Rita Shell (Henrietta Shell; in private life, Mrs. John Stewart;[1] [2] nickname, Tello;[3] 1863–1950) was a British magazine editor.
While serving as the governess to his children, Shell was the mistress of Thomas Gibson Bowles after the death of his wife Jessica Gordon.[4] According to his granddaughter, Julia Budworth, Bowles fathered the last three of Shell's four children. The children were Humphrey (b. 1891), Oliver (b. 1895), and Peter (b. 1900). Shell changed her surname to Stewart.[5]
Shell's journalism career commenced with the Princess, a penny weekly for women, where she did a variety of work. It was published by Bowles. In 1894, she assisted the editor of The Lady. In January 1895, she became the first woman editor of Bowles' magazine, The Lady, serving in that role till 1925, when she retired.[6] After Shell, no men have served as editor of the publication.[7]
With Shell as its editor, The Lady took up a very practical side, aiming to help its readers as much as possible. Thus, it devoted considerable space to home decoration, household management, cooking, going into each subject very thoroughly. These features in their turn brought in a mass of correspondence. Shell believed that few ladies' papers had more queries to answer. The Lady was alone in devoting one column to giving legal advice. She wrote little for the paper itself, except when away for a holiday. But she saw every single item that went in the paper; no item appeared in the paper to which Shell did not give personal attention.[8]
Shell was associated with Society of Women Journalists, serving as vice-president.
Shell died in England on 8 November 1950, at the age of 87.[9]