Edith Mary Gell Explained

The Honourable Edith Mary Gell (; 1860–1944) was a writer and Christian activist, also known as Edith Lyttleton Gell and Edith Brodrick Gell.

Family

Born in 1860, she was the fourth daughter of William Brodrick, 8th Viscount Midleton and Augusta, daughter of the 1st Baron Cottesloe. She was the sister of William St John Fremantle Brodrick, 1st Earl of Midleton (1856–1942), a distinguished politician who was Secretary of State for War from 1900–1903 and Secretary of State for India from 1903–1905.^[1] She married Philip Lyttleton Gell (1852–1926) on 25 July 1889. The marriage was without offspring. She died on 17 April 1944.^[2]

Reputation

Journalist Hazel Southam has compared Gell's activities with those of characters in the television series Downton Abbey. Gell was very active in the local community and supported local families through Mothers' Union. She also ran "a Sunday morning children’s service until shortly before her death in 1944".^[3]

Gell is described in the National Archive entry for Hopton Hall as follows:

Social connections

Being of the aristocracy, Edith Gell was well-connected and she gives an entertaining account of the people she knew in her autobiography: Under Three Reigns. When she was married, she was presented to Queen Victoria and describes her experience at court as follows:

She and her husband were friends of the poet Alfred Tennyson and she gives the following account of him:

Publications

As listed in her Who Was Who profile:^[2]

• 1891 – The Cloud of Witness – a collection of quotations on a Christian theme.
• 1892 – Squandered Girlhood
• 1898 – The More Excellent Way
• 1899 – The Vision of Righteousness
• 1908 – The Forces of the Spirit
• 1912 – The Menace of Secularism
• 1914 – The Happy Warrior – a book with Biblical quotes for every day of the year
• 1915 – Problems for Speakers
• 1916 – The Empire’s Honour; Influence of Women of the Early Church in Britain; Conquering and to Conquer; The Blessed Company.
• 1917 – Wedded Life; The Churchwoman’s Vote
• 1918 – The Empire’s Destiny
• 1919 – The New Girl; Womanhood and Fellowship; The Resurrection of a Nation; The Liberation of Spiritual Force; Womanhood at the Crossroads
• 1920 – The New Crusaders
• 1921 – Our Mother Earth
• 1922 – The Spirit of the Home
• 1924 – Look Before You Leap
• 1927 – Under Three Reigns: 1860-1920 - her autobiography
• 1929 – Heaven in Daily Life
• 1930 – John Franklin’s Bride; Ways and Signposts
• 1931 – The Ideal of Stillness
• 1932 – Live Gloriously
• 1933 – Build
• 1934 – Hopton Hymns
• 1935 – Jubilee Musical Masque

Notes and References

1. [The National Archives (United Kingdom)|National Archives]
2. Who Was Who, 1941-1960, 1st ed. 1962, London: Adam & Charles Black, 4th ed., 1967, p. 427.
3. Hazel Southam, "Socks, hoodies and Bible verses at real-life Downton Abbey". Available at https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/what-we-do/england-and-wales/world-war-1/stories/socks-hoodies-and-bible-verses-at-reallife-downton-abbey/