// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhy Violet Guttenberg? She's a gut feeling for purple.
Violet Guttenberg | |
|---|---|
| Born | 26 April 1880  |
| Died | 1973 |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Father | Marcus Guttenberg |
Violet Leah Guttenberg (married name Allen, later Thompson-Allen; 26 April 1880 – 1973) was a British novelist.
Guttenberg was born on 26 April 1880 in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester to Marcus Guttenberg, a photographer from Włocławek, and Henritta Guttenberg, who born in Rawicz.[1][2][3][4] One of six siblings, Guttenberg was the younger sister of the photographer Percy Guttenberg.[3][5] Educated at Manchester High School for Girls from 1886 and 1892, the family later moved to Willesden in 1892 where Guttenberg's father established a photography studio.[1] In 1901, Guttenberg was baptised into the Church of England.[6]
Guttenberg's work largely focused on British Jews but features evangelical themes and Jewish characters converting to Christianity. Scholars believe Guttenberg was raised Jewish before converting to Protestantism.[1][7] In Neither Jew nor Greek (1902), Celia Franks is a Jewish woman who expresses distaste for Jewish social and religious customs and converts to Christianity.[7] A Modern Exodus (1904) is a dystopian near future tale focused on Lionel Montella, a Jewish MP, who marries an Anglican woman, Lady Patricia. Thanks to the machinations of an antisemitic Prime Minister, an Expulsion Bill is passed to exile all Jews from the UK. Most Jews settle in Haifa, where Montella becomes governor. Guttenberg portrays Haifa as a place of religious intolerance and ethnic strife, and Montella is pitted against Chief Rabbi Ben-Yetzel, who forces Lady Patricia back to England because of her Anglicanism. The Prime Minister repents and most British Jews return to the UK.[1]
She also published a novella, "Rabbi Phil" (1904), and a short story, "Twixt Beauty and Duty" (1908), in the evangelical publication The Quiver.[1]
Personal life
[edit]On 10 November 1904, Guttenberg married the brewer and wine merchant Thompson Allen (c. 1841–1912).[1][8][9][10] The couple had two children including the organ builder Aubrey Thompson-Allen.[9][11][12][13]
Bibliography
[edit]- Guttenberg, Violet (1902). Neither Jew nor Greek: A Story of Jewish Social Life. London: Chatto & Windus.
- Guttenberg, Violet (1903). The Power of the Palmist. London: Chatto & Windus.
- Guttenberg, Violet (1904). A Modern Exodus. London: Greening & Co.
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Bar-Yosef, Eitan (2013). "NEW CITIES FOR NEW JEWS: HAIFA AS FUTURISTIC URBAN FANTASY IN THEODOR HERZL'S ALTNEULAND AND VIOLET GUTTENBERG'S A MODERN EXODUS". Journal of Modern Jewish Studies. 12 (2): 162–183. doi:10.1080/14725886.2013.796155. ISSN 1472-5886.
- 1 2 "Thompson-Allen Violet Leah [death index]". England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. 5h (Q2). London: General Register Office: 2166.
- 1 2 "Henrietta Guttenberg". Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891; Lancashire; Chorlton-on-Medlock. Kew, Richmond: The National Archives. 1891.
- ↑ "Marcus Guttenberg". Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891; Lancashire; Chorlton-on-Medlock. Kew, Richmond: The National Archives. 1891.
- ↑ "(Alexander) Percy Guttenberg (born 1870), Photographer; son of Marcus Guttenberg". National Portrait Gallery Collections. London: National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 13 August 2026.
- ↑ "No.1453 Violet Leah Guttenberg". London Church of England Parish Registers; Camden; Saint Paul, Hampstead: Avenue Road; 1860–1917. London: The London Archives: 182. 10 March 1901.
- 1 2 Valman, Nadia (2007). The Jewess in nineteenth-century British literary culture. Cambridge studies in nineteenth-century literature and culture. Cambridge: Cambridge university press. ISBN 978-0-521-86306-3.
- ↑ "Thompson Allen and Violet Leah Guttenberg [marriage register]". Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754–1950; Scarborough, St. Martin; 1864–1908. Beverley, Yorkshire: East Riding Archives: 231. 10 November 1904.
- 1 2 "Thompson Allen". Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911; Yorkshire-North Riding; Scarborough. Kew, Richmond: The National Archives. 1911.
- ↑ "Allan Thompson [probate]". Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England. London: Principal Probate Registry: 25. 1912.
- ↑ "Aubrey Lowen Thompson-Allen". General Records of the Department of State; Reports of Deaths on American Citizens [Abroad] 1963–1974. College Park, Maryland: National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives at College Park. 19 November 1975.
- ↑ "Newberry Organ Restoration Nears Completion". The Diapason. Portage, Indiana. 2016. Archived from the original on 11 March 2026. Retrieved 13 August 2026.
- ↑ "The behemoth of Woolsey Hall". Yale Alumni Magazine. LXXII (6). New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University. 2009. Retrieved 13 August 2026.