Julia Kavanagh

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JK , a prolific novelist and biographer, published extensively in order to support herself and her invalid mother during the second half of the nineteenth century. She has since disappeared into relative obscurity. JK composed fifteen novels, often featuring independent women, along with four collections of biographical sketches, three short-story collections, and one children's story. She also published stories in a number of periodicals.
  • BirthName: Julia Kavanagh
  • Indexed: J. K.
    Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2025, 22 vols. plus supplements.
    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.
Photograph of a head-and-shoulders, oval painting of Julia Kavanagh by Henri Chanet, c.1874-6. She is set against a gold-coloured background, wearing a blue-grey dress with lace trimmed, ruffled sleeves, and a dark blue shawl fastened with a brooch. Her dark hair is loosely gathered at the nape of her neck. She rests her chin on one hand and gazes serenely at the viewer.

Milestones

7 January 1824

JK was born at Thurles in Tipperary, Ireland, an only child.
Weekes, Ann Owens. Unveiling Treasures. Attic Press, 1993.
“The Catholic Encyclopedia”. New Advent.

By August 1846

JK , under her initials, published an essay, The Montyon Prizes, which appeared in Chambers's Miscellany.
The British Library Catalogue also lists John Kavanagh as the author of this piece.
Fauset, Eileen. The Politics of Writing: Julia Kavanagh, 1824-77. Manchester University Press, 2009.
25-6
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 16 November 1850

JK published her novel Nathalie in three volumes.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
1203 (1850): 1184-5

By 20 January 1877

JK 's final novel, Two Lilies, appeared in print not long before her death.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
2569 (1877): 80

28 October 1877

JK died at Nice after falling out of bed; her last words are reported to have been spoken in French: Oh Mama ! how silly I am to have fallen.
qtd. in
Sutherland, John, b. 1938. The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford University Press, 1989.
“PGIL EIRData (Electronic Irish Records Dataset)”. The Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco).
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2025, 22 vols. plus supplements.

Biography

Birth and Childhood

7 January 1824

JK was born at Thurles in Tipperary, Ireland, an only child.
Weekes, Ann Owens. Unveiling Treasures. Attic Press, 1993.
“The Catholic Encyclopedia”. New Advent.

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