Martin Ross
Martin Ross, born Violet Florence Martin on June 11, 1862, in County Galway, Ireland, was a prominent writer known for her collaboration with her cousin, Edith Oenone Somerville. The two women published many works under the joint pseudonym Martin Ross, primarily focusing on novels that examined the lives and challenges of the Irish gentry, particularly the experiences of women in their social class. Their first novel, "An Irish Cousin," was released in 1889, and "The Real Charlotte," published in 1894, is often regarded as one of the significant Irish novels of the 19th century. Ross and Somerville were also advocates for women's rights, with Ross serving as vice president of the Munster Women's Franchise League.
Despite the absence of overt references to their personal relationship in their writings, they lived together for many years, and much speculation surrounds their bond, with critical interpretations often suggesting a romantic connection. Ross faced chronic pain from a hunting accident in her later years and passed away on December 21, 1915, from an inoperable brain tumor. After her death, Somerville continued to publish works under their joint name, sometimes claiming to communicate with Ross through spiritualistic practices. Their contributions to literature are noted for paving the way for later Irish writers such as W.B. Yeats and James Joyce, helping to establish a distinctly Irish literary voice.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Martin Ross
- Born: June 11, 1862
- Birthplace: Ross House, County Galway, Ireland
- Died: December 21, 1915
- Place of death: Drishane, County Cork, Ireland
Biography
Violet Florence Martin, who would write under the pseudonym Martin Ross, was born on June 11, 1862, at Ross House, County Galway, Ireland. Her family was part of the Anglo-Irish ascendancy, the land-owning class. In 1872, Ross’s father went bankrupt and died. Ross moved to Dublin with her mother; her brother, who had been left with responsibility for the family estate, went to live in London. Ross attended Alexandra College in Dublin and began writing, using the pseudonym Martin Ross partly because her family believed it was improper for a woman to be a writer.
In 1886, she met her second cousin, Edith Oenone Somerville. Somerville and Ross cowrote numerous books, primarily novels about the Irish gentry, under the joint pseudonym Martin Ross. Somerville, who trained as an artist, illustrated many of the books. Although the letters and journals they left behind do not contain explicit references to lesbianism, the two women shared a home until Ross’s death in 1915, and all evidence suggests a deep commitment between the two. Much critical writing about them assumes them to be lesbians. Ross and Somerville worked to forward women’s rights. Ross was vice president of the Munster Women’s Franchise League, and Somerville was president.
Their first novel, An Irish Cousin, was published in 1889. Their novel The Real Charlotte (1894) is considered by many to be their best and to be one of the great Irish novels of the nineteenth century. Like much of their work, it offers a sense of the life led by members of their social class and the difficulties faced by its women. Some Experiences of an Irish R. M. (1899) and its sequel Further Experiences of an Irish R. M. (1908) were collections of short stories popular for their humor. The stories were adapted for television and aired as a Masterpiece Theatre production in 1982.
Ross was injured in a hunting accident and lived in chronic pain for the last years of her life. She died of an inoperable brain tumor on December 21, 1915. Somerville continued to publish under their joint names. Some of the books were ones she and Ross had worked on prior to Ross’s death. For the others, Somerville claimed to remain in touch with Ross through automatic writing, a spiritualistic exercise popular at the time in which the writer, in a trance-like state, recorded what she believed were messages from the dead.
Maureen Duffy wrote two radio plays for the British Broadcasting Corporation about Somerville and Ross which were performed in 1981 and 1986. Somerville and Ross’s depictions of Irish life were among early contributions to a distinctly Irish literature. Their writing led the way for William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, and others who would soon define Irish literature as a category of its own.