Clemence Housman

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Clemence Housman in about 1910

Clemence Annie Housman (23 November 1861 – 6 December 1955) was an author, illustrator and activist in the women's suffrage movement. She was the sister of A. E. Housman and Laurence Housman. Her novels included The Were-Wolf, Unknown Sea and The Life of Sir Aglovale De Galis.[1] She was also a leading figure in the suffragette movement.[2]

Life

The Were-wolf by Housman (artwork by Laurence Housman, LH)

Clemence was born in

wood-engraving.[4] She worked for a time as an engraver for illustrated papers such as The Graphic.[4] In 1908 she subscribed to the Women's Social and Political Union, and in 1909 she was a co-founder, with her brother Laurence Housman, of the Suffrage Atelier.[4] She made banners for the suffrage movement between 1908 and 1914.[4]

In 1910 she became a member of the committee of the

Holloway Prison, but she was released after just one week following protests and demonstrations by her supporters.[4]

She lived with her brother Laurence for much of her life. After World War I, they lived in a cottage in the village of Ashley in Hampshire, and then, in 1924, moved to Street, Somerset.[5][6] She died in December 1955 aged 94.

Works

Clemence published three novels, and she illustrated some of the fantasies written by her brother Laurence.[7] Each of Housman's novels is a "Christian fantasy", dramatising religious themes.[8] Her first novel, The Were-wolf (1896), was an allegorical erotic fantasy featuring a female werewolf.[7] H. P. Lovecraft said of the Were-Wolf that it "attains a high degree of gruesome tension and achieves to some extent the atmosphere of authentic folklore."[9] Basil Copper described The Were-wolf as "a minor classic in the genre".[10] The Life of Sir Aglovale de Galis is an Arthurian fantasy.[7] Douglas A. Anderson has described The Life of Sir Aglovale de Galis as Housman's "supreme achievement".[8] "The Drawn Arrow" (1923) is a short fable set in a desert kingdom.[8]

Novels

  • Clemence Housman (1896), The Were-wolf, London: J. Lane at the Bodley Head,
    OL 13492113M
     – illustrated by Laurence Housman.
  • Clemence Housman (1898), Unknown Sea, London: Duckworth,
    OL 7217479M
  • Clemence Housman (1905), The Life of Sir Aglovale De Galis (The life of Sir Aglovale de Galis ed.), London: Methuen,
    OL 7233562M

As illustrator

References

  1. ^ Open Library page for Clemence Housman
  2. OL 805990M
    , 0415109418
  3. ^ Elizabeth Crawford, 'Housman, Clemence Annie (1861–1955)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 7 Feb 2011
  4. ^
    ISBN 0203031091
  5. ^ A. T. Lloyd, J. E. S. Brooks, (1996), The History of New Milton and its Surrounding Area, Centenary Edition, page 66
  6. ^ "Catalogue of Laurence Housman's works". Street Society. Archived from the original (Word) on 13 August 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
  7. ^
    ISBN 0810868296
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-0-345-45855-1
    (pp. 213, 431)
  9. ^ Supernatural Horror in Literature; The Weird Tradition in the British Isles, HP Lovecraft
  10. ISBN 978-0-709-16193-6

Further reading

External links
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