Naomi Jacob

Naomi Eleanor Clare Jacob (1 July 1884 – 27 August 1964) was an English author, actress and broadcaster.

Naomi Jacob was born in Ripon, North Yorkshire, the first daughter of Samuel Jacob and Nina Collinson. Her father was headmaster of what is now Ripon Grammar School and her mother was also a teacher there. Jacob's pseudonym, Ellington Gray, shows her close connections to the town and her family. Her grandfather, Robert Ellington Collinson, was a Mayor of the town and owner of the Unicorn Hotel where the Prince of Wales once stayed. Her great-grandfather Thomas was the second Chief Police officer in the town.

Jacob had a difficult upbringing. Her parents divorced because of her father's wayward follies and his violent temper. She wanted to finish her schooling and went to live in Middlesbrough where she taught as a student teacher. Her sister Mu and mother moved south to start a new life.

She left the teaching profession to become an actress in revue. It was around the same time that she contracted tuberculosis, a condition that was to affect her for the rest of her life. With physical activity becoming more difficult, Jacob channelled her creative efforts into writing. As well as a number of novels such as the Gollantz Saga and An Irish Boy, Jacob wrote non-fiction, biographies and newspaper columns. Her mother also became a novelist, publishing under the name Nina Abbott.

Her early years in Yorkshire gave her a love for all things flora and fauna. She loved cats and dogs and is often seen in photographs with her favourite Pekinese called Sammy. Jacob even wrote a book from the point of view of one of her dogs entitled Prince China. By himself, but dictated to Naomi Jacob.

Because of her strong links to the theatre, she was a well-known figure in the profession. Known by her friends as Micky, she had a strong circle of friends including Marguerite Broadfoote, Radclyffe Hall, 'Little Tich', Marie Lloyd, Bransby Williams and many others. She was also active politically standing as a Labour MP and becoming involved with the Women's Suffrage movement. In one of her autobiographies, she mentions putting an alarm clock in a tin box and placing it next to the door of a seaside home being visited by Liberal Prime Minister David Lloyd George. The ticking box had to be rushed away and thrown in the sea by concerned friends who believed it to be a bomb.

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