Jane Harvey

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JH became in 1794 an early and unusual practitioner of the new genre of the guidebook. As a poet she begins in introspection and expands to consider, in briskly colloquial style, such topics as political controversies and new inventions like the railway. As a novelist she veers with the winds of fashion, but handles her themes with unfailing intelligence. In the earlier novels especially, the central love-story is upstaged by colourful minor characters and frequently by accompanying feminist analysis as well.
  • BirthName: Jane Harvey
  • Pseudonym: A Young Lady

Milestones

Probably just before 8 July 1771

JH was born at Gateshead, County Durham (just south of Newcastle upon Tyne).
This is the origin given by the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. The Feminist Companion identifies her with a different JH , born in 1776 and living at Barnard Castle, in a more rural part of the same county.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

1794

JH published by subscription at Newcastle, as a young Lady, A Sentimental Tour through Newcastle: an early guidebook.
British Library Catalogue. http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1489778087340&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&fromLo.

2 March 1840

JH wrote Conclusion, a poem to close her last volume. She says the lyre is falling from her hand: my devious gleaning task is done.
Harvey, Jane. Fugitive Pieces. Currie and Bowman, 1841.
1

1841

JH published at Newcastle a little book of poetry entitled Fugitive Pieces.
This title has been used for more than half a dozen poetry collections, as well as for the Canadian novel Fugitive Pieces, 1996, by Anne Michaels , which depicts in poetic language the emotional aftermath of the Holocaust.
British Library Catalogue. http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1489778087340&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&fromLo.

4 March 1848

JH died at Newcastle upon Tyne, in her later seventies.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

Biography

Origins

Probably just before 8 July 1771

JH was born at Gateshead, County Durham (just south of Newcastle upon Tyne).
This is the origin given by the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. The Feminist Companion identifies her with a different JH , born in 1776 and living at Barnard Castle, in a more rural part of the same county.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.