Enid Brockies - Countess Hélène Magriska

Sunderland Echo, 4 December 1933

Enid Florence Brockies (1911-1943) was a well-known author in her time, under the flamboyant pen name Countess Hélène Magriska.  My interest stems from a family connection: she was my first cousin once removed.  Henry James Lockhart (1861-1905), the well-known elephant trainer, was her grandfather and my great-grandfather.  Despite her short life she was a prolific novelist of romantic melodramas, usually with foreign settings.

I have put together what information I can glean about her life and career, mostly from the British Newspaper Archive and Ancestry.com.  As well as biographical details the newspapers have proved useful in gauging the response to her books which, while never aspiring to high art, were popular, if not always appreciated by the critics.

Enid was born on 31 May 1911 in Thornton Heath, Surrey.[1]  Her father was Herbert Leonard Brockies (1878–1967), and her mother (my great aunt) was Ellen Lockhart (1886–1951).  Herbert and Ellen were both born in London, and they married in July 1910.  Enid was their only child.  In 1919 Herbert was an accountant, the family living at 8 Peel Street, Hull.[2]  At the time of the 1921 Census they were living at 19 The Terrace, Roker, Sunderland.  Herbert’s occupation was given as senior audit clerk for a firm of chartered accountants.  Ellen was a housewife.  Enid attended Sunderland High School for Girls.[3]

By the time the 1939 England and Wales Register was compiled they were living at 7 Park Parade, Roker, Sunderland.  Herbert gave his occupation as secretary to a transport company, Ellen was engaged in domestic duties, unpaid, and Enid gave her occupation as novelist.  She was unmarried.

Enid possessed a good contralto voice.  In May 1928, shortly before her 17th birthday, she competed in the North of England Musical Tournament in Newcastle and was placed second in the solo singing for girls (senior) category.[4]  In June 1931, she repeated her success at the North of England Musical Tournament, achieving a bronze medal for singing to her own piano accompaniment.[5]  She came first in the contralto section of the solo singing, open aria classes.[6]

Her success in competition enabled her to appear on the radio.  Later in June 1931, the North Mail printed a paragraph (with photograph) about her: “Miss Enid Brockies, who is to sing two groups of songs in the mid-day broadcast concert from Newcastle to-morrow, is well-known in the North.  She is a Sunderland girl who has a wonderful mezzo-soprano voice and has every prospect of a successful career as a vocalist.  She has already won silver and bronze medals in open competitions.”[7]  The schedule for the Northern regional programme appeared in the daily and regional press, billing her as a mezzo-soprano with the Northern Studio Orchestra, Newcastle studio.[8]

North Mail, 29 June 1931

She performed in Sunderland High School Old Girls’ Literary and Dramatic Society productions, notably The Yeoman of the Guard and Iolanthe.[9]  In 1929 she was “a capable Dame Carruthers” in The Yeoman of the Guard.[10]  In December 1933 the Sunderland Echo carried a photograph of her, announcing she would be performing the title role in Iolanthe.[11]  Reviewing the production favourably, the Sunderland Echo called her “a demure Iolanthe”.[12]

Attempting to turn her musical experience into paid employment, working at home, she placed an advertisement in the Sunderland Echo advertising as a “teacher of voice production, singing and pianoforte.”[13]  As this is the only reference to her offer of private tuition it may not have been a successful venture.  That seems to be the end of her career as a singer and teacher, and she diverted her considerable energies into authorship.  There may have been little pressure on her to find paid employment because in addition to her father’s income, in late 1933 her mother received a £500 inheritance from the estate of Ellen’s uncle, Sam Lockhart, who had died in May that year.[14]

In 1936 Enid’s first novel, The Girl from Moinette's appeared.  She adopted the grand pen name Countess Hélène Magriska, though it was not to protect her identity as she did not keep her real name secret.  As a marketing ploy it certainly made her stand out in a crowded field.  The book was published by Mellifont Press, which specialised in pulp titles and cheap reprints of classics.  Unfortunately, it does not seem to have been much noticed, and blurbs accompanying later books tended to ignore it.  But it launched her on her career, and though The Girl from Moinette’s does not seem to have been a success initially, a second edition appeared in 1940, presumably on the back of subsequent novels.

In her new guise she had a letter in Picturegoer Weekly.  Signed “(Countess) Hélène Magriska”, she wrote as “a regular reader of your wonderful film-paper”.  She proposed Otto Kruger as “the star whom I consider has the most musical speaking voice on the screen.”[15]  It is likely from her novels with a United States setting that she was an avid cinema patron, as there is no evidence she travelled outside the UK.

Her next book, Ten Poplars (1937), received much more attention than its predecessor, and it was clear that Enid had the support of her parents in her new venture as it was dedicated “to Marmee and Daddy in appreciation of their loving encouragement.”  Her relationship with the local press paid off as she received a warm notice in the Sunderland Echo.[16]  The ‘A Woman’s View’ column compiled by ‘Miss Gadabout’ announced the publication of the “first big book” of the “young Wearside novelist, known as a singer.”  Having reminded readers that Enid was well-known locally as a singer, it continued that she was having considerable success as a novelist.  As well as her achievements at the North of England Musical Tournament and appearances in Gilbert and Sullivan, it mentions that she “was for some time with Mr Henry Baynton’s Shakespearean Company.”

Henry Baynton (1892-1951) was an actor-manager of the old school, producing, and performing in, a wide repertoire drawn largely, though not confined to, the Shakespearian canon.  While he worked extensively in London, he put on seasons outside it.  His obituary states that he toured the provinces with his company until he disbanded it in 1930.[17]  While ‘was for a time’ implies Edith went on tour with him, it seems more likely that she acted with him while he was appearing locally.  He was frequently in Sunderland, putting on seasons at the Empire Theatre and Victoria Hall in 1923, 1924, 1927, 1928 and 1929.[18]  As he brought the principal actors with him, Enid was likely to have been a locally-recruited extra.  Her name does not appear in any of Baynton’s advertising.

‘Miss Gadabout’ refers to her circus connection, noting that her grandfather was elephant trainer Henry Lockhart, and her cousin was George Lockhart, ringmaster at Blackpool Tower.  Intriguingly, it states that Enid had only recently taken to writing, and although Ten Poplars was her “first big venture,” she had had “several small efforts published,” presumably short stories in magazines as well as The Girl from Moinette’s.

In all, Enid wrote fifteen novels which were published between 1936 and 1950, the final three posthumously.  Once she got into her stride she produced two novels a year, with a gap in 1942.  Some of her books appear to have made little impact, but a few titles were extremely popular; an advertisement in the Yorkshire Post announcing the publication of Polished Jade (1943) included the detail that Silken Sin was in its 160th thousand.[19]  The dust jacket of her final novel, The Scarlet Flame (1950), proclaimed that The Blonde Sinner was in its 165th thousand, and that “The sale of Countess Magriska’s novels now exceed one million copies!”  Perhaps the figure was an exaggeration, but her sales must have been decent enough; from 1939 all her books were produced by John Long Ltd, which would not have continued to publish an unsuccessful writer.  A review of And Then Onide Laughed (1941) referred to her as “a terribly popular author.”[20]  She knew her market, yet it is a sign of how ephemeral they were considered that most of her titles are now so hard to find.

Enid died on 2 July 1943 at 7 Park Parade, aged 31 and her death was registered the same day.  Her death certificate gives her occupation as “Spinster, a novelist, daughter of Herbert Leonard Brockies, a secretary, transport contractors”, so managing to say more about him than her.  The cause of death was given as cardiac failure, and toxic adenoma of thyroid.  The thyroid adenoma would have led to excessive thyroid hormone production, which in turn could have led to the heart issue which was the primary cause of death.  A brief obituary appeared in the Sunderland Echo the following day. ‘Died at Roker: Passing of Sunderland Novelist’.[21]  It included both her real name and her pen name, and gave a partial list of her novels.

Was she any good?  Reviewers often praised her inventiveness and characterisation, while noting far-fetched plots; others were dismissive, or suggested that readers knew exactly what they were going to get.  Judging by newspaper descriptions, she had a wide range, and while the United States was a favourite setting, she was adept at situating her narratives in a variety of locations, and including current events.  She could also mix genres: Ten Poplars is listed in both The Checklist of Science-Fiction and Supernatural Fiction, and Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, indicating the science fiction element (the Z-Q-Ray machine which made faces look younger) in its love triangle.[22]  She was certainly not a first-rate stylist, but she had the ability to make her readers keep coming back for more.

I would like to find out as much as possible about Enid, and track down her books.  Other than the British Newspaper Archive and Ancestry.com, information is hard to come by.  I approached Sunderland and Tyne and Wear archives, and Sunderland Antiquarians, but none had anything on her in their files.  After Ellen’s death, Herbert married Eleanor Auld Wilson Garraway in 1954.  He died in 1967 and she died in Darlington in 1993.  The Darlington archive had nothing on Brockies, Magriska or Garraway.

It does not look like Herbert and Eleanor had children together.  Enid’s papers were probably destroyed, as is so often the case, but it is possible they still exist.  If anybody has any information on Enid, or has any of her books for sale, I should be very happy to hear from them (tom.ruffles@yahoo.co.uk).

Footnotes

[1] UK Census, 1921.
[2] Kelly’s Directory, 1919.
[3] Sunderland Echo, 9 March 1937; Sunderland Echo, 3 July 1943.
[4] Yorkshire Post, 18 May 1928.
[5] North Mail, 3 June 1931.
[6] Sunderland Echo, 5 June 1931; Shields Daily News, 6 June 1931.
[7] North Mail, 29 June 1931
[8] Birmingham Gazette, Daily Express, Daily Herald, Liverpool Post, North Mail, The Times, 30 June 1931.
[9] Sunderland Echo, 3 July 1943.
[10] Sunderland Echo, 18 December 1929.
[11] Sunderland Echo, 4 December 1933.
[12] Sunderland Echo, 21 December 1933.
[13] Sunderland Echo, 21 April 1934.
[14] Royal Leamington Spa Courier, 1 September 1933.
[15] Picturegoer Weekly, 8 August 1936.
[16] Sunderland Echo, 9 March 1937.
[17] The Times, 4 January 1951.
[18] Sunderland Echo, 29 December 1923; Sunderland Echo, 18 December 1924; Sunderland Echo, 18 November 1927; Sunderland Echo, 7 April 1928, 20 April 1928; Sunderland Echo, 30 March 1929.
[19] Yorkshire Post, 15 January 1943.
[20] Liverpool Echo, 1 April 1942.
[21] Sunderland Echo, 3 July 1943.
[22] The Checklist of Science-Fiction and Supernatural Fiction, by E F Bleilier, Glen Rock, New Jersey: Firebell Books, 1978; Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, by Robert Reginald, Douglas Menville and Mary A Burgess, Detroit, Michigan: Dale, 1979.

 

Novels by Countess Magriska

I have taken this list from Steve Holland’s Bear Alley blog post (8 May 2016) on Enid, which alerted me to her existence, and the family connection:

The Girl from Moinette's. London: Mellifont Press (3150), 1936, 2nd ed. 1940.

Ten Poplars. London: Constable & Co., 1937.

Love in Morocco. London: Fiction House (Piccadilly Novels 93), 1938.

Whirled Into Marriage. London: Fiction House (Piccadilly Novels 104), Dec 1938.

Egyptian Love. London: Fiction House (Piccadilly Novels 122), Sep 1939; London, Edward Foster, 1947.

Blonde Sinner. London: John Long, 1939.

Silken Sin. London: John Long, 1939.

Black Ballerina. London: John Long, 1940.

Dark Madonna. London: John Long, 1940.

Crimson Brocade. London: John Long, 1941.

And Then Onide Laughed. London: John Long, 1941.

The House of Caddalo. London: John Long, 1943.

Polished Jade. London: John Long, 1943.

The Devil Shed Tears. London: John Long, 1944.

Happily Ever After. London: John Long, 1945.

The Scarlet Flame. London: John Long, 1950.