M. E. Francis
Mary E. Blundell | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1859 Killiney Park, County Dublin |
| Died | 9 March 1930 |
| Pen name | M. E. Francis, Mary E. Francis |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | British, Irish |
M. E. Francis was the pen name of Mary Elizabeth Blundell (née Sweetman 1859 – 9 March 1930)[1] who was a prolific Irish novelist. She was described as the best known woman novelist of the day.[2]
Biography
Blundell was born in Killiney Park, County Dublin to Margaret and Michael James Sweetman. The family moved to Brussels in 1873 and she spent her summers in Switzerland. Her family was quite artistic. Her uncle was the novelist William Sweetman while her sister was writer Agnes Castle (aka Mrs Egerton Castle).[3] She married her husband, Francis Blundell on 18 November 1879 moved to Little Crosby, where his family had been notable Catholics since the 16th century.[3] They had 3 children.[4]
- Francis Blundell (politician)
- Margaret Elizabeth Clementina Mary Blundell (writer)
- Agnes Mary Frances Blundell (M.B.E.), (writer)
Her husband died after only five years married. Blundell had written her first story when she was eight (‘True Joy’) and had a publication in the Irish Monthly the day of her wedding. She took up writing professionally after her husband's death. In later life she wrote in collaboration with her daughters.[5]
She later retired to Dorset.
‘The Ireland of her youth, the Lancashire of her married life, and the Dorset of her retirement provided backgrounds for many of her volumes of fiction.’[6]
Bibliography
Other sources
- A Round Table of the Representative Irish and English Catholic Novelists: At which is Served a Feast of Excellent Stories; with Portraits, Biographical Sketches, and Bibliography, Authors incl Mary E. Sweetman Blundell ("Mrs. Francis Blundell"), Publisher Benziger Brothers, 1897
- A Dictionary of Literary Pseudonyms in the English Language, T.J. Carty,Routledge, 1 Dec 2015, 860 pages
References
- ^ Born 1855 also given
- ^ D. J. O’Donoghue (1912). The Poets of Ireland: A Biographical Dictionary. Dublin: Hodges Figgis & Co.
- ^ a b Townend, Peter (ed.). Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 18th edition. 3 volumes. London, England: Burke's Peerage Ltd.
- ^ "Online writers Biography".
- ^ John Sutherland (2014). The Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction. Routledge. p. 736.
- ^ David Trotter, Sarah Kemp, Charlotte Mitchell, ed. (1997). Edwardian Fiction: An Oxford Companion.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
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