Jane Williams

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JW 's eight books and several periodical publications appeared from the pre-Victorian to the mid-Victorian period in a number of genres, including poetry, literary criticism (of women writers in particular), and an account of her own juvenilia. A strong sense of national pride motivates much of her work, whether biographies of Welsh subjects, fiction drawing on local folklore, a passionate defence of the Welsh education system and general society, or her history of Wales, which became the standard for decades.
  • BirthName: Jane Williams
    JW had a slightly older contemporary, Maria Jane Williams (1795-1873), who published on Welsh music and folklore under the name Jane Williams.
    Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
    Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2025, 22 vols. plus supplements.
    411-22

  • Self-constructed: Jane Williams, Ysgafell
    Williams chose the name Ysgafell in memory of her ancestor Henry Williams , who owned an estate at Ysgafell in Montgomeryshire
    Welsh Biography Online. http://yba.llgc.org.uk/en/index.html.
    Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
    ; Jane Williams (Ysgafell)

Milestones

1 February 1806

JW was born, the second of seven children, in Riley Street, Chelsea (though scholars have differed over both date and place).
Maxwell Fraser in 1961 argued against Riley Street as her place of birth. Deirdre Beddoe in 1987 wrote that she was born in 1805 but revised this date in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
Fraser, Maxwell. “Jane Williams (Ysgafell) 1806-1885”. Brycheiniog, Vol.
7
, 1961, pp. 95-114.
96-7
Beddoe, Deirdre et al. “Introduction”. The Autobiography of Elizabeth Davis, Honno, 1987, p. ix - xix.
x
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

1861

JW published The Literary Women of England, a biocritical study. As regards writers before her own generation it is hardly a work of recuperation, since its tone is often harshly critical.
Solo: Search Oxford University Libraries Online. 18 July 2011, http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=OXVU1&fromLogin=true&reset_config=true.

By 18 December 1869

JW published A History of Wales, Derived from Authentic Sources. It became the standard for four decades.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.
The Athenaeum Index of Reviews and Reviewers: 1830-1870. http://replay.web.archive.org/20070714065452/http://www.soi.city.ac.uk/~asp/v2/home.html.
2199 (18 December 1869): 815-6

15 March 1885

JW died at her home at 31 Oakley Crescent, London.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

Biography

Birth and Family

1 February 1806

JW was born, the second of seven children, in Riley Street, Chelsea (though scholars have differed over both date and place).
Maxwell Fraser in 1961 argued against Riley Street as her place of birth. Deirdre Beddoe in 1987 wrote that she was born in 1805 but revised this date in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
Fraser, Maxwell. “Jane Williams (Ysgafell) 1806-1885”. Brycheiniog, Vol.
7
, 1961, pp. 95-114.
96-7
Beddoe, Deirdre et al. “Introduction”. The Autobiography of Elizabeth Davis, Honno, 1987, p. ix - xix.
x
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

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