Anna Harriett Drury
Anna Harriett Drury (also Harriet, 1824–1912)[1] was an English novelist who wrote "conventional romances, with a few sharp observations on the role of unattached women in their relatives' houses".[2] She also published poetry, and novels which were distinguished as "for boys".
Life
Anna Drury's birth is recorded in the 1901 census return as in 1824 in Harrow, Middlesex.[3] Her father, Rev. William James Joseph Drury, and her grandfather, Rev. Mark Drury, had both taught at Harrow School, but they left sizeable debts when they withdrew in 1826.[2] Through this Harrow connection, Drury became friends with Anthony Trollope, who later helped her in her literary work.[1]
Drury's father then became chaplain to King Leopold I of Belgium. While in Brussels, she first met Frances Trollope, with whose family the Drurys were friendly. By then Anna Drury knew Greek and some Hebrew; she had begun writing as a child.[2]
After a period in London, Anna Drury moved to Torquay in 1866, where she became a close friend of Frances Mary Peard.[2] The 1901 census return gives as her occupation "living by her own means (author)". She and two probable sisters of hers, Jane Emily and Sarah Frances, were boarders in a house that may have belonged to Thomas and Jane Tothill, who are also listed as resident there.[3]
Anna Harriett Drury never married and died in Newton Abbot in June 1912.[1]
Writings
Drury's "conventional romances" and other works included Annesley, and other poems (1847), Friends and Fortune, a moral tale (1849), Light and Shade: or, the Young Artist. A tale (1853), Misrepresentation (1859), The Story of a Shower (1872), Gabriel's Appointment (1877), Called to the Rescue (1879) and In the Enemy's Country; or, the Raven of Steinbrück. A story of 1813, etc. (1891) Some are marked as "for boys".[4]
Numerous books of Drury's are available in facsimile reprints, secondhand original editions, and as free downloads.[5]
In The Normans: or, Kith and Kin, the heroine pointedly asks her father, "What becomes of clergymen's daughters when their fathers die, and their homes are broken up?"[6]
Partial list of works
- Friends and Fortune: A Moral Tale, 1 vol., London: William Pickering, 1849
- Eastbury: A Tale, 1 vol., London: William Pickering, 1851
- Light and Shade: or, The Young Artist, A Tale. 1 vol., London: William Pickering, 1853
- The Blue Ribbons: A Story of the Last Century, 1 vol., London: Kerby and Son, 1855
- Misrepresentation: A Novel, 2 vols, London: John W. Parker, 1859
- Deep Waters: A Novel, 3 vols, London: Chapman and Hall, 1863
- The Brothers: A Novel, 2 vols, London: Chapman and Hall, 1865
- The Three Half-Crowns: A Story for Boys, 1 vol., London: SPCK, 1866
- Richard Rowe's Parcel: A Story for Boys, 1 vol., London: SPCK, 1868
- The Normans: or, Kith and Kin, 2 vols, London: Chapman and Hall, 1870
- The Story of a Shower: A Novel, 2 vols, London: Bentley, 1872
- Ellen North's Crumbs, 1 vol., London: SPCK, 1873
- Furnished Apartments, 3 vols, London: Bentley, 1875
- Gabriel's Appointment: A Novel, 3 vols, London: Bentley, 1877
- Called to the Rescue, 3 vols, London: Bentley, 1879
- In the Enemy's Country: or, The Raven of Steinbrück. A Story of 1813, 1 vol., London: Griffith and Farran, 1891[1]
References
- At the Circulating Library Retrieved 22 April 2018.
- Virginia Blain, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy: The Feminist Companion to Literature in English. Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present Day (London: Batsford, 1990), p. 310.
- Wikisource page Retrieved 22 April 2018.
- British Library catalogue Retrieved 22 April 2018.
- E. g. Eastbury (1851) Retrieved 22 April 2018.
- (Vol. I, p. 29, quoted in Feminist....)