Lillian Pyke
Australian children's writer and novelist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lillian Maxwell Pyke (25 August 1881 – 31 August 1927) was an Australian children's writer who also wrote adult novels using the pseudonym Erica Maxwell.
25 August 1881
- Children's fiction
- novelist
Lillian Pyke | |
|---|---|
Pyke in 1924 | |
| Born | Lillian Maxwell Heath 25 August 1881 Port Fairy, Victoria, Australia |
| Died | 31 August 1927 (aged 46) Brighton, Victoria, Australia |
| Pen name | Erica Maxwell |
| Genre |
|
| Children | 3, including Lawrence Richard Dimond Pyke |
| Relatives | John Richard Pyke (grandson) |
Biography
Pyke was born Lillian Maxwell Heath, the tenth child of Robert Mosely and Susannah Ellen Heath (née Wilson). She was educated at University High School in Melbourne.[1]
Pyke worked as a teacher and journalist prior to her marriage.[2] She married Richard Dimond Pyke on 7 April 1906[3] and the couple moved to near Gympie, Queensland, where he was an accountant for railway construction.[4] They had three children before his death by suicide in December 1914.[5][6] He had been suffering from depression and had a breakdown at the end of an investigation into the relationship between him and fellow staff members, but there was no evidence of financial mismanagement.[7]
Pyke took her children to Melbourne where she took up writing again to support the family.[2] She is credited with translating the first Australian novel into Esperanto.[8]
Pyke died in hospital at Brighton, Victoria on 31 August 1927[9] and was buried in Box Hill Cemetery.[2] She had been suffering from chronic renal disease. She was survived by her two daughters and son.[10]
Works
- Pyke, Lillian M. (1919), Camp kiddies: a story of life on railway construction, The Specialty Press[11]
- Pyke, Lillian M. (1924), Brothers of the fleet, Sutcliffe, Norman (illustrator), Ward Lock
- Pyke, Lillian M. (1924), Squirmy and bubbles: a school story for girls, Clark, Perce (illustrator), Whitcombe & Tombs[12]
- Pyke, Lillian M. (1926), Three bachelor girls, Ward, Lock