Catherine Sinclair

-
CS was perhaps best known during her lifetime as a prominent Edinburgh philanthropist, but as a writer she is best remembered for her Evangelical fiction aimed at young people or children, such as Modern Accomplishments (1836), Modern Society (1837), and Holiday House: A Series of Tales (1839). She also wrote three books based on her travels around Great Britain, as well as several advice or conduct books with a strong Protestant emphasis. Although many of her texts have heavy anti-Catholic themes, CS is ultimately remembered for didactic texts that still appeal to the child's imagination.
Monument to CS at Charlotte Square and Queen Street in Edinburgh.

Milestones

17 April 1800

CS was born in Edinburgh, the seventh of thirteen children, besides two half-sisters from her father's first marriage.
Ewan, Elizabeth et al. The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women : From the Earliest Times to 2004. Edinburgh University Press.
325
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
under Sir John Sinclair

February 1829

While also working as her father's secretary, CS anonymously published a horror story titled The Murder Hole: An Ancient Legend in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.
Sinclair, Catherine. “The Murder Hole: An Ancient Legend”. Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, Vol.
25
, William Blackwood, pp. 189-92.
25 (February 1829): 189-192

By 12 January 1839

CS published, through William Whyte and Co. of Edinburgh, her best known text, the children's stories Holiday House; a Series of Tales.
The Standard, p. 1.
1

1861-1864

During the last few years of her life, CS issued through James Wood Publishing in Edinburgh a series of simple little children's stories, told in puzzle form and entitled Letters.
OCLC WorldCat. http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.

6 August 1864

CS died in the home of her brother John, at Kensington Vicarage in London.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

Biography

Birth and Family

17 April 1800

CS was born in Edinburgh, the seventh of thirteen children, besides two half-sisters from her father's first marriage.
Ewan, Elizabeth et al. The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women : From the Earliest Times to 2004. Edinburgh University Press.
325
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
under Sir John Sinclair

Please click on login button to check your access and/or enter your credentials. Alternatively if you don’t have access, please click on “Subscribe”.

Log inSubscribe