Eleanor Smith

Who was Eleanor Smith?

Lady Eleanor Furneaux Smith was an English writer. The eldest of the politician F. E. Smith's three children, she worked as a society reporter and cinema reviewer for a while, then as a publicist for circus companies. In the latter role she travelled more widely, and gained inspiration for her third career, writing popular novels and short stories which often provided the basis for the 'Gainsborough melodramas' of the period. These stories often had a romanticised historical or Gypsy setting, based on her own research into Romany culture.