Elizabeth "Elsie" Smeaton Munro (1880 – 20 December 1961) was a Scottish writer, singer, and performer.
Elsie Smeaton Munro | |
|---|---|
| Born | Elizabeth Smeaton Munro 1880 Glasgow |
| Died | 20 December 1961 Glasgow |
| Other names | Elsie S. M. Bilsland |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, singer |
| Spouse | William Inglis Bilsland |
| Parent |
|
Early life
Munro was born in Glasgow, the daughter of John M. M. Munro and Margaret Dunlop Smeaton.[1][2] Her father was a noted electrical and civil engineer, as was her older brother, Donald Smeaton Munro.[3] Her younger brother, Ion Smeaton Munro, was a diplomat, journalist, and book collector.[4][5] Neil Munro was a relative.[6]
Career
Munro starred in a 1904 production of La fille de Madame Angot in Glasgow in 1904.[6] She wrote a comic operetta, The Kink, performed in Glasgow in 1910, with music by George Henry Martin.[7][8] Her short plays Rosemary and The Cottage of Content were performed in Glasgow in 1916, as a wartime benefit for the Limbless Sailors' and Soldiers' Hospital.[9]
Munro wrote scripts for the Children's Hour programme on BBC Radio,[6] and gave recitals and reports for broadcast.[10][11] She also wrote two books, Glasgow Flourish (1911), and Topsy-Turvy Tales (1923), a collection of "utterly ridiculous"[12] fairy tales called "refreshingly original" in The Publishers' Circular.[13]
Publications
- Glasgow Flourish: Short Sketches (1911)
- Topsy-Turvy Tales (1923, illustrated by W. Heath Robinson)
- "Passing Sheep" (poem, in a 1971 anthology of Scottish verse)[14]
Personal life and legacy
Munro married engineer William Inglis Bilsland in 1913.[2] Her husband died in 1953,[15] and she died in 1961, at the age of 79.[6] The Elsie Smeaton Munro Collection of Theatre Memorabilia is in the Scottish Theatre Archive at Glasgow University Library.[16]
References
External links
- William Heath Robinson, illustrations for Munro's Topsy-Turvy Tales (1922), in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art