Ena Fitzgerald was the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

of Georgina Fitzgerald-Galaher (after marriage, Georgina Fitzgerald MacMillan; 1889–1962), an English journalist and author. She served as the editor of various magazines and was a correspondent for various newspapers. Earlier in life, she wrote novels, poems, and short stories. Her novel, ''Patcola'', received considerable praise as being the first work of a teenager.

Early life and education

Georgina Fitzgerald-Galaher was born on 5 October 1889, near

Cowes Cowes () is an England, English port, seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked b ...

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

. She was the only child of Rev. George Fitzgerald-Galaher, M.A.,

litterateur An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the world of culture, either ...

(formerly of

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

), by his second marriage. Her mother was from

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. She was a descendant of Edward FitzGerald, the translator of ''

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam ''Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám'' is the title that Edward FitzGerald (poet), Edward FitzGerald gave to his 1859 translation from Persian language, Persian to English of a selection of quatrains (') attributed to Omar Khayyam (1048–1131), dub ...

''. She was educated in the Isle of Wight.

Career

Under the name of "Ena Fitzgerald", she published ''Patcola : An Indian Romance'', written at the age of 17, and published in 1908. This was followed by ''The Witch Queen of Khem : the Tale of a Wrong made Right'' (1909), a romance story of Egypt. Both books were well received by very critics in Great Britain, India, Egypt, Australia, and South Africa. ''And the Stars Fought'', an Isle of Wight romance, came out in 1912. Fitzgerald contributed to

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

with short stories for ''In the Lion's Mouth'' and ''Where Duty Calls or Danger'', which were a series of books for children, edited by

Alfred Henry Miles Alfred Henry Miles (26 February 1848 – 30 October 1929) was a prolific Victorian-era English writer – including as an anthologist, children's writer, editor, journalist, and poet – as well as a composer and lecturer. He published hun ...

. She contributed the short story, "War Scouots at Tripoli" to ''With Hunter, Trapper and Scout in Camp and Field'', another book in the A. H. Miles series. Her poems were published in Arnell's ''Poets of the Wight'' (1922) and C. F. Forshaw's ''Pearls of Poesy'' (1911). She also contributed magazine articles, to the ''Chicago Tribune'' (Paris edition), ''Liverpool Post'', ''Yorkshire Evening Post'', ''Dancing Times'', and others. In 1926–29, Fitzgerald served as the editor of ''Yorkshire Homes'', published by Gordon Chambers, County Homes Journals, Ltd. She was a correspondent for the ''Drapers' Record and Men's Wear'' and Yorkshire correspondent to the ''Dancing Times''. Beginning in 1946, she was a correspondent for ''New Theatre Magazine''. Fitzgerald served as honorary secretary of the Yorkshire District Institute of Journalists. Fitzgerald gave lectures, and was the first woman to be a member of the Isle of Wight Aero Club.

Personal life

In 1911, she was living at Newport, in

Shanklin Shanklin () is a seaside resort town and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the Isle of Wight, England, located on Sandown Bay. Shanklin is the southernmost of three settlements which occupy the bay, and is close to Lake, Isle of Wight, ...

in 1913, and in Wroxall in 1922. Two years later, her address was: Hotel D'Angleterre, 38 Faubourg St Honore, Paris. In 1925, she married the engineer James Alison Macmillan, F.C.W.A., in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

. A widow, Georgina Fitzgerald MacMillan died 10 January 1962.

Selected works

Novels

* ''Patcola: A Tale of a Dead City'' (1908) * ''The Witch Queen of Khem: A Tale of a Wrong Made Right'', (1909) * ''And the Stars Fought: A Romance'' (1912)

Poems

* "Questions" * "Marching Song" * "The Exile - Serbia's Sorrow"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, Ena 1889 births 1962 deaths 20th-century English journalists 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English poets 20th-century English short story writers 20th-century English women writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers English women magazine editors English magazine editors English people of Irish descent People from Cowes Pseudonymous women writers