Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1865-2008 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
14 Boxes
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Gilda O'Neill was born in Bethnal Green in 1951, the granddaughter of a Thames tug skipper and a pie-and-mash shop owner. Her parents, Dolly and Tom Griffiths, originally from Bow, eventually joined the postwar slum clearance diaspora in Dagenham, Essex. Leaving school at 15, she took a succession of office and bar jobs in the City. In 1971 she began a whirlwind romance with John O'Neill and married him a week after their first meeting. After their son and daughter were born, Gilda went back to education and began writing after studying at the Open University and the Polytechnic of East London.
In 1989, Gilda's first book was commissioned, the oral history Pull No More Bines: Hop Picking: Memories of a Vanished Way of Life (1990) for the Women's Press (it was reissued as Lost Voices in 2006). She had been fascinated by her mother's accounts of hop-picking in Kent as a girl, and indeed had accompanied her there as a small child. Her first novel, The Cockney Girl (1992), drew on her family experience, but combined it with careful research, also a feature of the crime novels she wrote in later years, of which The Sins of Their Fathers (2003) was the first in a trilogy. Gilda was prolific. Over 20 years, she published 15 novels and five social histories.
She participated regularly in workshops, and co-founded the writers' network Material Girls. In 2008, she joined the National Reading Campaign and contributed not only her book East End Tales (2008), a collection of easy-to-read childhood memories, to the campaign but also lent real fire to what might otherwise have been earnest events. Gilda died from side-effects triggered by medication prescribed for a minor injury in 2010.
Her publications include: My East End: Memories of Life in Cockney London (1999), Our Street: East End Life in the Second World War (2003), The Good Old Days: Crime, Murder and Mayhem in Victorian London (2006). Her novels, include family sagas such as The Bells of Bow (1994) and Just Around the Corner (1995).
Repository
Archival history
GB 0372 ONEILL 1865-2008 Fonds 14 Boxes O'Neill, Gilda Ann (1951-2010) historian and author
Gilda O'Neill was born in Bethnal Green in 1951, the granddaughter of a Thames tug skipper and a pie-and-mash shop owner. Her parents, Dolly and Tom Griffiths, originally from Bow, eventually joined the postwar slum clearance diaspora in Dagenham, Essex. Leaving school at 15, she took a succession of office and bar jobs in the City. In 1971 she began a whirlwind romance with John O'Neill and married him a week after their first meeting. After their son and daughter were born, Gilda went back to education and began writing after studying at the Open University and the Polytechnic of East London.
In 1989, Gilda's first book was commissioned, the oral history Pull No More Bines: Hop Picking: Memories of a Vanished Way of Life (1990) for the Women's Press (it was reissued as Lost Voices in 2006). She had been fascinated by her mother's accounts of hop-picking in Kent as a girl, and indeed had accompanied her there as a small child. Her first novel, The Cockney Girl (1992), drew on her family experience, but combined it with careful research, also a feature of the crime novels she wrote in later years, of which The Sins of Their Fathers (2003) was the first in a trilogy. Gilda was prolific. Over 20 years, she published 15 novels and five social histories.
She participated regularly in workshops, and co-founded the writers' network Material Girls. In 2008, she joined the National Reading Campaign and contributed not only her book East End Tales (2008), a collection of easy-to-read childhood memories, to the campaign but also lent real fire to what might otherwise have been earnest events. Gilda died from side-effects triggered by medication prescribed for a minor injury in 2010.
Her publications include: My East End: Memories of Life in Cockney London (1999), Our Street: East End Life in the Second World War (2003), The Good Old Days: Crime, Murder and Mayhem in Victorian London (2006). Her novels, include family sagas such as The Bells of Bow (1994) and Just Around the Corner (1995).
Deposited with Bishopsgate Institute by John O'Neill, 5 April 2011
Papers of Gilda O'Neill (1951-2010), including: drafts of published and unpublished works; research notes; press cuttings collected for research and regarding campaigns; notebooks; correspondence with contributors and readers; audio tapes; reviews (1865-2008)
Accruals expected.
The O'Neill Archive is divided into the following seven sections:
O’NEILL/1: Typescripts
O’NEILL/2: Handwritten Notes and Notebooks
O’NEILL/3: Press Cuttings
O’NEILL/4: Letters and Other Communications
O’NEILL/5: Oral History Interviews
O’NEILL/6: Book Covers and Dust-Jackets
O’NEILL/7: Miscellaneous
Open
Photocopying and scanning facilities are available for a charge and will be completed by archival staff if condition and copyright permits. Digital photography (without flash) is permitted for research purposes on completion of the Library's Copyright Declaration form and with respect to current UK copyright law.
English
Adlib catalogue.
Entry compiled by Grace Biggins Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 29 November 2016 Social history O'Neill , Gilda Ann , 1951-2010 , historian and author History
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Deposited with Bishopsgate Institute by John O'Neill, 5 April 2011
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Papers of Gilda O'Neill (1951-2010), including: drafts of published and unpublished works; research notes; press cuttings collected for research and regarding campaigns; notebooks; correspondence with contributors and readers; audio tapes; reviews (1865-2008)
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
Accruals expected.
System of arrangement
The O'Neill Archive is divided into the following seven sections:
O’NEILL/1: Typescripts
O’NEILL/2: Handwritten Notes and Notebooks
O’NEILL/3: Press Cuttings
O’NEILL/4: Letters and Other Communications
O’NEILL/5: Oral History Interviews
O’NEILL/6: Book Covers and Dust-Jackets
O’NEILL/7: Miscellaneous
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Open
Conditions governing reproduction
Photocopying and scanning facilities are available for a charge and will be completed by archival staff if condition and copyright permits. Digital photography (without flash) is permitted for research purposes on completion of the Library's Copyright Declaration form and with respect to current UK copyright law.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
- Latin
Language and script notes
English
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Adlib catalogue.
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
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Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
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Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
- English