"Bob's your uncle"

[Gerald Cohen]

     On Feb. 21 I suggested that "Bob's your uncle" may partially owe
its origin to an 1888 novel _Uncle Bob's Niece_ by Leslie Keith,
which appeared soon after Balfour's appointment as chief secretary of
Ireland (1887). The appointment, made by Balfour's uncle, Robert
Cecil, stunned political circles and was widely regarded as based on
nepotism.

    Slang-researcher Jonathon Green has privately sent me two messages
about _Uncle Bob's Niece_, for which I am of course grateful and
which I now pass along with his permission. They present information
about the novel's author and cast doubt on whether the novel could
have played a role in the start of "Bob's your uncle."  At the end of
the second message he justifiably wonders whether the schoolgirl
readership would be a likely source for the coining of the expression.

      But maybe the coining was done by their less than totally
reverent elders.  Cf. "Pollyanna," spoken with mild sarcasm about
someone "characterized by irrepressible optimism and a tendency to
find good in everything." (Webster); derives from "Pollyanna," name
of the heroine of the 1913 novel by the same name authored by Eleanor
Porter. Maybe the bubbly optimism of schoolgirls was a source of
expressions coined by their not-so-bubbly elders.

      What we need of course is some early attestations (assuming they
exist), which might shed light on the subject.

---Gerald Cohen

>2/22/02 (from Jonathon Green):
>My problem with the 'novel' roots of 'Bob's your uncle' is that I have
>checked a variety of reference works, including John Sutherland's specialist
>study of Victorian fiction (popular as well as literary) and Leslie Keith
>doesn't appear in any. I accept that popular fiction writers don't always
>make it to the major reference works, but you would expect some kind of
>mention somewhere. My inference is that if he (or is it she?) wasn't famous
>enough to be thus noted, would his/her novel have been a big enough seller
>for a character, who does not appear to come out with the phrase in
>question, to have created what has become so widely used a phrase? I still
>think it's all political, though the gap between alleged coinage and
>Eric Partridge's apparent first cite [1937] remains frustrating....


  2/23/02 (from Jonathon Green):
>...More on Leslie Keith (who as I rather thought, was a woman) - this is the
>listing on the British Library catalogue. Numbers are BL refs; [1] was
>another LK. 'Uncle Bob's Niece' is no. 40. Note that she is largely writing
>for either schoolgirls or the Religious Tract Society. While the latter may
>well have brought her wide circulation - she is hugely prolific and one has
>to accept that the demand was there in certain areas of late 19C England
>(Sunday School prizes?) - one understands why she didn't make it into the
>reference works. And would I be wrong to feel that the readers of the RTS
>(and indeed the schoolgirls) would not have been specially likely to push
>forward the coinage and propagation of a slang expression. ...
>
>[2] Sir Jasper's Heir, and other stories for girls. By Evelyn Everett-Green
>Leslie Keith, etc.
>JASPER, Sir
>pp. 346. Religious Tract Society: London, [1907.] 8o.
>[3] Alasnam's Lady. A modern romance.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>3 vol. Bentley & Son: London, 1882. 8o.
>[4] By Fancy led ... Illustrated, etc.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. vii. 298. Horace Marshall & Son: London, 1901. 8o.
>[5] The Chilcotes; or Two Widows. [A novel.]
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>3 vol. Ward & Downey: London, 1886. 8o.
>[6] Cynthia's Brother ... With illustrations, etc.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. 255. Religious Tract Society: London, [1901.] 8o.
>[7] The Deceiver ... With fifteen illustrations by J. Finnemore.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. 450. Religious Tract Society: London, [1905.] 8o.
>[8] The Deceiver ... With four illustrations by J. Finnemore.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. 192. [1907.]
>[9] For Love of Prue. [A novel.]
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. 336. A. D. Innes & Co.: London, 1895. 8o.
>[10] The Halletts: a country town chronicle. [A novel.] By L. Keith.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>3 vol. R. Bentley & Son: London, 1891. 8o.
>[11] Hearts of Gold.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. 32. R.T.S.: London, [1906.] 8o.
>[12] A Hurricane in Petticoats. By L. Keith. [A novel.]
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>3 vol. Bentley & Son: London; Guildford [printed], 1889. 8o.
>[13] The Indian Uncle. [A novel.] By Leslie Keith.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. vi. 340. R. Bentley & Son: London, 1896. 8o.
>[14] In Spite of Herself. [A novel.]
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>3 vol. R. Bentley and Son: London, 1892. 8o.
>[15] 'Lisbeth. [A novel.]
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>3 vol. Cassell & Co.: London, 1893. 8o.
>[16] 'Lisbeth ... Popular edition.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. 480. Cassell & Co.: London, 1894. 8o.
>[17] A Lost Illusion. [A novel.]
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>3 vol. Methuen & Co.: London, 1891. 8o.
>[18] Master Troublesome.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. 175. M. Ward & Co.: London; Belfast [printed], 1879. 8o.
>[19] The Mischief-Maker. [A tale.]
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>2 vol. R. Bentley & Son: London, 1898. 8o.
>[20] Mr. By-ends of Fairspeech, and other sketches from Bunyan.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. 128. Religious Tract Society: London, [1893.] 8o.
>[21] "My Bonnie Lady:" a novel.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. 208. Jarrold & Sons: London, 1897. 8o.
>[22] Near of Kin.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. 336. Hurst & Blackett: London, 1903. 8o.
>[23] Nobody's Lad ... With illustrations by Petherick. New edition.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. iv. 218. J. F. Shaw & Co.; London, [1880.] 8o.
>[24] Not Even a Tragedy.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. 350. Grant Richards: London, 1904. 8o.
>[25] Of All Degrees. [A tale.]
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. 352. Religious Tract Society: London, [1890.] 8o.
>[26] On Alien Shores. [A tale.]
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. 346. Hurst & Blackett: London, 1900. 8o.
>[27] Our Street. [A novel.]
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. 256. Religious Tract Society: London, [1892.] 8o.
>[28] Penance. [A novel.]
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. viii. 399. Hodder & Stoughton: London, 1901. 8o.
>[29] A Pleasant Rogue.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. 342. Hurst & Blackett: London, 1902. 8o.
>[30] Ralph Ellison's Opportunity, and East and West.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. 320. Religious Tract Society: London, [1889.] 8o.
>[31] A Rash Verdict. [A tale.]
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>2 vol. R. Bentley & Son: London, 1897. 8o.
>[32] St. Cecilia: her dream and its fulfilment, etc. [A tale.]
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. 360. Kent & Co.: London, 1887. 8o.
>[33] St. Cecilia, etc.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. 1-16. [Kent & Co.: London, 1886.] 8o.
>[34] A Scots Thistle. [A tale.]
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. 256. Religious Tract Society: London, [1902.] 8o.
>[35] A Scots Thistle. [A tale.]
>[A reissue of 'A Scots Thistle.']. A Lass and her Lover ... Formerly
>published under the title of 'A Scots Thistle.'
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. 256. Religious Tract Society: London, [1907.] 8o.
>[36] Lass and her Lover.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. 141. [1911.]
>[37] A Simple Maiden ... Illustrated, etc.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>[38] Surrender. A novel.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>2 vol. Sampson Low & Co.: London, 1881. 8o.
>[39] A Troublesome Pair.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>3 vol. R. Bentley & Son: London, 1894. 8o.
>[40] Uncle Bob's Niece. A novel.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>3 vol. Ward & Downey: London, 1888. 8o.
>[41] Venetia's Lovers. An uneventful story.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>3 vol. Bentley & Son: London; Edinburgh [printed], 1884. 8o.
>[42] Wayfarers All. A novel.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. 320. Jarrold & Sons: London, [1899.] 8o.
>[43] What an Old Myth may teach ... Illustrated, etc.
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>London, Belfast [printed], 1878. 8o.
>[44] When the Bour-Tree Blooms. [A story.]
>KEITH. Leslie. pseud. [i.e. Grace L. Keith Johnston.]
>pp. 256. Religious Tract Society: London, [1894.] 8o.
>
>JG