Mabel Greenhow Kitcat
Mabel Greenhow Kitcat (1859-1921) was an English writer known for her contributions to short fiction and poetry, often drawing inspiration from her surroundings in Esher, Surrey, and her personal experiences. After receiving an education near London, she became active in the literary circles of the city while maintaining her residence in Esher. Kitcat faced personal tragedy early in life with the death of her mother in a railroad accident, and she shared a close bond with her father, a respected judge, until his passing.
In the mid-1880s, she married Robert Murray Hickson, but he died shortly after their marriage. She later married Sidney Austyn Paul Kitcat, a stockbroker and cricket enthusiast, which further reflected her family's athletic background. Kitcat's literary career began with the play "The Whip Hand," and she published several collections of short stories, including "Concerning Teddy" and "Shadows of Life," which explored themes of relationships, marriage, and societal dynamics. Her works often contained autobiographical elements, offering insights into her own life experiences and the social milieu of her time. Overall, Kitcat's writing showcases her unique perspective and the influences of her personal history and environment.
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Subject Terms
Mabel Greenhow Kitcat
- Born: February 2, 1859
- Birthplace: Esher, Surrey, England
- Died: November 12, 1922
Biography
Mabel Greehow Kitcat was born on February 2, 1859, in the village of Esher in Surrey, England. She attended school near London and was active in the literary circle in London while keeping her residence in Esher. She drew extensively from Esher for the settings, plots, and characters for her short fiction and poetry.
The backgrounds of her mother, Marion Martineau Greenhow, and her father, Judge W. T. Greenhow, contributed to her work as well. After her mother died in a railroad accident when Kitcat was a child, her father lived with Kitcat until he died in 1921. Her father was a judge in Leeds until he retired as father of the bench, a title given to the court’s oldest member, in1916. Although healthy, he became too deaf to continue his work. Throughout his legal career, he earned a reputation for being fair and witty and for athletic prowess in a wide variety of sports. He and his daughter maintained a long and close relationship.
In the mid-1880’s, Kitcat married Robert Murray Hickson, but she was widowed a few months later when he died from pneumonia, pleurisy, and emphysema. More than ten years later she married a man as athletically inclined as her father, Sidney Austyn Paul Kitcat. A stockbroker almost a decade younger than Kitcat, he was especially adept at cricket, playing for Marlborough College and other teams, and in 1888 he was elected to membership in the Marylebone Cricket Club, the most prestigious cricket club in Great Britain. He coauthored a book in his field, Canadian Investments, published in 1926.
One of Kitcat’s earliest works was a play, The Whip Hand, coauthored with Keighley Snowden and performed at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 1885. Much of the material for the play came from social relationships that she and her father enjoyed with some of their titled friends. Her novel, A Latter-Day Romance, used flashback and other literary techniques that Kitcat later employed in her short fiction. Athletes, cricket, blindness, drowning, and flirtations, which are a part of this novel, also appeared in her later work.
Kitcat’s first collection of short stories, Concerning Teddy, was published in 1897. Some of the stories originally were published in Longman’s Magazine. Kitcat also published her stories in Vanity Fair, Englishwoman, Chapman’s, Cassell’s, and the Yellow Book. A number of autobiographical elements appear in the stories in her first published collection as well as in her other writing. For example, the character Cousin Winnie is both an only child and childless, like Kitcat herself.
Kitcat’s second short-story collection, Shadows of Life, focuses on unhappy marriages and potential adulteries. These subjects similarly are explored in her third collection, Chronicles of Teddy’s Village. Teddy’s Village, where the stories are set, is based on Kitcat’s home, Warling Dean.