Ida Pollock

Ida Crowe Pollock
Born Ida Crowe
12 April 1908 (1908-04-12) (age 103)
Lewisham, Kent, England, UK
Pen name Susan Barrie,
Pamela Kent,
Averil Ives,
Anita Charles,
Barbara Rowan,
Jane Beaufort,
Rose Burghley,
Mary Whistler,
Ida Pollock,
Marguerite Bell
Occupation Novelist
Nationality British
Period 1920-Present
Genres Romance
Spouse(s) Hugh Alexander Pollock (1943-1971)
Children Rosemary Pollock (b. 1944)
www.margeritebell.co.uk

Ida Pollock, née Crowe (born 12 April 1908), is a British writer of several short-stories and over a hundred romance novels under her married name, Ida Pollock, and under her numerous pseudonyms: Susan Barrie, Pamela Kent, Averil Ives, Anita Charles, Barbara Rowan, Jane Beaufort, Rose Burghley, Mary Whistler and Marguerite Bell. She is also an oil painter, who has been selected for inclusion in a national exhibition in 2004.[1]

Ida and her husband Lt-Colonel Hugh Alexander Pollock DSO (1888–1971), a veteran of war, Winston Churchill's collaborator and editor, had a daughter Rosemary Pollock, also a romance writer. Ida's autobiography, Starlight, published on 15 November 2009, tells the story of the start of her career, her marriage, and the relation of her husband with his ex-wife Enid Blyton.

Pollock has lived in Lanreath, Cornwall since 1986.

Contents

Biography

First years

Born Ida Crowe on 12 April 1908 in Lewisham, Kent, England, United Kingdom,[2] she was a illegitimate daughter.[3] Her mother began an affair with a supposed Russian Duke but, after her parents death, her mother married Arthur Crowe, an old widower. A year or so later she resumed her affair with Russian and became pregnant.[3] The couple lived apart when Ida born, and she narrowly escaped being smothered with a pillow by the nurse who attended her birth.[4] Her mother had a difficult time raising her and she was almost adopted by a rich uncle.[3]

As a teenager, she travelled alone to Morocco, after suffering a mental breakdown.[4] Encouraged by her mother, she began to write while still at school, setting her first publication, Palanquins and coloured lanterns, in 1920's Shanghai.[5]

At age 20, she was living with her mother in Hastings and already had several stories in major magazines and short novels in print.[5] She visited the George Newnes's office in London, to sell her first full-length manuscript;[4] and, three months later, she discovered they had lost it. After they found it, she returned to London to meet one of its editors, the 39-year-old Hugh Alexander Pollock (1888–1971), a distinguished veteran of World War I. Hugh had been married since 1924 to his second wife, the popular children's writer Enid Blyton, with whom he had two daughters Gillian Mary (1931–2007) and Imogen Mary (born 1935). Hugh was divorced from his first wife, Marion Atkinson, with whom he had two sons, William Cecil Alexander (1914–16) and Edward Alistair (1915–69). George Newnes bought her manuscript and contracted with her to write two more novels.[4]

World War II years and family

During The Blitz, Ida worked in London at a hostel for girls. Hugh, who had left publishing to join the Army, was Commandant of a school for Home Guard officers;[6] and his marriage was in difficulties. He offered Ida a post as civilian secretary at the Army Training Centre in the Surrey Hills. During a bungled firearms training session on a firing range, Hugh was hit by shrapnel; and Ida contacted Enid, who declined to visit her husband because she was busy and hated hospitals.[4]

In May 1942, during a visit to her mother's home in Hastings, a bomb destroyed the house. She escaped unhurt, but her mother was in hospital for two weeks.[4] Hugh paid for Ida to stay at Claridges and decided to divorce his wife. The year before, Enid had met Kenneth Fraser Darrell Waters and begun a relationship with him. To get a quick divorce, Hugh blamed himself for adultery at divorce petition.

On 26 October 1943, Ida and Hugh were married at London's Guildhall Register Office, six days after Enid's marriage to Darrell Waters. In 1944, they had a daughter Rosemary Pollock, also a romance writer. Enid changed the name of their daughters; and Hugh did not see them again, although Enid had promised access as part of his taking the blame for the divorce.

Writing career

After the World War II, George Newnes, Hugh's old firm, decided not to work with him anymore. They also represented Enid Blyton and were not willing to let her go. After this the marriage experienced financial problems and, in 1950, Hugh had to declare bankruptcy while he struggled with alcoholism.

Ida decided to write popular contemporary romances and sold her first novel to Mills & Boon in 1952. Being in print with several major international publishers at the same time, she decided to use multiple pseudonyms. In the 1950s she wrote as Susan Barrie, Pamela Kent, Rose Burghley, and Mary Whistler to Mills & Boon, as Averil Ives and Barbara Rowan to Ward Lock, as Anita Charles to Wright & Brown, as Jane Beaufort to Collins. In 1964, she published under her married name, Ida Pollock, her first historical novel, The Gentle Masquerade, and after the success of it, Mills and Boon's "Masquerade" series of historical romances was launched.[5] Under her last pseudonym, Marguerite Bell, she also wrote historical romances. Most of her novels have been reprinted by Mill & Boon (or Harlequin in the United States).

In the 1970s she slowed the rhythm of publication, but continues to write. Besides romances she published as Barbara Rowan a suspense novel and two Children/Young Adults Fiction books. Her most recent novel, A Distant Drum (2005), is based around the Battle of Waterloo. Her autobiography, Starlight, published on 15 November 2009, tells the story of the start of her career, her marriage, and the relation of her husband with her ex-wife Enid Blyton.

She was a founder member of the Romantic Novelists' Association, and in 2010 she helped in its 50th anniversary.[4]

Present

During her marriage, she travelled widely and lived in many parts of England. It was their daughter's asthma that brought the Pollocks to Cornwall. She also lived in Ireland, France, Italy, Malta and Switzerland, where they successfully obtained a lasting cure for Rosemary's debilitating condition.[4]

Hugh died at 8 November 1971 in Malta, where he is buried in the British military cemetery. After her husband's death, Pollock returned with her daughter to England; and they lived for several years in Wiltshire, before moving to Lanreath in 1986.

Pollock is a recognised oil painter, who was selected for inclusion in a national exhibition in 2004. She also makes model houses, usually scale miniatures of Georgian or Tudor buildings.[5]

Bibliography

Short stories

As Susan Barrie[7]

Single novels

Omnibus collections

Anthologies in collaboration

As Pamela Kent[8]

Single novels

Anthologies in collaboration

As Averil Ives[9]

Single novels

Omnibus collections

As Anita Charles[10]

Single novels

As Barbara Rowan[11]

Single novels

Children/Young Adults Fiction

Anthologies in collaboration

As Jane Beaufort[12]

Single novels

As Rose Burghley[13]

Single novels

(* Novels reedited as Susan Barrie)

Anthologies in collaboration

As Mary Whistler[14]

Single novels

As Ida Pollock[15]

Single novels

Non fiction

As Marguerite Bell[16]

Single novels

Antologies in collaboration

References and sources

  1. ^ Ida Pollock's Gallery, http://www.aarti.co.uk/ag146ada1.html, retrieved 2008-12-09 
  2. ^ Ida Pollock at Saatchi Online, http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/yourgallery/artist_profile//91111 
  3. ^ a b c Starlight, a memoir by Ida Pollock, http://www.authorsonline.co.uk/book/838/Starlight_-_a_memoir/sample/ 
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Ida's life is every bit as dramatic as her many novels, http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/news/Ida-s-life-bit-dramatic-novels/article-3000093-detail/article.html 
  5. ^ a b c d Authors OnLine, http://www.authorsonline.co.uk/author/Ida%20Pollock 
  6. ^ House of Stratus, http://www.houseofstratus.com/ida-pollock-71-c.asp 
  7. ^ Susan Barrie in Fantastic Fiction, http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/susan-barrie/, retrieved 2008-10-10 
  8. ^ Pamela Kent in Fantastic Fiction, http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/k/pamela-kent/, retrieved 2008-10-10 
  9. ^ Averil Ives in Fantastic Fiction, http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/i/averil-ives/, retrieved 2008-10-10 
  10. ^ Anita Charles in Fantastic Fiction, http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/anita-charles/, retrieved 2008-10-10 
  11. ^ Barbara Rowan in Fantastic Fiction, http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/r/barbara-rowan/, retrieved 2008-10-10 
  12. ^ Jane Beaufort in Fantastic Fiction, http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/jane-beaufort/, retrieved 2008-10-10 
  13. ^ Rose Burghley in Fantastic Fiction, http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/rose-burghley/, retrieved 2008-10-10 
  14. ^ Mary Whistler in Fantastic Fiction, http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/mary-whistler/, retrieved 2008-10-10 
  15. ^ Ida Pollock in Fantastic Fiction, http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/p/ida-pollock/, retrieved 2008-10-10 
  16. ^ Marguerite Bell in Fantastic Fiction, http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/marguerite-bell/, retrieved 2008-10-10