Connections with other countries?

[Anna Moss]

I doubtful that the answer is yes, but did Enid have any connection with any other
countries? Did any of her close relations come from another country?

[Lucky Star]

Not that I know of. In fact she only left Britain a couple of times in her life, twice to America for short business visits and a couple of Holidays around Europe including a cruise upon which The Sea of Adventure was probably based.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Enid's paternal grandmother, Mary Ann Hanly, was Irish.

Anita

[Lucky Star]

Ah an Irish connection, I did'nt know that or at least I probably missed it while reading the Stoney biography. Thanks Anita.

[Stephen]

Not a relative of course, but arguably her most famous illustrator was Dutch!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Enid Blyton also had an Austrian maid, Mary Engler, who came to live at Green Hedges in 1939 (from Vienna) and stayed for several years.

As a teenager Enid was close to her French Mam'zelle at St. Christopher's School and she spent a holiday at the teacher's home in Annecy.

Anita

[Anna Moss]

Interesting facts! So maybe one of the Mamzelle's in Enid's boarding school
stories came from her french teacher?

[Anita Bensoussane]

Enid Blyton mentions in her autobiography, The Story of My Life, that Mam'zelle in the St. Clare's books was based on a Mam'zelle from her own schooldays. It might possibly have been the same Mam'zelle she stayed with in Annecy, though we can't know for sure. Scroll down to the last section ("Which of Enid Blyton's Characters Were Real?") in the link below for further information:

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/auth ... writer.php" target="_blank

Anita

[Ming]

I'm not sure about this, but I believe Claudie was based on a Belgian friend of Blyton's.

[Anna Moss]

Enid Blyton mentions in her autobiography, The Story of My Life, that Mam'zelle in the St. Clare's books was based on a Mam'zelle from her own schooldays. It might possibly have been the same Mam'zelle she stayed with in Annecy, though we can't know for sure. Scroll down to the last section ("Which of Enid Blyton's Characters Were Real?") in the link below for further information:

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/auth" target="_blank ... writer.php

Anita

Thanks for the link!

[Belly]

Enid's paternal grandmother, Mary Ann Hanly, was Irish.

Anita

Ah, that must have been where the name 'Hanly' came from?

On a tangent I have often thought that both Enid brother's had 'adventurous' names for the times, Carey/Hanly. Both surnames? Not sure where the Carey came from but imagine there were not that many who had that as a first name? I might take a look at the 1901 census to check. Was Carey a family name too?

[Anita Bensoussane]

Yes, the name Hanly started off as a surname.

Enid Blyton's great-grandfather, George Blyton, gave his elder son Thomas the middle name Carey, after one of the founders of the Baptist Missionary Society. One of Enid Blyton's brothers was called Carey and so was her nephew who became well-known as a composer (he was Hanly's son, I think?) Her father also had Carey as a middle name.

Anita

[Anna Moss]

I don't get it! This is way too complicated! Can you explain again please!
As for my move to my new house, all has gone well. But we didn't get our internet
'till nearly 2 months later! And when i tried using the school PC - someone
had taken my place!

[pete9012S]

She met 'Bill Smugs' in Dorset - oops that a County, not country!!

[timv]

According to some of my own South Wales relatives, Enid was supposed to be related to a 'Willy Blyton' (who would have been a relative on her father's side) who was a postman in a village called Pen-y-Fai, outside Bridgend in Mid Glamorgan, in the 1940s or 1950s. He was 'either an uncle or a cousin' - but I have had a look at the known Blyton family tree and he is not on it. It's anyone's guess if this information (which I received at second hand in the next village, where I have cousins, some years ago) was from the man himself or just a rumour.