Mary Ann Kelty (1789 – 8 January 1873) was a British religious writer. She is said to have written the first religious novel.

Life

Kelty was born in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

in 1789. Her father was a surgeon who rapidly became estranged from his wife. As a result, Kelty received her education from friends of her brother who was a senior fellow of

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

.Paul Baines
"Kelty, Mary Ann (1789–1873)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 6 December 2014 Kelty's first novels were published in America, Britain and Europe in the 1820s. Her parents died in 1822, the same year as the publication of ''The Favourite of Nature, a tale''. This was said to be the first religious novel. Kelty became more religious and she was intrigued by the ideas of the evangelist Charles Simeon and, towards the end of her life, by the

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

. She left Cambridge and moved to

Peckham Peckham () is a district in southeast London, within the London Borough of Southwark. It is south-east of Charing Cross. At the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720. History "Peckham" is a Saxon p ...

in 1832. Kelty included the Cambridge historian Professor

William Smyth William Smyth (or Smith) ( – 2 January 1514) was Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield from 1493 to 1496 and then Bishop of Lincoln until his death. He held political offices, the most important being Lord President of the Council of Wales and t ...

in her memoir, ''Reminiscences of Thought and Feeling'', as "the professor". Kelty died in Peckham in 1873.

Works include

* ''The Favourite of Nature, a tale'', 1822 * ''Osmond: A Tale'' * ''Trials: A Tale'' * ''The Story of Isabel'' * ''Alice Rivers'' * ''Visiting my relations, and its results'', 1852 * ''Reminiscences of Thought and Feeling'' * ''The Solace of a Solitaire: A Record of Facts and Feelings'', 1869

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelty, Mary Ann 1789 births 1873 deaths Writers from Cambridge Women religious writers 19th-century English women writers 19th-century British writers English women novelists