Isabella Neil Harwood

14 June 1837 - 29 May 1888

Isabella Neil Harwood is now virtually unknown as an author, despite the popularity of some of her sensation novels and plays. Her career began in 1864 when she published the novel Abbot's Cleve or, Can it be Proved? Her four later novels did not name her but referred to her only as the author of previous works. The two most successful were Raymond's Heroine, 1867, and Kathleen, 1868. She kept her fiction completely separate from her fourteen poetical dramas (many of them historical), published under the pseudonym Ross Neil. While several of these published plays were praised, very few were produced, and none except perhaps Elfinella, or, Home from Fairyland enjoyed popular stage success.

Milestones

14 June 1837

Isabella Neil Harwood was born, most probably in England since her family was living at Bridport in Dorset at the time. She was an only child.

The Feminist Companion presumed that she was born in her mother's native country, Scotland. The birth record is held at Dr Williams' Library in London, but this is not in itself an indication of the place she was born.

Blain, Virginia, Patricia Clements, and Isobel Grundy, editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford, 1990.

“FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service”. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Matthew, Henry Colin Gray, Brian Harrison, and Lawrence Goldman, editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

25 October 1864

Isabella Neil Harwood anonymously published her first novel, Abbot's Cleve or, Can it be Proved?, in three volumes.

Hunt, Leigh, editor. The Examiner. John Hunt.

2960 (22 October 1864)

OCLC WorldCat.

13 August 1887

Isabella Harwood 's last play to be produced, a revised version of the earlier Inez now titled Loyal Love, premiered at the Gaiety Theatre in London, at 8:30 p.m. This initial production ran for twelve nights.

Newey, Katherine. Women’s Theatre Writing in Victorian Britain. Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.

212

“Multiple Advertisements and Notices”. The Standard, No. 19682.

Ledger, Frederick, Edward Ledger, and W. Hamar Bass, editors. The Era.

2549 (30 July 1887)

29 May 1888

INH died of breast cancer at her family home, South Bank, Baldslow Road, in Hastings, Sussex, at the age of fifty-one. This was only five months after her father died.

Matthew, Henry Colin Gray, Brian Harrison, and Lawrence Goldman, editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Biography

1 July 1878

The identity of Ross Neil was for the first time revealed to be Isabella Neil Harwood .

The Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, No. 7418, p. 4.

7418 (1 July 1878): 4

Although this announcement was carried in at least four different newspapers, rumours about the identity of Ross Neil continued for several years.

The Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, No. 7418, p. 4.

7418 (1 July 1878): 4

“Art, Science, and Literature”. Bristol Mercury and Daily Post, No. 9404.

9404 (6 July 1878)

“London Gossip”. Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle etc, No. 4788.

4788 (6 July 1878)