Moira Hamilton Verschoyle (17 December 1903 – 13 January 1985) was an Irish novelist and playwright.
Life and career
Verschoyle was born in
Limerick
Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...
and raised in Castle Troy on the banks of the
River Shannon
The River Shannon ( or archaic ') is the major river on the island of Ireland, and at in length, is the longest river in the British Isles. It drains the Shannon River Basin, which has an area of , – approximately one fifth of the area of I ...
, where she was privately educated by governesses. She was born into the
Verschoyle family, a prominent landed family of Dutch descent, the daughter of Captain Frederick Thomas Verschoyle, who had been a 2nd Brig. South Irish Div. R.A. and was now a Land Agent, and his wife Hilda Caroline Hildyard Blair, of royal Plantagenet descent. Her grandfather was
Hamilton Verschoyle. Verschoyle had an older brother Frederick and an older sister Hilda.
Verschoyle worked on the London stage during and after the Second world war.
Verschoyle married Horace de Heriz Smith (later Heriz-Smith) of
Bordighera
Bordighera (; , locally ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Imperia, Liguria (Italy).
Geography
Bordighera is located from the land border between Italy and France, the French coast is visible from the town. Having the Capo Sant'Ampel ...
,
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, in
Penang
Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...
on 3 April 1922. He was an experienced planter in Malaya and they divorced.
She returned to the UK within a few years and he later remarried.
While based in
Sussex
Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...
Verscholye married the writer
Reginald Warren Chetham-Strode on 16 July 1927 with whom she had one son, who died young.
Along with the novels and autobiography she produced and the work in theatre, Verschoyle also wrote articles for newspapers.
She died in January 1985 in
Hastings
Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...
.
Bibliography
*Children in Love (London: Hodder & Stoughton 1961)
*Daughters of the General (London: Hodder & Stoughton 1963)
*So Long to Wait: an Irish Childhood (London: Geoffrey Bles 1960), autobiography
*ITV play of the week- The Young May Moon (1958)
Further reading
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verschoyle, Moira
1903 births
1985 deaths
Irish women writers
Writers from County Limerick
Irish people of Dutch descent