Mary Elizabeth Wormeley Latimer (July 26, 1822 – January 4, 1904) was an
English-American
English Americans (historically known as Anglo-Americans) are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England.
In the 2020 American Community Survey, 25.21 million self-identified as being of English origin.
The term is distin ...
writer, both of original works and translations.
Early life
Elizabeth was born on July 26, 1822, in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. She was the daughter of Admiral Ralph Randolph Wormeley (1785–1852) and Caroline (
née Preble) Wormeley (1799–1872). Her father, a native of
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
, was an Admiral of the
British navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...
,
and preceding his death, resided in
Boston, Massachusetts. Among her siblings was Ariana Randolph Wormeley, who married the American lawyer and banker
Daniel Sargent Curtis, and the nurse and author
Katherine Prescott Wormeley.
Her paternal grandfather was James Wormeley, great-grandfather was
John Randolph, attorney general for the
Colony of Virginia and her grand-uncle was
Edmund Randolph
Edmund Jennings Randolph (August 10, 1753 September 12, 1813) was a Founding Father of the United States, attorney, and the 7th Governor of Virginia. As a delegate from Virginia, he attended the Constitutional Convention and helped to create ...
, the first
Attorney General of the United States. Her mother was a niece of Commodore
Edward Preble
Edward Preble (August 15, 1761 – August 25, 1807) was a United States naval officer who served with great distinction during the 1st Barbary War, leading American attacks on the city of Tripoli and forming the officer corps that would la ...
,
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
.
Her sisters were
Katharine Prescott Wormeley, the translator, and Ariana Randolph Wormeley Curtis (1834–1922), a writer who published the comedy entitled ''The Coming Woman, or the Spirit of '76'' in 1870, which has been acted in public and private both in the United States and in Europe.
[ Ariana was married to prominent banker and patron of the arts, Daniel Sargent Curtis (1825–1908).]
Education and career
She was educated by tutors and at a school in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Early travels also helped educate her.
She spent the winter of 1842 in Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
as the guest of the family of George Ticknor
George Ticknor (August 1, 1791 – January 26, 1871) was an American academician and Hispanist, specializing in the subject areas of languages and literature. He is known for his scholarly work on the history and criticism of Spanish literature.
...
, and in that environment received much encouragement of her interest in literature.[
The daughter resided several years in ]Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...
, and in 1856,[ after gaining a reputation as a writer. After spending several years raising her children, she began writing again in 1876.][
]
Personal life
Around 1856, she married Randolph Brandt Latimer (1821–1903) of Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
. From 1856 to 1876, she devoted herself to raising a family, including:
* Caroline Wormeley Latimer (1859–1933), a doctor in Boston.
* Ralph Randolph Latimer (1862–1931)
* James Brandt Latimer (1865–1926), who worked for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad and who married Anne Wise Mayo (1879–1955)
Latimer died on January 4, 1904, in Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
.[
]
Works
She contributed to magazines, and published:[
* ''Forest Hill: a Tale of Social Life in 1830-1'' (3 vols., London, 1846)
* ''Amabel, a Family History'', a novel][ (New York, 1853)
* ''Our Cousin Veronica'' (1856)
* ''Familiar Talks on Some of Shakespeare's Comedies'' (Boston, 1887)
A number of her works were volumes dealing popularly with contemporary European history:]
* ''France in the Nineteenth Century'' (1892) Further books followed this one on Russia, Turkey, England, Europeans in Africa and Spain.
* ''Italy in the Nineteenth Century and the Making of Austro-Hungary and Germany'' (1896)
* ''My Scrap Book of the French Revolution'' (1898)
* ''Judea from Cyrus to Titus; 537 B.C. - 70 A.D.'' (1899)
* ''The Last Years of the Nineteenth Century'' (1900)
She translated:[
* ]Louis Ulbach
Louis Ulbach (7 March 182216 April 1889) was a French novelist, essayist and journalist. He published seventy-six volumes, wrote three plays, and wrote numerous articles and political or biographical pamphlets. His romantic novels were compared t ...
, ''Madame Gosselin'' (New York, 1878)
* Louis Ulbach, ''The Steel Hammer'' (originally ''Le Marteau d'acier''; 1888)
* Louis Ulbach, ''For Fifteen Years'', a sequel to ''The Steel Hammer'' (originally ''Quinze ans de bagne''; 1888)
* Ernest Renan, ''A History of the People of Israel'' (with J. H. Allen; 1888–96)
* George Sand
Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. One of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, bein ...
, ''Nanon'' (1890)
* J. C. L. de Sismondi, ''The Italian Republics'' (1901)
* ''The Love Letters of Victor Hugo, 1820-22'' (1901)
* ''Talks of Napoleon at St. Helena with General Baron Gourgaud'' (1903)
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Latimer, Mary Elizabeth Wormeley
1822 births
1904 deaths
American women writers
French–English translators
English emigrants to the United States
Writers from London
19th-century American translators
19th-century British women writers
19th-century British writers
Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century
19th-century American women