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Concordia Merrel

{{Short description|English actress (1885–1962)}}

{{redirect|Merrel|other uses|Merel|and|Merrell (disambiguation){{!}}Merrell}}

{{Use British English|date=October 2017}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Concordia Merrel

| image = Cavendish Morton - Isabella - 1909.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = Merrel as Isabella in Measure for Measure (1909)

| birth_name = Mary Phyllis Joan Logan

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1885|09|10}}

| birth_place = Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1962|05|18|1885|09|10}}

| death_place = Eye, Suffolk, England, U.K.

| resting place =

| occupation = {{flatlist|

  • Actress
  • Model
  • Author

}}

| years_active = 1909–1956

| spouse = {{Plainlist|

}}

| parents =

| relatives =

| children = 3, including Valentine Dyall and Cavendish Morton

}}

Concordia Merrel (born Mary Phyllis Joan Logan; 10 September 1885 – 18 May 1962) was a British stage and silent film actress, photographer's model and a prolific author of romantic fiction.

Biography

She was born as Mary Phyllis Joan Logan in 1885 at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh in India, one of four children of Thomas Tweddle Logan (1855–1936), in 1880 the Principal of Bellary College in Madras and an Inspector of Schools in the Indian Educational Service, and Beatrice Maude née Pattenden (1860–1938). In 1891 Beatrice Logan was suffering ill-health and returned to England with her children while her husband remained in India. Her parents divorced in 1899 following her mother's adultery.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/account/signin?returnurl=https%3a%2f%2fwww.ancestry.co.uk%2finteractive%2f2465%2f40243_606246_1729-00000%2f896%3fbackurl%3dhttps%3a%2f%2fwww.ancestry.co.uk%2ffamily-tree%2fperson%2ftree%2f1077302%2fperson%2f25563176247%2ffacts%2fcitation%2f115104832433%2fedit%2frecord|title=Ancestry - Sign In|website=www.ancestry.co.uk}}

On returning to England on furlough Thomas Logan went to his London house in 1892. On arrival he enquired of his man servant the whereabouts of Mrs Logan, to be told that she had moved out with the children and was living round the corner. TTL called at the address to be told that Mrs Logan was, in fact, living there with an unnamed man and her children. Thomas Logan then instigated divorce proceedings citing the man as co-respondent in his wife's adultery.

The divorce case caused him to overstay his furlough and this was logged in his service record. During his time in England he met, on an omnibus. Marian Hartley. On his next return to England they met again and decided to marry. Which they did in Ceylon on the way back to India. They had a summer bungalow in Coonoor, Tamil Nadu, where my aunt Sylvia and my Mother Gladys were born in subsequent years.File:Concordia Merrel 1.jpg{{Clarify|date=October 2024}}

She married the actor Franklin Dyall in 1907 and with him had a son, the actor Valentine Dyall (1908-1985), who went on to find fame as radio's 'The Man in Black'. She left Dyall in 1929 so he could marry the actress Mary Merrall. She began a relationship with the actor and photographer Cavendish Morton and married in 1935,{{Cite web|url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/account/signin?returnurl=https%3a%2f%2fwww.ancestry.co.uk%2finteractive%2f8753%2fons_m19354az-0901%3fpid%3d44904564%26backurl%3dhttps%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3findiv%3d1%26dbid%3d8753%26h%3d44904564%26tid%3d%26pid%3d%26usePUB%3dtrue%26_phsrc%3ddjv3195%26_phstart%3dsuccessSource%26treeid%3d%26personid%3d%26hintid%3d%26usePUB%3dtrue%26_phsrc%3ddjv3195%26_phstart%3dsuccessSource%26usePUBJs%3dtrue%26_ga%3d2.231705500.246406794.1586806245-1197399642.1515349816|title=Ancestry - Sign In|website=www.ancestry.co.uk}} giving birth to the twins Cavendish Morton and Concord Morton in 1911. After a period of nomadic wandering the family settled in Bembridge in the Isle of Wight where the couple home-schooled their sons with an emphasis on the arts.{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11430073/Cavendish-Morton-artist-obituary.html|title=Cavendish Morton, artist - obituary|date=23 February 2015|publisher=Telegraph.co.uk|accessdate=2015-04-23}}{{cite web|author=Peter Davies |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/cavendish-morton-painter-and-illustrator-acclaimed-for-his-impressionistic-landscapes-and-sweeping-atmospheric-marine-panoramas-10068072.html |title=Cavendish Morton: Painter and illustrator acclaimed for his impressionistic landscapes and sweeping, atmospheric, marine panoramas - News - People |publisher=Independent.co.uk |date=2015-02-24 |accessdate=2015-04-23}}{{cite web |author= |url=http://www.dissexpress.co.uk/news/latest-news/obituary-cavendish-morton-1-6577375 |title=OBITUARY: Cavendish Morton |publisher=Dissexpress.co.uk |date=2015-02-15 |accessdate=2015-04-23 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304002438/http://www.dissexpress.co.uk/news/latest-news/obituary-cavendish-morton-1-6577375 |url-status=dead }}

In her youth, she was a photographer's model and in 1910 was the 'Kodak Girl' on a poster in a well-known advertising campaign for that company based on a photograph taken by Morton. In 1913 she played Mrs. Leighton in The Cormorant opposite her partner Cavendish Morton, and Giulia Verlaine in Greater Love Than This! at the Little Theatre in London.J. P. Wearing, [https://books.google.com/books?id=KMFnAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT503 The London Stage 1910-1919: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel], Rowman & Littlefield (2014) - Google Books Her films roles included Pauline in A Smart Set (1919), Joan in The Lost Chord (1917), Margaret in Ave Maria (1918) and Mrs. Fleeter in My Sweetheart (1918).{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba582e8b4|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221113013217/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba582e8b4|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 November 2022|title=Concordia Merrill|website=BFI}}Alan Goble, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Yyqc0Qa6b60C&pg=PA358 The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film], Bowker Saur (1999) - Google Books pg. 358

Concordia Merrel and Cavendish Morton remained married until his death in 1939. She began writing romantic fiction in the 1920s, publishing her last novel in 1956. Her works were translated into four languages, with the last reprint occurring in 1999.{{Cite web|url=http://worldcat.org/identities/viaf-285835822/|title=Merrel, Concordia [WorldCat Identities]}}

Concordia Merrel died in May 1962 in Eye, Suffolk in England. In her will, she left £739 6s to her sons Concord and Cavendish Morton.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/account/signin?returnurl=https%3a%2f%2fwww.ancestry.co.uk%2finteractive%2f1904%2f32858_611411_1979-00355%2f14401360%3fbackurl%3dhttps%3a%2f%2fwww.ancestry.co.uk%2ffamily-tree%2fperson%2ftree%2f1077302%2fperson%2f25563176248%2ffacts%2fcitation%2f115104834368%2fedit%2frecord|title=Ancestry - Sign In|website=www.ancestry.co.uk}}

Select publications

  • John Gresham's Girl, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1926]
  • Love's Hazard, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1934]
  • The Savage, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1931]
  • Two Men and Sally, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1926]
  • The Man without Mercy, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1929]
  • Julia takes her chance, London : Selwyn & Blount, [1920]
  • The Miracle Merchant, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1928]
  • Sally among the Stars, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1930]
  • The Unconquerable Girl, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1927]
  • The Surprising Marriage, London : Hodder & Stoughton, (1932)
  • The Fanshawe Family, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1925]
  • The Cads' Party, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1931]
  • The House of Yesterday, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1932]
  • Jacqueline and Love, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1925]
  • Love in Fetters, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1925]
  • The Shadow of Red Mason, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1930)
  • The Marriage of Anne, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1927]
  • Adam - and some Eves, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1931]
  • Introducing Terry Sloane, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1933]
  • His Lucky Star, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1929]
  • Heart's Journey, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1924]
  • The Girl with No Name, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1925]
  • Love Courageous, London : Selwyn & Blount, [1922]
  • Storm Comes to Stay, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1935]
  • Love-and Diana, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1926]
  • Married for Money, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1925]
  • Ragged Robin, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1925)
  • The Seventh Miss Brown, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1927]
  • Consequences, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1931]
  • Ordeal by Marriage, London : Hodder & Stoughton, [1925]
  • Les Deux fiancés de Lisbeth, [S.l.] : [s.n.], [1937]
  • C'est toi que je cherchais - The Seventh Miss Brown, Adapté de l'anglais par Th. & E. de Saint-Segond, Paris; Édimbourg printed 1939
  • In Pursuit of Happiness, [1956]{{Cite web|url=http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?fn=search&ct=search&initialSearch=true&mode=Basic&tab=local_tab&indx=1&dum=true&srt=rank&vid=BLVU1&frbg=&tb=t&vl(freeText0)=Concordia+merrel&scp.scps=scope:(BLCONTENT)&vl(2084770704UI0)=any&vl(2084770704UI0)=title&vl(2084770704UI0)=any|title=Explore the British Library Search - Concordia merrel|website=explore.bl.uk}}

References

{{reflist}}

External links

{{commons category|Concordia Merrel}}

  • {{IMDB name|nm0581271}}
  • {{NPG name|86578}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merrel, Concordia}}

Category:1885 births

Category:1962 deaths

Category:Actresses from Visakhapatnam

Category:English silent film actresses

Category:English artists' models

Category:English romantic fiction writers

Category:20th-century English novelists

Category:20th-century English women writers

Category:English women novelists

Category:British women romantic fiction writers

Category:20th-century English actresses

Category:English film actresses

Category:English stage actresses