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Lady Emma Caroline Wood (15 January 1802 – 15 December 1879) was a British novelist and artist. She wrote more than a dozen novels, at least one under the pen name C. Sylvester.
After Rev. Wood died in 1866, Emma Wood began publishing novels, many nautical themed. John Sutherland wrote about her ''Ruling the Roast'' (1874) that he suspected there was "an autobiographical element in the portrait of Myra Leith, the unhappy heroine...who unwisely marries the oafish clergyman son of an
Life and career
Emma Caroline Mitchell was born on , in Portugal. She was the youngest daughter of AdmiralSampson Michell
Sampson Michell (1755–1809) was a British Royal Navy officer who left and became an Admiral and Commander of the Brazilian Navy.
Life
He was born in Truro in 1755 the son of Dr Thomas Michell MD (1726-1811) a "fox-hunting squire" in Cornw ...
, a British Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
officer who served as Commander-in-Chief of the Portuguese Navy
The Portuguese Navy ( pt, Marinha Portuguesa, also known as ''Marinha de Guerra Portuguesa'' or as ''Armada Portuguesa'') is the naval branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in cooperation and integrated with the other branches of the Port ...
. Initially she was raised in Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
, but when Napoleon invaded Portugal in 1807, Admiral Mitchell left his family in Truro
Truro (; kw, Truru) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its ...
, England and sailed with the Portuguese royal family to Brazil, where he died in 1809.
In 1820, she married the Rev. John Page Wood, later 2nd Baronet. Thanks to the influence of his father, Sir Matthew Wood, 1st Baronet
Sir Matthew Wood, 1st Baronet (2 June 1768 – 25 September 1843) was a British Whig politician and was Lord Mayor of London from 1815 to 1817.
Early life
Matthew Wood was the son of William Wood (died 1809), a serge maker from Exeter and Ti ...
, Emma Wood briefly served as Lady of the Bedchamber
Lady of the Bedchamber is the title of a lady-in-waiting holding the official position of personal attendant on a British queen regnant or queen consort. The position is traditionally held by the wife of a peer. They are ranked between the Mis ...
to Queen Caroline before her death in 1821. Emma Wood had 13 children, including novelists Emma Barrett-Lennard and Anna Caroline Steel, Field Marshal Sir Henry Evelyn Wood and Katharine O'Shea
Katharine Parnell (née Wood; 30 January 1846 – 5 February 1921), known before her second marriage as Katharine O'Shea, and usually called Katie O'Shea by friends and Kitty O'Shea by enemies, was an English woman of aristocratic background ...
, the mistress of Charles Stewart Parnell
Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1875 to 1891, also acting as Leader of the Home Rule League from 1880 to 1882 and then Leader of the ...
.
In the 1830s, Emma Wood exhibited watercolor paintings and became a professional book illustrator. She illustrated a book of poetry, ''Ephemera'', that she and her daughter Anna published under the names Helen and Gabrielle Carr.
After Rev. Wood died in 1866, Emma Wood began publishing novels, many nautical themed. John Sutherland wrote about her ''Ruling the Roast'' (1874) that he suspected there was "an autobiographical element in the portrait of Myra Leith, the unhappy heroine...who unwisely marries the oafish clergyman son of an earl
Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...
."
Emma Caroline Wood died on 15 December 1879 in Belhus, Essex
Belhus is a golf course, country park, former stately home and manor in the parish of Aveley in Essex, England. The historic manor was known in ancient times variously as "Bellhouse, Belhouse (as commemorated by today's "Belhouse Avenue" in t ...
.
Bibliography
# ''Ephemera'' with Anna Caroline Steele, 1856. # ''Rosewarn: A Novel''. 3 vol. London:Chapman and Hall
Chapman & Hall is an imprint owned by CRC Press, originally founded as a British publishing house in London in the first half of the 19th century by Edward Chapman and William Hall. Chapman & Hall were publishers for Charles Dickens (from 184 ...
, 1866.
# ''Sabina: A Novel''. 3 vol. London: Chapman and Hall, 1868.
# ''Sorrow on the Sea: A Novel''. 3 vol. London: Tinsley Brothers, 1868.
# ''On Credit''. 2 vol. London: Chapman and Hall, 1870.
# ''Seadrift: A Novel''. 3 vol. London: Chapman and Hall, 1871.
# ''Cloth of Frieze: A Novel''. 3 vol. London: Chapman and Hall, 1872.
# ''Up Hill: A Novel''. 3 vol. London: Chapman and Hall, 1873.
# ''Wild Weather''. 2 vol. London: Chapman and Hall, 1873.
# ''Ruling the Roast: A Novel''. 3 vol. London: Chapman and Hall, 1874.
# ''Below the Salt: A Novel''. 3 vol. London: Chapman and Hall, 1876.
# ''Through Fire and Water: A Novel''. 2 vol. London: Chapman and Hall, 1876.
# ''Sheen's Foreman: A Novel''. 3 vol. London: Chapman and Hall, 1877.
# ''Youth on the Prow: A Novel''. 3 vol. London: Chapman and Hall, 1879.
References
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Emma Created via preloaddraft 1802 births 1879 deaths British expatriates in Portugal British women novelists British women painters