Matilda Charlotte Houstoun

16 August 1811 - 01 June 1892

MCH produced, and had moderate success with, close to thirty novels, three travel narratives, a biography, several volumes of autobiographical writings, and a short story. She also did some writing for periodicals. Her later writings include strong social protest over the way that women are treated in the criminal courts and in prison. Stylistically, Houstoun is mostly remembered for the anecdotal style that marked her personal narratives.

BirthName: Matilda Charlotte Jesse
Married: Fraser; Houstoun
Many sources erroneously record her name as Houston.
Foster, Shirley. Across New Worlds: Nineteenth-Century Women Travellers and their Writings. Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1990.
Allibone, S. Austin, editor. A Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors Living and Deceased. Gale Research, 1965.
Hale, Sarah Josepha. Woman’s Record. Harper and Brothers, 1855.
Pseudonyms: The Author of Recommended to Mercy; The Author of Taken Upon Trust; One Who Saved It
Indexed: Mrs Houstoun

Milestones

16 August 1811

Matilda Charlotte Jesse (later the novelist and travel writer MCH ) was christened at All Saints, West Bromwich, Staffordshire; her date of birth was likely shortly before this date.

Before this parish record was known, her date of birth was disputed: Allibone gives 1820 while the Feminist Companion lists 1815.

Kirk, John Foster, and S. Austin Allibone, editors. A Supplement to Allibone’s Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors. J. B. Lippincott, 1891, 2 vols.

Blain, Virginia et al., 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.

By 5 September 1862

MCH published her first novel, "Recommended to Mercy", anonymously; this treatment of unconventional morality was mentioned frequently on the title-pages of her later novels.

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.

OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.

1891

MCH went on writing until close to her death. Her final novel, The Way She Won Him, was preceded by A Cruel Wrong in the previous year.

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.

By June 1892

MCH died in her home at 16 Gloucester Street, Pimlico; at the time of her death she had entirely lost the use of her legs.

The Trustees of FreeBMD,. FreeBMD. http://www.freebmd.org.uk/.

Black, Helen C. Notable Women Authors of the Day. D. Bryce, 1893.

228

Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford, 1990.

Biography

Birth, Family, and Education

16 August 1811

Matilda Charlotte Jesse (later the novelist and travel writer MCH ) was christened at All Saints, West Bromwich, Staffordshire; her date of birth was likely shortly before this date.

Before this parish record was known, her date of birth was disputed: Allibone gives 1820 while the Feminist Companion lists 1815.

Kirk, John Foster, and S. Austin Allibone, editors. A Supplement to Allibone’s Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors. J. B. Lippincott, 1891, 2 vols.

Blain, Virginia et al., 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.