Charlotte Louisa Hawkins Dempster (1835–1913) was a Scottish novelist, essayist and author, noted also as a collector of

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

, especially in the Highland county of Sutherland. She spent much of her life in France.''The Feminist Companion to Literature in English'', eds Virginia Blain, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy (London, Batsford, 1990), pp. 280–81.

Literature and folklore

Charlotte Louisa Hawkins was born 10 April 1835 at

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in Scotland. Her name was later styled Charlotte Dempster. She was educated at home by masters in various subjects, but spent her late teens in Paris. Dempster's first published work was an essay entitled "The Literary Remains of Albrecht Dürer", which appeared in the '' Edinburgh Review'' in July 1861.Charlotte Dempster
Susan Brown, Patricia Clements, Isobel Grundy (The Orlando Project) 2006-2010 She became involved in controversy over the role and importance of the 17th-century

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, after reviewing Edward Abbott Parry's edition of her correspondence for the same journal in 1888. She accused Parry of having a "gushy and self-conscious style" and unnecessarily interfering with the text. Dempster became a member of the

Folklore Society The Folklore Society (FLS) is a national association in the United Kingdom for the study of folklore. It was founded in London in 1878 to study traditional vernacular culture, including traditional music, song, dance and drama, narrative, arts an ...

, publishing articles in its journal, reading papers before the Second International Folk Congress, and serving the folklore committee assembled for the

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in 1893. An autobiography edited by Alice Knox was published in 1920. It had been completed in the year before her death in 1913.

Novels

According to a modern critic, Dempster's novels "use a variety of settings to treat potentially serious subjects in a superficial way." Her book ''The Hôtel du Petit St. Jean. A Gascon Story'' appeared in 1869, but ''Vera'', said to be the first novel, in 1871. Others were ''Iseulte'' (1875), ''Blue Roses'' (1877), ''Within Sound of the Sea'' (1879), ''Marjorie's Husband'' (1888) ''Ninette: an Idyll of Provence'' (1888), ''The Dance of the Hours'' (1893) and ''The Year Book of the Holy Souls'' (1901). A cookery book of Dempster's, ''Australian Beef and Mutton and How to Make the Best of them'' came out in 1872. A volume of her essays appeared in the same year, and a travel volume, ''The Maritime Alps and their Seaboard'' in 1884.British Library catalogues. Demster became a member of the

, publishing articles in its journal and reading papers before the Second International Folk-Congress, and serving the folklore committee assembled for the

in 1893.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dempster, Charlotte Louisa Hawkins 1835 births 1913 deaths British folklorists Scottish writers English-language writers from France