Mathers, Helen
Entry updated 31 August 2026. Tagged: Author.
Pseudonym of UK author Ellen Buckingham Mathews (1849-1920), who took on the married name Reeves in 1877. She gained her greatest success with her first novel, Comin' thro the Rye (1875 3vols) as by H B M, and remained prolific for many years. Of sf interest are The Juggler and the Soul (1896) and The Sin of Hagar (1896), both melodramas involving Hypnosis, experiments in Medicine, and reanimation of the dead.
Mathers wrote the opening chapter of the Round Robinn melodrama The Fate of Fenella (1892), whose 24 authors – each writing one chapter without consultation – included F Anstey, Arthur Conan Doyle, Florence Marryat and Bram Stoker. [JC]
Ellen Buckingham Mathews Reeves
born Misterton, near Crewkerne, Somerset: 26 August 1849
died London: 10 March 1920
works (highly selected)
- The Fate of Fenella (London: Hutchinson and Co, 1892) with 23 others [hb/]
- The Juggler and the Soul (London: Skeffington and Son, 1896) [hb/]
- The Sin of Hagar (London: Hutchinson and Co, 1896) [hb/]
collections
- The Face in the Mirror and Other Stories (London: Digby, Long and Co, 1903) [coll: hb/]
links
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