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Anna Maria Porter

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Anna Maria Porter (1780 - 21 September 1832) was an English poet and novelist.[1]

Anna Maria Porter

Anna Maria Porter (1780-1832), 1823. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Life[]

Youth and education[]

Porter was 1 of the 5 children of William Porter (1735-1779) and his wife, Jane (died 1831); her older sister was novelist Jane Porter. Anna Maria was born at Durham in 1780 after her father's death.

Educated at Edinburgh with her sister Jane, she not only shared the latter's studious tastes, but was attracted by music and art.[1]

Career[]

Jane Porter said of Anna that "the quickness of her perceptions gave her almost an intuitive knowledge of everything she wished to learn." S.C. Hall described her as a blonde, handsome and gay, and dubbed her "L'Allegro," in contrast to Jane, a brunette, whom he named "Il Penseroso".

She resolved, like Jane, to devote herself to literature, and at 13 began a series of Artless Tales, completed in 2 anonymous volumes. Other tales, entitled Walsh Colville and Octavia (3 vols.), appeared anonymously in 1797 and 1798 respectively.[1]

After settling with her family in London before 1803, she attempted dramatic composition, and in May 1803 the Fair Fugitives, a musical entertainment, was acted at Covent Garden, with music by Dr. Busby. It met with no success, and was not printed.[1]

In 1807, when Porter was living with her mother and sister in a cottage at Esher, Surrey, she published her chief work, and the earliest to which she put her name, The Hungarian Brothers. It was popular at home and abroad. General Moreau placed it in his travelling library, and in 1818 it was translated into French. Later English editions are dated 1808, 1831, 1847, 1856, and 1872.[1]

In 1809 appeared Don Sebastian; or, The house of Braganza, a novel in 4 volumes. A 2nd edition, in 3 volumes, soon followed, and the latest edition came out in 1855. It lacks the verve of its predecessor. Among others of her novels, The Knight of St. John, a romance in 3 volumes, published in 1817, was the last book read aloud by Prince Leopold to Princess Charlotte the day before her death. Nearly all her books were translated into French, and some were published in America.[1]

In May 1832 the sisters, who had moved from Esher to London on their mother's death in 1831, visited their brother, Dr. William Ogilvie Porter, at Bristol. Anna was seized with typhoid fever there, and died on 21 September 1832, at the house of Mrs. Colonel Booth, Montpellier, near Bristol. She was buried in the churchyard of St. Paul's Church in that city.[1]

Writing[]

The Hungarian Brothers is a novel in 3 volumes, dealing with the French revolutionary war. She feared that her heroes might be viewed as women masquerading as men, and subsequently excused the admiration of "martial glory," of which the book is full, on the score of her youth. But the vivacity and enthusiasm of the writer atone for most of the book's defects. Don Sebastian; or, The house of Braganza lacks the verve of its predecessor.[1]

Porter wrote, besides the works noticed: 1. ‘Tales of Pity.’ 2. ‘The Lake of Killarney,’ 3 vols. 1804; the last edition, 1856, was entitled ‘Rose de Blaquière.’ 3. ‘A Soldier's Friendship.’ 4. ‘A Soldier's Love,’ 2 vols. 1805. 5. ‘Ballads and Romances and Other Poems,’ 1811. 6. ‘The Recluse of Norway,’ 4 vols. 1814; last edit. 1852. 7. ‘The Fast of St. Magdalen,’ 3 vols. 1818, 1819, 1822. 8. ‘The Village of Mariendorpt,’ 4 vols. 1821. 9. ‘Roche Blanche, or the Hunter of the Pyrenees,’ 3 vols. 1822. 10. ‘Honor O'Hara,’ 3 vols. 1826. 11. ‘Coming Out,’ 2 vols. 1828. 12. ‘The Barony,’ 3 vols. 1830. She contributed in 1826 three stories, ‘Glenowan,’ ‘Lord Howth,’ and ‘Jeanie Halliday,’ to ‘Tales round a Winter's Hearth,’ and in 1828 a poem to S. C. Hall's ‘Amulet.’[1]

Recognition[]

Her portrait was engraved by Woolnoth from a drawing by Harlowe, and is reproduced in Jerdan's ‘National Portrait Gallery,’ vol. v. Her brother Robert, when designing an altar-piece which he presented to St John's College, Cambridge, made a study of her for Hope.[1]

Publications[]

Poetry[]

Novels[]

  • Walsh Colville; or, A young man's first entrance into life. Lee & Hurst / T.C. Jones, 1797.
  • Octavia: A novel. (3 volumes), London: T.N. Longman, 1798.
  • The Lake of Killarney: A novel. (3 volumes), London: T.N. Longman & O. Rees, 1804; Philadelphia: Thomas de Silver, 1810.
  • A Sailor's Friendship, and a Soldier's Love. (2 volumes), London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, & Orme, 1805; Baltimore, MD: Warner & Hanna, 1810.
  • The Hungarian Brothers. (3 volumes), London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, & Orme, 1807, 1808; Philadelphia: Bradford & Innskeep / New York: Inskeep & Bradford, 1809; London: R. Bentley, 1850.
  • Don Sebastian; or, The house of Braganza: An historical romance. (4 volumes), London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, & Orme, 1809; Philadelphia: M. Carey, 1810.
  • The Recluse of Norway. (4 volumes), London, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, 1814; New York: Isaac Riley, 1815.
  • The Knight of St. John: A romance. (3 volumes), London, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, 1817; New York: James Eastburn, 1817; Philadelphia: M. Thomas, 1817.
  • The Fast of St. Magdalen: A romance. (3 volumes), London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, 1818; Boston: Wells & Lilly, 1819; New York: C. Wiley / W.B. Gilley, 1819.
  • The Village of Mariendorpt: A tale. (4 volumes), London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1821; Boston: Wells & Lilly, 1821.
  • Roche-Blanche; or, The hunters of the Pyrenees: A romance. (3 volumes), London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, 1822; Boston: Wells & Lilly, 1822.
  • Honor O'Hara: A novel. (3 volumes), London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green 1826; New York: J. & J. Harper, for E. Duyckinck, et al, 1827.
  • Coming Out / The field of the forty footsteps (with Jane Porter). (3 volumes), London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green, 1828.
  • The Barony. (3 volumes), London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green, 1830.

Short fiction[]

  • Artless Tales; or, Romantic effusions of the heart. (2 volumes), London: Hookham and Carpenter, 1796.
  • Tales Round a Winter Hearth. (2 volumes), London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green, 1826; New York: J.&J. Harper, 1826.

Juvenile[]

  • Tales of Pity on Fishing, Shooting, and Hunting: Intended to inculcate in the mind of youth, sentiments of humanity toward the brute creation. London: J. Harris, 1814.


Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[2]

See also[]

References[]

  •  Lee, Elizabeth (1896) "Porter, Anna Maria" in Lee, Sidney Dictionary of National Biography 46 London: Smith, Elder, p. 182  . Wikisource, Web, Sep. 7, 2016.

Notes[]

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 Lee, 182.
  2. ↑ Search results = au:Anna Maria Porter, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Sep. 7, 2016.

External links[]

Poems
Books
About

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the Dictionary of National Biography (edited by Leslie Stephen & Sidney Lee). London: Smith, Elder, 1885-1900. Original article is at: Porter, Anna Maria

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