Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Elizabeth Isabella Spence
-
Standard Name: Spence, Elizabeth Isabella
Indexed Name: Miss Spence
Pseudonym: A Lady
Pseudonym: The Author of Summer Excursions . . . .
EIS
began publishing just before the end of the eighteenth century and continued for twenty-five years. She issued novels, shorter fiction, and travel books, the latter put together from letters sent to friends in the course of summer excursions around England, Wales, and Scotland (her native country). Her fiction sometimes draws on anecdotes from life, both recent and historical or pseudo-historical. As an author she is not distinguished, but her interest in circulating information about other women writers gives her some significance for women's literary history.
By the time LEL began living alone, she was well-known in literary circles. She became a good friend of Emma Roberts
and Rosina Bulwer-Lytton
around this time, and gradually became a recognized London public figure...
Friends, Associates
Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton
Their mother was living in Paris at this time, and Rosina lived in London with her uncle Sir John Doyle
(latterly without her sister, who joined their mother in Paris). She reputedly had an unusual...
Friends, Associates
Christian Milne
CM
was visited at her home by the novelist and travel-writer Elizabeth Isabella Spence
(who was Scots-born though living in England, and who took a great interest both in her life-story and in her poetry).
Spence, Elizabeth Isabella. Letters from the North Highlands, During the Summer 1816. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown.
52
Friends, Associates
Elizabeth Ogilvy Benger
At the same period EOB
was a friend of another miscellaneous writer, Elizabeth Isabella Spence
, who entertained in the same eccentric, low-budget style. These two elderly ladies (Spence was ten years older than Benger)...
Friends, Associates
Jane Porter
The Porters' mother lived a busy social life on limited means, and JP
kept up this tradition. Sir Walter Scott
was an early friend.
Mudge, Bradford Keyes, editor. Dictionary of Literary Biography 116. Gale Research.
265
When she moved to London, JP
included among her friends...
Family and Intimate relationships
Isabella Kelly
IK
was related to two other writers: James Fordyce
(her uncle) and Elizabeth Isabella Spence
, a cousin.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder.
under James Fordyce
Family and Intimate relationships
Christian Milne
Elizabeth Isabella Spence
later called him a common carpenter.
Spence, Elizabeth Isabella. Letters from the North Highlands, During the Summer 1816. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown.
56
In the course of his sea voyages he was twice captured by the Americans, and lost his clothes and the wages due to him.
Spence, Elizabeth Isabella. Letters from the North Highlands, During the Summer 1816. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown.
62
Birth
Christian Milne
Christian Ross (later CM
) was born on this day, according to what she specifically told Elizabeth Isabella Spence
, at Inverness in Scotland.
Spence, Elizabeth Isabella. Letters from the North Highlands, During the Summer 1816. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown.
