Ruby M. Spankie

Talk about obscure: as far as I can tell, Ruby M. Spankie wrote only one novel, and that for a minor paperback firm way back in 1933.

It would appear that Ruby Mary Spankie, born in Inverness, Scotland, on 19 October 1898, lived most of her adult life in London. Her mother, Catherine, was widowed at around the age of 41 or 42 and raised her children—of which there were at least five—in Bedford. Catherine Spankie seems to have lived in India for at least a decade between 1886-96.

Through local papers and the occasional official record, we can touch base with Ruby at various points in her life. She was crowned May Queen at a May Fair held to raise money for the Building Fund of the St. Peter's Sunday Schools and Parish Rooms in May 1908. She attended Crescent House Ladies' College, Bedford. She appeared in the operetta at Bedford Town Hall, The Tree of the Golden Guineas, in 1914. In 1921, she was working as a shorthand typist at the War Office, and the family were living in Fulham.

Ruby was the author of And the World Said— (London, Gramol Publications [Adelphi Novels 35], 1933). Whether she continued writing novels or not is a mystery. A search for her name on Google doesn't get a single hit, but it is known that she wrote at least two plays: 'Sheltered' (1938), which was performed by the Southern Cross Players at the Twentieth Century Theatre, Westbourne (Spankie was the Honorary Secretary of the Society); and 'All Change' (1939) from the same team.

Ruby lived in Fulham after the war and was at the same address, 64c Fairholme Road, W14, from 1945 until her death in 1983. It would seem that she continued to have an interest in local theatre and was an actress with the Beaufort Players and appeared as Miss Marple in Murder at the Vicarage at St. Andrew's Hall, Vereker Road, Fulham, in 1952. She also appeared in Sit Down a Minute, Adrian (1953).

(* My thanks to Jamie Sturgeon for the cover photograph. Expanded from a post from 6 September 2007.)