Modern Instances

Ella D'Arcy was born on 23rd August 1857 in London, one of nine children.

Her education spanned London, Germany, France and the Channel Islands. A student of fine art, her poor eyesight meant a switch to literature was needed and with this she had hopes to be an author.

She worked as a contributor and unofficial editor, alongside Henry Harland, to The Yellow Book, Aubrey Beardsley’s sensational quarterly magazine that combined art, stories, poetry, essays and much else besides. D'Arcy wrote several stories for the magazine and her stories have an undeniable psychological and realist style through her engagement with various themes from marriage, the family, imitation through to deception.

Recognition of her talents grew after the publication of ‘Irremediable’, in the Yellow Book, where it received much praise from critics.

She also wrote and published in the Argosy, Blackwood's Magazine, and Temple Bar.

However, D’Arcy’s canon was small and, apart from her magazine stories, her book publishing was limited to ‘Monochromes’ (1895), ‘Modern Instances’ and ‘The Bishop’s Dilemma’ (1898). She also translated André Maurois's biography of Percy Bysshe Shelley entitled ‘Ariel’ (1924).

Her diligence with work aside she was notorious for her inability to maintain relationships with friends. When she did appear to them it was often unannounced. This earned her the sobriquet 'Goblin Ella.'

D'Arcy spent much of her life living alone, though she had a constant urge to travel, but usually she resided on the edge of poverty. Her writing was often motivated by this need.

Much of her later life was spent in Paris before returning to London in 1937, where she died, in hospital, on 5th September 1937.