“As it was not ungrammatical, though of a chatty tendency, it seemed to please”: Lady Violet Greville, “Aristocratic Lady Journalist” of the 1890s

Lady Violet Greville (1842-1932) was an “aristocratic lady journalist,” novelist, essayist, playwright, and editor (1870s-1930s). She developed celebrity status by the 1890s and was known for her weekly Society column, “Place aux Dames,” which was published under the by-line “Lady Violet Greville” and ran in the Graphic for fifteen years. Greville wrote for Victoria Library for Women; and her coverage of the Duchess of Devonshire’s 1897 fancy-dress ball for the Graphic reveals her importance as an observer of and commentator on fashionable Society.