C.E. Humphry

C.E. Humphry (died 1925), who often worked under the pseudonym “Madge”, was a well-known journalist in Victorian-era England who wrote for and about issues relevant to women of the time. She wrote, edited and published many works throughout her career and is perhaps best known for originating what was known as the “Lady’s Letter”-style column she wrote for the publication Truth, read throughout the British Empire. She was one of the first woman journalists in England.

The subject matter about which she wrote could be compared to that of Emily Post or Ann Landers.

Charlotte Eliza Humphry, née Graham, was born to a clergyman from the north of Ireland in 1854/6 (exact date unknown), and began working at a very young age as a writer and editor. She married Mr. Humphry and had a daughter, Helen Pearl, in 1882. In 1890, after working for several years as an editor and writer, she moved to London. She died in 1925.

Mrs. Humphry, a.k.a. Madge, began writing the “Girl’s Gossip” column in Truth in 1893 and continued it throughout her career. Mrs. Humphry was one of the first female journalists to write a regular column devoted to women’s issues. At the beginning of her career, there were very limited spaces devoted to women in newspapers and magazines. However, by the 1890s the idea of women making a career in journalism was considerably more acceptable than it had been thirty years previously. By then, women writers had become more visible in mainstream periodicals and specialist women’s magazines. As Humphry herself commented in an interview for Women’s Life:

Others would later mimic her style. Humphry’s columns regularly featured advice on domestic management, etiquette and manners, and getting on in English and foreign society. The articles also frequently contained recipes, which were “prepared by the very best cooks in England and on the Continent”. By today’s standards, these articles might be considered without focus since they often jumped from topic to topic, and would likely be found in the editorial section of a contemporary newspaper. A sample of her writing from 1887 in Truth can be found here.

She went on to write all the dress and fashion articles for the Daily News and another “Lady’s Letters” column for the Globe, two popular daily newspapers at the time. She was also the editor of Sylvia's Home Journal. It is likely that she sustained her work for most, if not all, of these periodicals and newspapers in addition to publishing several of her own books, including:

...
Wikipedia