Ellen Pickering

Ellen Pickering (1802 – 25 November 1843) was a British novelist who published sixteen three-volume novels, one of them posthumously. At a time when stories about gypsies were common in nineteenth-century Victorian literature, Pickering achieved her greatest success with the novel Nan Darrell, or The Gypsy Mother (1839). Her books mixed history and romance in the style of Sir Walter Scott.

Ellen Pickering
Born1802
Died25 November 1843
Bath, Somerset
OccupationNovelist
NationalityBritish
PeriodVictorian era
Years active1826–1843

Life and work

Ellen Pickering was born in 1802 and was brought up near Bath, Somerset, in South West England. The Pickering family income was derived from the Jamaican slave trade; when the practice was made illegal, the family temporarily moved to Hampshire. Pickering had early success as a writer and she reputedly earned £100 a year (equivalent to £8,269 in 2019) after she started publishing in 1825. Her books mixed history and romance in the style of Sir Walter Scott.[1] Pickering wrote sixteen three-volume novels up to 1840.[2]

Her novel Nan Darrell, or The Gypsy Mother (1839) was her most successful book and was reprinted five times up to 1865, years after her death. The novel was first written just after the success of a gypsy trilogy published by British novelist Hannah Maria Jones (1784–1854).[1][note 1] The motif of gypsies, particularly in the fictional role of kidnappers, was popular in nineteenth-century Victorian literature.[2] Nan Darrell, or The Gypsy Mother features a lead gypsy character reminiscent of Meg Merrilies from Scott's novel Guy Mannering.[1]

Pickering died in Bath, Somerset, in 1843 of scarlet fever. Her partially complete novel The Grandfather was finished and published by her friend the novelist Elizabeth Youatt.[3]

Legacy

Cultural historian Mary Poovey notes that Pickering "enjoyed success among her contemporaries but achieved no lasting legacy".[2] Contemporary feminist scholars have debated the value of her work.[4][5][6]

Selected works
The Prince and the Pedlar (1839)

Pickering published a total of sixteen novels. The Grandfather was published posthumously.[2][7]

  • The Marriage of the Favourite, or, She Bred Him a Soldier, 1826
  • The Heiress (three volumes), 1833
  • Agnes Serle, 1835
  • The Merchant's Daughter, 1836
  • The Prince and the Pedlar, or The Siege of Bristol, 1839
  • The Squire, 1837
  • Nan Darrell, or The Gipsy Mother, 1839
  • The Fright, 1839
  • The Quiet Husband, 1840
  • Who Shall Be Heir?, 1840
  • The Secret Foe, 1841
  • The Expectant, 1842
  • Cousin Hinton, or, Friend or Foe?, 1843
  • Charades for Acting, 1843
  • The Grumbler, 1843
  • The Grandfather, 1846 (completed by a friend) (An edition exists published in fragile tan wrappers with an imprint of New York: Harper & Brothers, 1844. No. 39 - Library of Select Novels

Notes
  1. See Jones, Hannah Maria (1833) The Gipsy Mother, or, The Miseries of Enforced Marriage. London: Virtue, Tallis. OCLC 562668528.

References
  1. Sutherland, Kathryn. "Pickering, Ellen (1801/2–1843)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/22205. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. Poovey, Mary (Fall 2000). "Recovering Ellen Pickering." The Yale Journal of Criticism, 13 (2): 437-452. doi:10.1353/yale.2000.0025.
  3. Sutherland, John (13 October 2014). The Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction. p. 613. ISBN 978-1317863328.
  4. Campbell, Jill (Fall 2000). "A Response to Mary Poovey's 'Recovering Ellen Pickering'." The Yale Journal of Criticism, 13 (2): 461–465. doi:10.1353/yale.2000.0017
  5. Homans, Margaret (Fall 2000). "A Response to Mary Poovey's 'Recovering Ellen Pickering'." The Yale Journal of Criticism, 13 (2): 453–460. doi:10.1353/yale.2000.0020
  6. Poovey, Mary (Fall 2000). "A Response to Margaret Homans and Jill Campbell." The Yale Journal of Criticism, 13 (2): 467–468. doi:10.1353/yale.2000.0026
  7. Her works by OCLC in order, from earliest to latest: The Marriage of the Favourite, or, She Bred Him a Soldier, 1826; The Heiress (three volumes), 1833; Agnes Serle, 1835 OCLC 830982702, 830960226, 316612814; The Merchant's Daughter, 1836; The Prince and the Pedler, or The Siege of Bristol, 1839; The Squire, 1837 OCLC 679520516, 13402211, 557468156; Nan Darrell, or The Gipsy Mother, 1839; The Fright, 1839; The Quiet Husband, 1840 OCLC 680318894, 9499352, 721098905; Who Shall Be Heir?, 1840; The Secret Foe, 1841; The Expectant, 1842 OCLC 593360168, 8619235, 82880690; Cousin Hinton, or, Friend or Foe?, 1843; Charades for Acting, 1843; The Grumbler, 1843 OCLC 20280272, 58772950, 2727250; The Grandfather, 1846 (posthumous work) OCLC 793693943

Further reading
  • Rosenman, Ellen Bayuk and Claudia C. Kalaver (ed). (2008). Other Mothers: Beyond the Maternal Ideal. Ohio State University Press. ISBN 0814202861. OCLC 226308180.
  • Wagner, Tamara (2009). Antifeminism and the Victorian Novel. Cambria Press. ISBN 9781621969792. OCLC 819330520.
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