author
Lady Florence Elsa Bell Richmond
b. 1880
Remembered today for co-authoring a playful collection of nursery-rhyme dramas, she wrote under the name Mrs. Herbert Richmond. Her work sits at the meeting point of family life, performance, and classic children's literature.
1 Audiobook
The Cat and Fiddle Book Eight Dramatised Nursery Rhymes for Nursery Performers
by Lady Florence Eveleen Eleanore Olliffe Bell, Lady Florence Elsa Bell Richmond
About the author
Born in Yorkshire in 1880, Florence Elsa Bell later became Lady Florence Elsa Bell Richmond. She was the daughter of Sir Thomas Hugh Bell and Florence Bell, and sources about her family note that she was a half-sister of the traveler and writer Gertrude Bell.
In print, she is best known for her part in The Cat and Fiddle Book (1922), a collection of short dramatized nursery rhymes for children. The book credits her as Mrs. Herbert Richmond, and the surviving text shows that she contributed pieces alongside Lady Florence Bell.
She married Herbert William Richmond in 1907 and lived until 1971. Reliable sources available here confirm her dates and her link to The Cat and Fiddle Book, but they do not clearly provide a suitable verified portrait image, so none is included.