Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire
-
Standard Name: Devonshire, Georgiana Cavendish,,, Duchess of
Birth Name: Georgiana Spencer
Styled: Lady Georgiana Spencer
Married Name: Lady Georgiana Cavendish
Titled: Lady Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire
Pseudonym: A Young Lady
Nickname: The Rat
An occasional or amateur author during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire
, wrote in a number of genres: poetry, diaries, travel writings, letters, and possibly two novels. Much of her work remains unpublished and her canon, both in prose and poetry, is far from certain.
SHR
issued by subscription her first novel, Victoria, dedicated to her possible employer (or ex-employer) Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire
, published for the author.
Garside, Peter et al., editors. The English Novel 1770-1829. Oxford University Press.
1: 388-9
Employer
Susanna Haswell Rowson
It was during this lean period that she began writing, teaching (she was probably though not certainly a governess, and possibly worked for Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire
), and acting.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
politics
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
He held office under the Whigs, played a role in the trial of Warren Hastings
, became an intimate friend of the Prince of Wales
, and was a vital player (with Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire
Friends, Associates
Charlotte Smith
CS
was a friend at least from 1787, but more probably from childhood, with the poet Henrietta O'Neill
(who married in 1777). She visited her at the O'Neills' London house at least twice, and through...
Dedications
Charlotte Smith
She dated her preface 19 November 1794. Further editions followed, and Rambles Farther (a sequel from the same publishers, Cadell and Davies
) appeared in August 1796, dedicated by permission to the twelve-year-old daughter of...
Publishing
Charlotte Smith
Encouraged by her friendship with the theatrical patron and amateur performer Henrietta O'Neill
, CS
had long thought about writing for the stage. She had written to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire
, in 1795 about...
Intertextuality and Influence
Mariana Starke
Her preface says the translation was first suggested to her by the dowager Lady Spencer
(mother of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire
), whom she met in Italy; Lady Spencer also persuaded to her to publish...
Intertextuality and Influence
Sydney Owenson, Lady Morgan
She here turns to use some of the research she had done with the intention of writing a non-fictional study of Belgium (only recently constituted as a nation) and its politics, and a guide-book element...
Dedications
Sydney Owenson, Lady Morgan
She was working on the research for this novel before she married; the work was interrupted by her father's death in May 1812. After it she wrote: He was the object for which I laboured...
Textual Features
Sydney Owenson, Lady Morgan
Volume three opens with a mock trial: the Crawleys hope to get innocent men (including the hero) condemned for insurrection; the English or Anglicised Irish aristocrats are flightily amused at performing a trial scene. The...
Family and Intimate relationships
Sarah Trimmer
Their second daughter, Sarah known as Selina
, taught the younger ones and also some neighbour children.
Yarde, Doris M. Sarah Trimmer of Brentford and her Children, with Some of her Early Writings 1780-1786. Hounslow and District History Society.
17
She later worked for as governess in the household of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire
, and later...
Literary responses
Dorothy Wellesley
Yeats
admired this volume for its explorations of the picturesque, for its love . . . for undisturbed Nature, a hatred for the abstract, the mechanical, the invented, and for an intensity which he saw...
Some months before her twentieth birthday, HW
fell in love at first sight with Lord John Ponsonby
(a relation of the famous Duchess of Devonshire
and cousin of Lady Caroline Lamb
), who became second...
Textual Production
Ann Yearsley
During the time she was preparing these poems for publication, Yearsley equipped herself with a new team of patrons: Wilmer Gossip
, a Yorkshire landowner with poor health, who was given to spending time at...
