M. E. Francis was the pen name of Mary Elizabeth Blundell (née Sweetman; 1859 – 9 March 1930) who was a prolific Irish novelist. She was described as the best known woman novelist of the day.
Biography
Mary Elizabeth Sweetman was born at
Killiney Park,
County Dublin to Michael James Sweetman (1829-1864), of Lamberton Park,
Queen's County,
JP,
High Sheriff of Queen's County
The High Sheriff of Queen's County was the British Crown's judicial representative in Queen's County, Ireland (now County Laois), Ireland from the 16th century until 1922, when the office was abolished in the new Free State and replaced by the of ...
in 1852, and (Mary) Margaret, only child and heir of Michael Powell, of
Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin. She had two brothers and three sisters. The Sweetman family were landed gentry of Longtown,
County Kildare
County Kildare ( ga, Contae Chill Dara) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county, ...
, and per family tradition were "long settled in Dublin" and "previously resident near Callan and Newtown, County Kilkenny", tracing their line back to the mid-1500s. After her father's death, when she was a small child, the remaining family moved to
Brussels in 1873 and she spent her summers in
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
. Her sisters,
Agnes Sweetman and
Elinor Sweetman
Elinor Sweetman (c. 1860/1861 – 1922) was a Victorian era Irish poet and author who worked with both her sisters.
Early life
Elinor Mary Sweetman was born in County Dublin to Michael James Sweetman (1829-1864), of Lamberton Park, Queen's Cou ...
were also writers.
She married Colonel Francis Nicholas Blundell (1853-1884) on 18 November 1879, and moved to
Little Crosby
Little Crosby is a small village in Merseyside, North West England. Despite being a suburb within 8 miles of Liverpool it has retained its rural character by, for example, opting not to have street lights.
As part of Lancashire the village was a ...
, where his family had been notable Catholics since the 16th century.
They had one son, the politician
Francis Blundell, and two daughters, Margaret Elizabeth Clementina Mary and Agnes Mary Frances Blundell, MBE, both also writers. Her husband died after only five years of marriage. Blundell had written her first story when she was eight (‘''True Joy''’) and had a publication in the ''
Irish Monthly
The ''Irish Monthly'' was an Irish Catholic magazine founded in Dublin, Ireland in July 1873. Until 1920 it had the sub-title ''A Magazine of General Literature''.
History
The magazine was founded by Matthew Russell, who was its editor for al ...
'' the day of her wedding. She took up writing professionally after her husband's death. In later life she wrote in collaboration with her daughters.
She later retired to
Dorset. Per ''Edwardian Fiction: An Oxford Companion'' (1997), "The Ireland of her youth, the Lancashire of her married life, and the Dorset of her retirement provided backgrounds for many of her volumes of fiction."
Bibliography
Further reading
* A Round Table of the Representative Irish and English Catholic Novelists: At which is Served a Feast of Excellent Stories; with Portraits, Biographical Sketches, and Bibliography, Authors incl Mary E. Sweetman Blundell ("Mrs. Francis Blundell"), Publisher Benziger Brothers, 1897
* A Dictionary of Literary Pseudonyms in the English Language, T.J. Carty,Routledge, 1 Dec 2015, 860 pages
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Francis, M.E.
Irish women novelists
1859 births
1930 deaths
People from Killiney
People from Crosby, Merseyside