Erminda Rentoul Esler's “Physical” and “Virtual” Networks: Women's Activism, the Irish in London, and the Local-Colour Story

This article illuminates the life and work of Irish-born novelist, short-story writer, and periodical columnist Erminda Rentoul Esler (1860?–1924), who lived and worked in London from the 1890s onwards. First, the essay documents Esler's participation in various literary and social networks in London. These “physical” networks included London-based Irish revivalist groups where she interacted with other Irish and London-Irish writers, and early feminist groups such as New Women and suffragists (e.g., the Women Writers’ Suffrage League). Second, the essay explores Esler's equally important engagement with “virtual” networks of readers through her collaboration with English periodicals (women's magazines) and her local-colour stories. As this article will show, Esler's local-colour fiction of the 1890s is a critical node that joins together and interrogates discourses surrounding Irishness, the New Woman, and the transnational dimension of the regional story. Reasserting Esler's presence in the London literary marketplace and in Irish diasporic circuits highlights the complexity of regional, diasporic, and religious varieties of Irish identity that were being negotiated at the turn of the twentieth century. Her involvement also underscores the importance of these networks of sociability to encourage women's participation in society through education, professionalism, and the vote.