Ellen Davitt was an English-born Australian writer.

Biography

Marie Antoinette Hélène Léontine (Ellen) Heseltine was born in

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-ea ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

in 1812. She married Arthur Davitt, an educationalist, in Jersey in 1845. The couple arrived in Australia on 31 July 1854 with the aim of opening a new Model School.Australian Dictionary of Biography - Arthur Davitt
/ref> However, internal disagreements and a financial recession resulted in the discharge of the Davitts in 1859. The husband contracted tuberculosis and died in 1860. Davitt continued to teach and also began writing after his death.''The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature'', 2nd edition, p221 Davitt was a sister-in-law of English writer Anthony Trollope, but appears to have had little contact with him. Although some of her early work has been lost she is now credited with having written the first Australian murder mystery with her novel ''Force and Fraud : A Tale of the Bush'' in 1865. Davitt began teaching again in 1874 but she died in extreme poverty in Fitzroy, in 1879.

Legacy

Australia's crime writing award for women, the

Davitt Award The Davitt Awards are literary awards which are presented annually by the Sisters in Crime Australia association. The awards are named in honour of Ellen Davitt (1812–1879) who wrote Australia's first mystery novel, ''Force and Fraud'' in 186 ...

, is named in her honour.

Selected works

* ''Force and Fraud : A Tale of the Bush'' (1865) * ''Uncle Vincent : Or, Love and Hatred'' (1866)

References

1812 births 1879 deaths 19th-century Australian novelists 19th-century Australian women writers Australian women novelists English emigrants to Australia {{Australia-writer-stub