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Georgina Norway

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Georgina Norway
Born(1833-12-02)2 December 1833
Liverpool, Lancashire, England
Died3 March 1915(1915-03-03) (aged 81)
Killiney, Dublin, Ireland
NationalityBritish
OccupationWriter
Years active1888 – 1903
Known forChildren's adventure fiction
Notable workThe Loss of John Humble

Georgina Norway (1833 – 1915), was a British writer of children's adventure fiction.

Early life

Georgina Shute was born on 2 December 1833 in Liverpool to merchant Stephen Shute and his wife Georgina (née Bunt) of Finch Street, Liverpool. She was baptised a month later, on 4 January 1834, in the Renshaw Street Presbyterian Chapel in Liverpool.[1]

Marriage and writing

Georgina married Arthur Stanbury Norway in Farnworth Parish Church, Prescot, near Bolton, Lancashire on 24 September 1857.[2] The couple had two sons, Nevell Edmund (5 August[3] 1858 – 24 October 1902), a surgeon,[4] and Arthur Hamilton (1859 – 25 December 1938), who worked for the Post Office.

Norway's husband Arthur was declared bankrupt and had trustee assigned on 22 June 1864.[5] The bankruptcy dragged on for the nest two and a half years, with the final distribution of the assets only in December 1867.[6] The family kept two adult servants at the time of the 1861 census, one adult servant by 1871, and had only a 10-year-old girl by 1881. Arthur died in 1886, and Georgina began to write, publishing her first novel, The Brand of Cain in 1888.[7] Norway was living with her sons in Ealing in 1891, and the household now kept one adult (20) and one child servant (14).

Norway published under the name G. Norway. Bassett says that she so successfully concealed her gender that many sources refer to her as George Norway.[7] However, both The Atheneum and The Review of Reviews when reviewing A true Cornish Maid refer to the author as Mrs. Norway,[8] so her gender was not a secret. However, The Standard used the male pronoun to refer to the author, so it was clear that Norway's gender, while not a secret, was not broadcast.

Norways's books were well reviewed at the time. The Standard said of The Loss of John Humble, her first full-length novel, that This story will palace the author at once in the front rank. It is full of life and adventure. The interest of the story is sustained without a break from first to last.[9] and The Spectator said A very spirited story of the sea interspersed with pleasant and lively sketches of Scandinavian manners . . . As good a story of the kind as we have ever seen.[10]

Personal life

As well as Norway, Her son Arthur Hamilton was also a writer, and his son was the novelist Nevil Shute. Nevil Shute paid his grandmother the compliment of borrowing the name of one of her characters Johnnie Pascoe for one of his characters.[11] In his 1954 autobiography, Slide Rule Nevil Shute acknowledged the influence that his father and grandmother had had on him thus: I don't think there is a great deal in the theory that writing ability is dictated by heredity, but I think there is a great deal in environment. My father and my grandmother both wrote a number of books, so that the business was familiar to me before I started.[12]

Norway was a boarder with the Hills of 75 Haven Lane, Ealing in 1911, but moved to Ireland after her youngest son, Arthur Hamilton Norway, was placed in charge of the Post Office in Ireland in 1912. She died in Killiney, Dublin, Ireland, on 3 March 1915, leaving an estate of £556 to her son Arthur.[13]

Selected works

List of works by G Norway, with catalogue status and the availability of online texts.[a]
No. Year Title Publisher
In British Library catalogue
In Circulating Library catalogue
ON-line text availability
 Pages Illustrator
1 1888 The Brand of Cain London: Ward Lock Yes Yes BL 96
2 1889 Adventures of Johnnie Pascoe London: James Nisbet Yes Yes 100
3 1890 The Loss of John Humble: What Led to it and What Came of It London: Blackie Yes Yes 351 J. Schonberg
4 1891 How Martin Drake Found his Father: or, Wanderers in the West A Story of White and Black Slavery in the Early Days of the American Colonies London: Sampson Low Yes Yes 342
5 1891 Hussein the Hostage: or, A Boy's Adventures in Persia London: Blackie Yes Yes HT 352 J. Schonberg
6 1894 A True Cornish Maid: A Story of the Last Century London: Blackie Yes Yes 288 J. Finnmore
7 1895 Christiaan, the Boy of Leyden: A Story Founded on Fact London: James Nisbet Yes Yes 126
8 1895 A Prisoner of War: A Story of the Time of Napoleon Bonaparte London: Blackie Yes Yes 288 Robert Barnes
9 1896 Tregarthen London: Hurst and Blackett Yes Yes 3 Vols
10 1896 Betsy Kitson, etc. London: National Society's Depository Yes No 138
11 1897 A Dangerous Conspirator (also A Jacobite Conspirator) London: Jarrold and Son Yes Yes BL 352 Paul Hardy
12 1898 Ralph Denham's Adventures in Burma Edinburgh: W. P. Nimmo Yes Yes PG 255
13 1898 Little Marjorie's Secret London: Religious Tract Society Yes No 32
14 1899 A Roman Household London: National Society's Depository Yes Yes 223 W. S. Stacey
15 1900 Falsely Accused London: Digby, Long & Co. Yes Yes 299
16 1901 Duance Pendray: A Story of Jacobite Times in Cornwall London: Jarrold and Son Yes Yes 276 W. H. Margetson
17 1901 Riverslea London: National Society's Depository Yes Yes 137
18 1902 In False Attire: a novel London: Digby, Long & Co. Yes No 320
19 1902 Willoughby Manor: a Story of Old Liverpool Edinburgh: W. P. Nimmo Yes No 320
20 1903 Mignonette, etc. London: National Society's Depository Yes No 127

Notes

  1. ^ This list of novels above is based on a range of sources including primarily the British Library Catalogue for the author. In addition, The Circulating Library Database of Victorian Fiction,[7] Project Gutenberg, the Internet Archive, WorldCat, and HathiTrust were all checked for additional titles. The availability of online texts is shown for Project Gutenberg (PG), The British Library (BL), and the Hathi Trust (HT).

References

  1. ^ Renshaw Street Chapel. "Class Number: RG 4; Piece Number: 2171". General Register Office: Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths surrendered to the Non-parochial Registers Commissions of 1837 and 1857. Kew: National Archives. p. 14.
  2. ^ "Marriages". Western Times (Saturday 3 October 1857): 5. 3 December 1857.
  3. ^ "Births". Cornish Times (Saturday 28 August 1858): 1. 28 December 1858.
  4. ^ "Wills and Probates 1858-1996: Pages for Norway and Year of Death 1902. p14". Find a Will Service. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  5. ^ "Bankruptcy Notice". The London Gazette (Friday 15 July 1864): 3591. 15 July 1864.
  6. ^ "In the matter of Edmond Norway and Arthur Stanbury Norway". Western Morning News (Tuesday 26 November 1867): 1. 26 November 1867.
  7. ^ a b c Bassett, Tony J. "Author Information: G. Norway". At the Circulating Library: A Database of Victorian Fiction. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  8. ^ Blackie & Son's Books for Young People, Annexed to Hammonds Hard Lines by Skelton Kuppord. 1894. p. 16. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  9. ^ Blackie & Son's Books for Young People, Annexed to The dragon and the raven: or, The days of King Alfred by G. A. Henty. p. 23. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  10. ^ Blackie & Son's Books for 4Young People, Annexed to The War of the Axe by John Percy Groves. p. 23. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  11. ^ Smith, Julian. Nevil Shute. Boston: Twayne Publishers. pp. 136–137. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  12. ^ Nevil Shute (26 January 2010). Slide Rule. Random House. ISBN 978-1-4090-8745-8.
  13. ^ "Wills and Probates 1858-1996: Pages for Norway and Year of Death 1915". Find a Will Service. p. 348. Retrieved 26 February 2020.

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