Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Emma Caroline Wood
-
Standard Name: Wood, Emma Caroline
Birth Name: Emma Caroline Michell
Married Name: Emma Caroline Wood
Titled: Emma Caroline, Lady Wood
Pseudonym: C. Sylvester
Pseudonym: Helen Carr
Indexed Name: E., Lady Wood
ECW
did not begin her publishing career until past the age of sixty. Then, following her husband's death, she produced an average of a book a year, to almost exclusively negative reviews. The publications included fourteen novels, many with romantic plots, a book of poetry co-authored with her daughter
, and two poetry collections which she selected, arranged and prefaced. A compilation of her correspondence appeared posthumously. Though well published and in public demand during her life time, she has received very little recent critical attention.
AS
's second appearance in print was made alongside her mother
's debut. As Helen and Gabrielle Carr (Anna being Gabrielle) they issued a collection of poetry modestly titled Ephemera.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
(29 July 1865): 146
Cultural formation
Anna Steele
Her heritage was English: her mother
's family name, Michell, was said to derive from a village near St Columb Major in Cornwall, now spelled Mitchell. Both sides of Steel's family were presumably white...
Family and Intimate relationships
Anna Steele
AS
's mother, Emma Caroline Wood
, had served briefly as Bedchamber Woman to Queen Caroline, before the position was ended by the Queen's death. As a widow, when Anna was in her twenties...
Residence
Anna Steele
AS
lived with her mother
at Rivenhall Place both before and after her father's death in 1866. In 1872 she also rented a house in Buckingham Gate near Green Park in Westminster, close to...
Publishing
Anna Steele
Ephemera featured Lady Wood
's slight, but graceful
Athenæum. J. Lection.
(29 July 1865): 147
illustrations and gilded edges and purple and silver sheathing.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
(29 July 1865): 146
Although the volume initially appeared pseudonymously, the mother and daughter...
Textual Production
Anna Steele
AS
's early career, like much of her life, was intertwined with that of her mother. The pair wrote as they lived, together, for a large part of Lady Wood's career. While Lady Wood
held...
Intertextuality and Influence
Anna Steele
She was said to have been encouraged by her mother
to publish this book. It was a success, and ran to several cheap editions.
Marlow, Joyce. The Uncrowned Queen of Ireland: The Life of ’Kitty’ O’Shea. Saturday Review Press.
10
Textual Production
Anna Steele
Joyce Marlow
mistakenly ascribes this translation to Steele's mother, Emma Caroline Wood
. The three-volume work, with illustrations by Sir Luke Fildes
, appeared the year after Hugo's original.
Marlow, Joyce. Captain Boycott and the Irish. History Book Club.
23
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.
Reception
Anna Steele
AS
has been largely ignored by readers and critics since her death, and her works remain out of print. Her name occurs in biographies of her more famous relatives, and in 1929 her niece Minna Evangeline Bradhurst
Timeline
6 December 1889: Charles Stewart Parnell, having lost credit...