Mary Jones

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MJ , writing in the mid and later eighteenth century, is remarkable for publishing her work, although it was written in a private context. She is still under-rated both as a poet and as a letter-writer.
  • BirthName: Mary Jones
  • Nickname: Chantress
  • Pseudonym: A Young Lady of Oxford

Milestones

Shortly before 8 March 1707

MJ was born in Oxford, the second of five children, and the only girl.
Nicholls, C. S., editor. The Dictionary of National Biography: Missing Persons. Oxford University Press, 1993.
Kennedy, Deborah. Poetic Sisters. Early Eighteenth-Century Women Poets. Bucknell University Press, 2013.
165

1750

MJ published by subscription at OxfordMiscellanies in Prose and Verse: it seems possible that the unauthorised appearances of her work had first suggested to her the idea of a proper edition.
English Short Title Catalogue. http://estc.bl.uk/.

16 March 1761

MJ wrote to thank Ralph Griffiths of the Monthly Review for inviting her to participate in some literary venture or other, but she declined the invitation.
Forster, Antonia. Email about Mary Jones to Isobel Grundy. 25 Apr. 2005.

10 February 1778

MJ , writer and postmistress of Oxford, died there at 16 Fish Street (now St Aldate's).
Nicholls, C. S., editor. The Dictionary of National Biography: Missing Persons. Oxford University Press, 1993.

Biography

Birth and Family

Shortly before 8 March 1707

MJ was born in Oxford, the second of five children, and the only girl.
Nicholls, C. S., editor. The Dictionary of National Biography: Missing Persons. Oxford University Press, 1993.
Kennedy, Deborah. Poetic Sisters. Early Eighteenth-Century Women Poets. Bucknell University Press, 2013.
165