Margaret Harkness

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Standard Name: Harkness, Margaret
Birth Name: Margaret Elise Harkness
Indexed Name: Margaret Harkness
Pseudonym: John Law
MH wrote late Victorian novels, mostly set in the East End slums of London, that express her political ideas. She was an ardent socialist in the 1880s and 1890s and was also a journalist. Moderately successful in her own lifetime (some historians claim she outsold George Gissing ), she is now mostly remembered for the fact that Friedrich Engels commented on her first novel. Most of her work appeared under the masculine pseudonym John Law. Later in life, after becoming disillusioned with radical politics, she wrote travel books about India and Ceylon, as well as a novel set there.
Black and white, head-and-shoulders print of Margaret Harkness full face, wearing a high-necked blouse or dress, hair back behind her ears.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Reception Amy Levy
A revival began with Melvyn New 's edition in 1993 of her Complete Novels and Selected Writings.
Beckman, Linda Hunt. Amy Levy: Her Life and Letters. Ohio University Press.
2
Although AL 's poetry is comparatively slighted in this edition, her work has been regularly included...
Friends, Associates Amy Levy
They included Olive Schreiner , the future Beatrice Webb , Dollie Maitland Radford , Margaret Harkness , Clementina Black (whose sister Constance had been a school friend of AL ), and Eleanor Marx . Through...
Family and Intimate relationships Beatrice Webb
Beatrice Potter first met Sidney Webb at the house of her second cousin Margaret Harkness , who had recommended him as an expert in labour history.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

Timeline

13 November 1887: Police broke up a meeting of the Social Democratic...

National or international item

13 November 1887

Police broke up a meeting of the Social Democratic Federation (militant radicals, many of them Irish) held in Trafalgar Square, London; the day became known as Bloody Sunday.

Texts

Harkness, Margaret. A City Girl. Vizetelly, 1887.
Harkness, Margaret. A Curate’s Promise. Hodder and Stoughton, 1921.
Harkness, Margaret. A Manchester Shirtmaker. Authors’ Co-operative Publishing Company, 1890.
Harkness, Margaret. “A Year of My Life”. New Review, Vol.
5
, pp. 375-84.
Harkness, Margaret. Captain Lobe. Hodder and Stoughton, 1889.
Harkness, Margaret. George Eastmont, Wanderer. Burns and Oates, 1905.
Harkness, Margaret. Indian Snapshots. Thacker, Spink, 1912.
Harkness, Margaret. Out of Work. Sonnenschein and Company, 1888.
Harkness, Margaret. The Horoscope. Thacker, Spink; W. Thacker, 1914.