Bethia Foott
{{Short description|Australian non-fiction writer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}}{{Use Australian English|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Bethia Foott
| image = Bethia Foott.jpg
| caption = Foott in 1929
| birth_date = {{Birth year|1907}}
| death_date = {{Death year and age|1995|1907}}
| period = 1927–1992
| birth_name = Grace Gwendoline Bethia Anderson
| death_place = Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England
| birth_place = India
| relatives = Ethel Anderson (mother)
}}
Bethia Foott (1907–1995) was an Australian non-fiction writer. She is best known for Dismissal of a Premier, a record of the 1932 dismissal of Jack Lang by the New South Wales Governor, Sir Philip Game.
Life
Grace Gwendoline Bethia Anderson was born in 1907 in India to poet Ethel (née Mason) and (later Brigadier-General) Austin Thomas Anderson.{{Cite web |title=Bethia Foott |url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A16246 |access-date=2023-07-31 |website=AustLit: Discover Australian Stories |publisher=The University of Queensland}} In 1914, on the outbreak of World War I, she and her mother moved to England, while her father served in France.{{Citation |last=Rutledge |first=Martha |title=Anderson, Ethel Campbell Louise (1883–1958) |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/anderson-ethel-campbell-louise-9353 |work=Australian Dictionary of Biography |access-date=2023-07-31 |place=Canberra |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |language=en}}
The family moved to Australia in 1924 and settled at Turramurra. Her father became private secretary to three governors of New South Wales, Sir Dudley de Chair and Sir Philip Game and to Sir Alexander Hore-Ruthven. This connection enabled her to access Game's papers and write Dismissal of a Premier in 1968.{{cite news |last=Aitkin |first=Don |date=29 June 1968 |title=Confrontation with 'the big fella' |volume=42 |page=15 |newspaper=The Canberra Times |issue=12,040 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article107060462 |accessdate=31 July 2023 |via=National Library of Australia}}
In addition to her writing, Foott was also an artist, exhibiting at the Blaxland Galleries.{{cite news |date=1 November 1933 |title=Modern Australian Art: The Contemporary Group |volume=XLIV |page=8 |newspaper=Sydney Mail |issue=1127 |location=New South Wales, Australia |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article165962835 |accessdate=31 July 2023 |via=National Library of Australia}} Her work was included in the 1934 exhibition of more than 120 Australian women artists in Sydney.{{cite news |date=21 July 1934 |title=Big Display by Women Artists of Australia! |volume=II |page=1 |newspaper=The Australian Women's Weekly |issue=7 |location=Australia, Australia |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47494603 |accessdate=31 July 2023 |via=National Library of Australia}} A portrait of Foott by Roland Wakelin was entered in the 1931 Archibald Prize and she herself entered the 1937 Wynne Prize.{{Cite web |title=Archibald Prize Archibald 1931 work: Bethia Foott by Roland Wakelin |url=https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/1931/19140/ |access-date=2023-08-01 |website=Art Gallery of New South Wales |language=en}}
During World War II, Foott served with the Women's National Emergency League (WNEL) in Brisbane. Together with another army wife, Molly Mann, she wrote We Drove the Americans based on their experiences. The book received mixed reviews.{{cite news |date=11 November 1944 |title=New Book Deals Brightly With Brisbane Yanks |page=4 (Late Weekend Final) |newspaper=The Telegraph (Brisbane) |location=Queensland, Australia |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article189850108 |accessdate=31 July 2023 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |date=11 November 1944 |title=For Your Dustbin: Flat-Footted |volume=IX |page=13 |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |issue=191 |location=New South Wales, Australia |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article248075652 |accessdate=31 July 2023 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |last=Praed |first=Max |date=13 May 1945 |title=Book Reviews: "Friendly Invasion" |page=8 |newspaper=Sunday Times (Perth) |issue=2464 |location=Western Australia |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59333832 |accessdate=31 July 2023 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Her final book, Ethel and the Governors-General, a biography of her mother, a noted poet and artist, was published in 1992.{{cite news |last=Clarke |first=Patricia |date=18 April 1992 |title=Wife, not husband, is the focus |volume=66 |page=11 |newspaper=The Canberra Times |issue=20,824 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article122410480 |accessdate=31 July 2023 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Personal
Foott married Thomas Harry Brudenall (Allan) Foott on 27 May 1931 at St James' Church, Sydney, followed by a reception at Government House for 350 people.{{cite news |date=27 May 1931 |title=Army Touch |page=15 (Final Extra) |newspaper=The Sun |issue=6409 |location=New South Wales, Australia |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224700696 |accessdate=1 August 2023 |via=National Library of Australia}} Following his death in 1952,{{cite news |date=24 December 1952 |title=Family Notices |page=6 |newspaper=The Sun |issue=13,378 |location=New South Wales, Australia |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article229638779 |accessdate=31 July 2023 |via=National Library of Australia}} she married Albert Harrison Ogden.
Foott died in Cirencester, England in 1995.
Works
- {{Cite book |last1=Mann |first1=Molly |title=We drove the Americans |publication-date=1944 |publisher=Angus and Robertson |last2=Foott |first2=Bethia}}
- {{Cite book |last=Foott |first=Bethia |title=Leonora : an indomitable woman |publication-date=1958 |publisher=Currawong Publishing}}
- {{Cite book |last=Foott |first=Bethia |title=Dismissal of a Premier : the Phillip Game papers |publication-date=1968 |publisher=Morgan Publications}}
- {{Cite book |last=Foott |first=Bethia |title=Ethel and the governors' general : a biography of Ethel Anderson (1883–1958) and Brigadier-General A.T. Anderson (1868–1949) |date=2 August 1992 |publication-date=1992 |publisher=Rainforest Publishing |isbn=978-0-947134-06-8}}
References
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