George Frost (b. Clapham, London, 25 August 1857; d. Banstead,
Surrey, 23 December 1944)
The British Museum Catalogue attributes three books published as by
“George Frost” to Mrs. Octavius Eddison, the mother of fantasist E.R.
Eddison. Closer study of the three volumes
show that one, The Troubles of Monsieur
Bourgeois (1890), is erroneously attributed to her, and in this instance the
pseudonym “George Frost” was used by George E. Vail, an Englishman resident in
Paris, and author of L’Art du Patinage
(1886). The other two “George Frost” books were certainly authored by Mrs.
Eddison.
She was born Helen Louisa Rücker,
the fifth of six children of Daniel Henry Rücker (1813-1890), a merchant of
colonial produce, and Mary Antoinette Williams (1824-1905), the eldest daughter
of a Dublin merchant, who were married in Dublin on 4 November 1847. Helen had three brothers and two sisters. Her eldest brother was Arthur William Rücker
(1848-1915), who was educated at Oxford and became a distinguished professor of
physics at the Royal College of Science, London, and later the first principal
of London University from 1901 to 1908.
He was knighted in 1902.
Helen was
apparently educated privately, and she married Octavius Eddison (1850-1916), an
Oxford-educated solicitor, at the Holy Trinity Church, Clapham, London, on 2
March 1882. They settled in Adel, near
Leeds, and had two sons, Eric Rücker Eddison (1882-1945), a civil servant and
fantasist, and Colin Rücker Eddison (1889-1957), who was for many years active in
promoting Christian Science.
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Helen Eddison also published a
serial Fate and a Fiddle in The Yorkshire Post Weekly (beginning circa October 1906), and contributed to The Academy, Country Life, and other publications. Late in life she accompanied her son Colin on
trips to the United States for his work on promoting Christian Science.
Very interesting to learn about Eddison's family. Do you know why the elder brother took Rücker as a surname instead of Eddison?
ReplyDeleteI've reworded the entry slightly to make it clearer that Helen Louisa Rücker was her birth-name, and thus Arthur William Rücker was her brother's birth-name. Thanks for writing.
ReplyDelete