Camilla Dufour Crosland (born Camilla Dufour Toulmin, also known as Mrs. Newton Crosland, 1812–1895) was an English writer of fiction, poetry, essays and sketches. She also translated some plays and poetry by
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...
.
Life
She was born on 9 June 1812 at
Aldermanbury, London, where her father, William Toulmin, practised as a solicitor; her grandfather, Dr William Toulmin, was a physician of repute. She was a precocious girl, who could read at the age of three
[ John Sutherland: ''The Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction'' (London: Routledge, 2009 988, p. 16]
Retrieved 8 November 2015
/ref> and loved reading, although she lacked a systematic education. She had two half-brothers by her father's first marriage and a younger brother by his second.[''The Feminist Companion to Literature in English'', eds Virginia Blain, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy (London: Batsford, 1990), p. 251.] Her father, who had money troubles, died when Camilla was eight, and his widow and daughter were not provided for.The Keepsake
''The Keepsake'' was an English literary annual which ran from 1828 to 1857, published each Christmas from 1827 to 1856, for perusal during the year of the title. Like other literary annuals, ''The Keepsake'' was an anthology of short fiction, po ...
'', on behalf of Marguerite Power, and ''Friendship's Offering'', as deputy to Leitch Ritchie.
Crosland was acquainted with numerous literary women, who included Mary Cowden Clarke
Mary Victoria Cowden Clarke (née Novello; pen names, M. H. and Harry Wandsworth Shortfellow; 22 June 1809 – 12 January 1898) was an English author, and compiler of a concordance to Shakespeare.
Early life and education
Mary Victoria Novello ...
, Mary Howitt
Mary Howitt (12 March 1799-30 January 1888) was an English poet, the author of the famous poem '' The Spider and the Fly''. She translated several tales by Hans Christian Andersen. Some of her works were written in conjunction with her husband, ...
, Mary Russell Mitford
Mary Russell Mitford (16 December 1787 – 10 January 1855) was an English author and dramatist. She was born at Alresford in Hampshire. She is best known for '' Our Village'', a series of sketches of village scenes and vividly drawn characte ...
, Geraldine Jewsbury, Catherine Crowe
Catherine Ann Crowe, née Stevens (20 September 1803 – 14 June 1876) was an English novelist, a writer of social and supernatural stories, and a playwright. She also wrote for children.
Life
Catherine Ann Stevens was born in Borough Green, ...
, Lady Blessington and Frances Browne. She was especially close to Dinah Mulock, later Craik, who acted as her bridesmaid on 22 July 1848, when she married Newton Crosland, a London wine merchant with literary and scientific tastes. Crosland and her husband became interested in spiritualism
Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and Mind-body dualism, dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (w ...
in 1854East Dulwich
East Dulwich is an area of South East London, England in the London Borough of Southwark. It forms the eastern part of Dulwich, with Peckham to the east and Camberwell to the north. This South London suburb was first developed in the nineteent ...
, where she died on 16 February 1895. A memorial window has been placed to her memory in St Alban's Cathedral.
Works
Crosland contributed work in many genres – poems, stories illustrating the condition of the poor, essays, and biographical and historical sketches – to periodicals such as ''The People's Journal
''The People's Journal'', first published in 1858, was a Dundee-based Scottish periodical, originally produced by John Leng & Co., a local publishing company that for a time enjoyed the Scottish artist, political cartoonist, postcard illustrat ...
'', ''The London Journal
''The London Journal; and Weekly Record of Literature, Science and Art'' (published from 1845 to 1928) was a British penny fiction weekly, one of the best-selling magazines of the nineteenth century.
It was established by George Stiff, publish ...
'', ''Bentley's Miscellany
''Bentley's Miscellany'' was an English literary magazine started by Richard Bentley. It was published between 1836 and 1868.
Contributors
Already a successful publisher of novels, Bentley began the journal in 1836 and invited Charles Dickens t ...
'', the ''Old Monthly Magazine'', ''The Illustrated London News
''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication i ...
'', ''Douglas Jerrold
Douglas William Jerrold (London 3 January 18038 June 1857 London) was an English dramatist and writer.
Biography
Jerrold's father, Samuel Jerrold, was an actor and lessee of the little theatre of Wilsby near Cranbrook in Kent. In 1807 Dougla ...
's Magazine'', '' Ainsworth's Magazine'', and to annuals. For more than 50 years she was a regular contributor to ''Chambers's Journal
''Chambers's Edinburgh Journal'' was a weekly 16-page magazine started by William Chambers in 1832. The first edition was dated 4 February 1832, and priced at one penny. Topics included history, religion, language, and science. William was so ...
'', and at the time of her death she was its writer of longest standing.three-volume novel
The three-volume novel (sometimes three-decker or triple decker) was a standard form of publishing for British fiction during the nineteenth century. It was a significant stage in the development of the modern novel as a form of popular litera ...
, ''Mrs. Blake''; in 1871 the ''Diamond Wedding, and other Poems''; and in 1873 a second novel, ''Hubert Freeth's Prosperity''. Among her later productions were translations of Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...
's plays, '' Hernani'' and ''Ruy Blas
''Ruy Blas'' is a tragic drama by Victor Hugo. It was the first play presented at the Théâtre de la Renaissance and opened on November 8, 1838. Though considered by many to be Hugo’s best drama, the play was initially met with only average ...
'', with some of his poems, which appeared in '' Bohn's Library''. In 1893 came her final work, ''Landmarks of a Literary Life'',[A full online text]
Retrieved 8 November 2015
/ref> which is feminist in tone. Her husband's autobiography, ''Rambles Round My Life'' (1898) includes some extracts from her autobiographical writings that had remained in manuscript.
Notes
;Attribution
External links
*
*
*
*
*Whereabouts of Camilla Dufour Crosland's posthumous papers
Retrieved 8 November 2015
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crosland, Camilla Dufour
1812 births
1895 deaths
19th-century English women writers
19th-century English writers
English spiritualists
People from the City of London
Writers from London