twins'' (1922)
''Number 87''
(1922)
''The Thing at Their Heels''
(1923) *''Children of Men'' (1923) *''Cheat-the-boys; a Story of the Devonshire Orchards'' (1924) *''Redcliff'' (1924) *''The Treasures of Typhon'' (1924) *''The Lavender Dragon'' (1924) *''Who Killed Diana?'' (1924) *''Circé's Island'' (1924) *''A Voice from the Dark'' (1925) *''The Monster'' (1925) *''George Westover'' (1926) *''The Marylebone Miser'' (1926) AKA ''Jig-Saw'' (1926)
''Cornish Droll: A Novel''
(1926) *''The Miniature'' (1926) *''The Jury'' (1927) *''Arachne'' (1928) *''The Ring Fence'' (1928) *''Tryphena'' (1929) *''The Apes'' (1929) *''The Three Maidens'' (1930) *''Alcyone (a Fairy Story)'' (1930) *''"Found Drowned"'' (1931) *''A Clue from the Stars'' (1932) *''The Broom Squires'' (1932) *''Stormbury, A Story of Devon'' (1932) *''The Captain's Curio'' (1933) *''Bred in the Bone'' (1933) *''Witch's Cauldron'' (1933) *''Nancy Owlett'' (1933) *''Minions of the Moon'' (1934) *''Ned of the Caribbees'' (1934) *''Portrait of a Gentleman'' (1934) *''Mr. Digweed and Mr. Lumb: A Mystery Novel'' (1934) *''The Oldest Inhabitant: A Comedy'' (1934) *''A Close Call'' (1936) *''The Owl of Athene'' (1936) *''The White Camel: A Story of Arabia'' (1936) *''The Anniversary Murder'' (1936) *''The Wife of Elias: A Mystery Novel'' (1937) *''Wood-nymph'' (1937) *''Farce in Three Acts'' (1937) *''Portrait of a Scoundrel'' (1938)
''Saurus''
(1938)
''Lycanthrope, the Mystery of Sir William Wolf''
(1938) *''Dark Horses'' (1938) *''Golden Island'' (1938) *''Thorn in Her Flesh'' (1939) *''Tabletop'' (1939) with Arnold Bennett *''Monkshood'' (1939) *''Chorus of Clowns'' (1940) *''Goldcross'' (1940) *''Awake Deborah!'' (1941) *''Ghostwater'' (1941) *''The Deed Without a Name'' (1942) *''Pilgrims of the Night'' (1942) *''A Museum Piece'' (1943) *''Flower of the Gods'' (1943) *''The Changeling'' (1944) *''The Drums of Dombali'' (1945) *''They Were Seven: (A Mystery)'' (1945) *''Quartet'' (1946) *''The Fall of the House of Heron'' (1948) *''Address Unknown'' (1949) *''The Waters of Walla'' (1950) *''Through a Glass Darkly'' (1951) *''George and Georgina: A Mystery Story'' (1952) *''His Brother's Keeper'' (1953) *''The Widow Garland'' (1955) *''Connie Woodland'' (1956) *''Giglet Market'' (1957) *''There Was an Old Man'' (1959) Short Fiction Books
''My Adventure in the Flying Scotsman; a Romance of London and North-Western Railway Shares''
(1888)
''The Human Boy''
(1899) *''Loup-garou!'' (1899) *''Summer Clouds and Other Stories'' (1893)
''Fancy Free''
(1901)
''The Striking Hours''
(1901)
''The Transit of the Red Dragon: And Other Tales''
(1903)
''Knock at a Venture''
(1905) *''The Unlucky Number'' (1906)
''The Folk Afield''
(1907)
''Tales of the Tenements''
(1910) *''The Judge's Chair'' (1914)
''The Human Boy and the War''
(1916) *''Chronicles of St. Tid'' (1918)
''Black, White, and Brindled''
(1923) *''Up Hill, Down Dale: A Volume of Short Stories'' (1925) *''Peacock House and Other Mysteries'' (1926) *''It happened Like That, a New Volume of Short Stories'' (1928) *''Brother Man'' (1928)

(1929) *''Cherry Gambol and Other Stories'' (1930) *''They Could Do No Other: A Volume of Stories'' (1932) *''Once upon a Time'' (1936) *''The Hidden Hand'' (1952) Poetry
''Up-Along and Down-Along''
(1905)
''Wild Fruit''
(1911)
''The Iscariot''
(1912)
''Delight and Other Poems''
(1916)
''Plain Song''
(1917)
''A Shadow Passes''
bservations and Poems(1918)
''As the Wind Blows''
(1920)
''A Dish of Apples''
(1921)
''Pixies' Plot''
(1922) *''Thoughts in Prose and Verse'' (1924) *''Cherry-Stones'' (1924) *''A Harvesting'' (1924) *''Brother Beast'' (1928) *''Goodwill'' (1928) *''For Remembrance'' (1929) *''A Hundred Sonnets'' (1929) *''A Hundred Lyrics'' (1930) *''Becoming'' (1932)
''Song of a Sailor Man: A Narrative Poem''
(1933) *''Sonnets from Nature'' (1935) *''A Dartmoor Village'' (1937) *''Miniatures'' (1942) *''The Enchanted Wood'' (1948) *''One Thing and Another'' ssays and poems.(1954) Plays
''The Prude's Progress: A Comedy''
with Jerome K. Jerome (1895)
''A Golden Wedding: An Original Comedy in One Act''
(1899) *''A Breezy Morning'' (1904)
''A Pair of Knickerbockers''
(1900)
''Curtain Raisers''
(1912)
''The Shadow; A Play in Three Acts''
(1913)
''The Mother: A Play in Four Acts''
(1914)
''The Secret Woman; A Play in Five Acts''
(1914)
''The Angel in the House: A Comedy in Three Acts''
(1915) *
The Farmer's Wife
' (1916) *''Arachne; A Play'' (1920) By Adelaide Eden Phillpotts
''St. George and the Dragons: A Comedy in Three Acts''
(1919) AKA *''The bishop's night out'' (1929) *''The Market-Money. A Play in One Act'' (1923) *''Bed Rock: A Comedy in Three Acts'' (1924) *''Devonshire Cream: A Comedy in Three Acts'' (1925) *''A Comedy Royal'' (1925) Dramatization of ''Eudocia (1921)'' *'' Yellow Sands'' (1926) *'' Blue Comet'' (1927) *''The Runaways: A Comedy in Three Acts'' (1928) *''Three Short Plays: The Market-money; Something to Talk about; The Purple Bedroom'' (1928) *''Buy a Broom: A Comedy in Three Acts'' (1929) *''Jane's Legacy: A Folk Play in Three Acts'' (1931) *''The Good Old Days: A Comedy in Three Acts'' (1932) with his daughter *''Bert: A Play in One Act'' (1932) *''A Cup of Happiness: A Comedy'' (1933) *''At the 'bus-stop: A Duologue for Two Women'' (1943) *''The Orange Orchard'' (1951) Based on ''The Waters of Walla'' Nonfiction *''In Sugar-Cane Land'' (1890)
''My Garden''
(1906) *''Dance of the Months.'' ketches of Dartmoor and poems.(1911)
''My Shrubs''
(1915)
''My Devon Year''
(1916) *''One Hundred Pictures from Eden Phillpotts / Selected by L.H. Brewitt'' (1919) *''A West Country Pilgrimage'' (1920) ssays and verse.*''A West Country Sketch Book'' (1928) Essays from ''Dance of the Months'' and ''A West Country Pilgrimage'' with one new essay. *''Essays in Little'' (1931) *''Handmade Paper: Its Method of Manufacture as Described in the Novel "Storm in a Teacup"'' (1932) *''A Year with Bisshe-Bantam'' (1934) *''A Mixed Grill'' (1940) Essays. *''From the Angle of 88'' (1951) *''Selected Letters'' (1984)

Omnibus

*''Dartmoor Omnibus'' 'Orphan Dinah'', ''Three Brothers'', ''Children of Men'', ''The Whirlwind''br>''Three plays: The shadows; The mother; The secret woman''
(1913) *''Circe's Island and The Girl & The Faun'' (1925) *''The Complete Human Boy. Comprising "The Human Boy," "The Human Boy Again," "The Human Boy and the War," "The Human Boy's Diary," "From the Angle of Seventeen," Etc.'' (1930) *''West Country Plays'' (1933) 'Buy a Broom'' and ''A Cup of Happiness''.*''The Book of Avis: A Trilogy Comprising Bred in the Bone, Witch's Cauldron, A Shadow Passes'' 936

References

External links

* * * * *
Eden Phillpotts papers, MSS 1458
in the L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library,

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

Eden Phillpotts Collection
at the

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center, known as the Humanities Research Center until 1983, is an archive, library, and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillpotts, Eden 1862 births 1960 deaths 19th-century English short story writers 20th-century English novelists People associated with Dartmoor English agnostics English fantasy writers English male short story writers English short story writers English male novelists English male poets English science fiction writers People educated at Plymouth College Writers from Plymouth, Devon British people in colonial India Victorian novelists