Matilda Anne Mackarness (''née'' Planché; 23 November 1825 – 6 May 1881) was an English novelist of the 19th century, primarily writing

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

Biography

Matilda Anne Mackarness, born 23 November 1825, was the younger daughter of

James Robinson Planché James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

and of Elizabeth St. George. From an early age Miss Planché wrote novels and moral tales for children. As a novelist she took

Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...

for her model and in 1845 she published ''Old Joliffe'' which was thought to be a satire of Dickens' 1844 Christmas story ''

The Chimes ''The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In'', commonly referred to as ''The Chimes'', is a novella written by Charles Dickens and first published in 1844, one year after ''A Christmas Carol''. It is th ...

''. The following year she published ''A Sequel to Old Joliffe''. In 1849 she published ''A Trap to Catch a Sunbeam'', a brightly written little tale with a moral, and it is on this production that her reputation chiefly rests. It was composed some three years before the date of publication, had gone through forty-two editions, by 1882, and has been translated into many foreign languages, including Hindustani. On 21 December 1852 Miss Planché married, at Holy Trinity Church, Brompton, the Rev. Henry S. Mackarness, brother of

John Fielder Mackarness John Fielder Mackarness (3 December 1820 – 16 September 1889) was a Church of England bishop. Life He was born in Islington (then in the county of Middlesex, now in Greater London) on 8 December 1820, the eldest son of John Mackarness, a West ...

bishop of Oxford The Bishop of Oxford is the diocesan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Oxford in the Province of Canterbury; his seat is at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. The current bishop is Steven Croft, following the confirmation of his electio ...

, and of George R. Mackarness, bishop of Argyll and the Isles, and she thereupon settled at

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near

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, the first parish of which her husband had charge. They afterwards went to Ash-next-Sandwich, Kent, where Mackarness was vicar, until his death on 26 December 1868. He had left very slender provision for his widow and her seven children even though four others had died in infancy. Mrs. Mackarness lived then with her father first at

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, and afterwards at

Clapham Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Early history T ...

. In spite of ill-health she continued writing till her death on 6 May 1881 at

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...

. She was buried beside her husband in Ash churchyard. She possessed considerable musical talent. Mackarness's granddaughter Ursula St. George was a child actress in the United States in 1911 and 1912, and an art collector later in life. Ursula St. George's grandson, Eric Brodnax, was a member of the U. S. Virgin Islands equestrian team at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

in Seoul.

Works

Besides the books already mentioned she wrote: # ''Only'', 1849. # ''A Merry Christmas'', 1850. # ''Dream Chintz'', 1851. # ''Cloud with the Silver Lining'', 1851. # ''House on the Rock'', 1852. # ''Influence, or the Evil Genius'', 1853. # ''Star in the Desert'', 1853. # ''Thrift, Hints for Cottage Housekeeping'', 1855. # ''Sibert's Wold'', 1856. # ''Ray of Light'', 1857. # ''Coming Home'', 1858. # ''Golden Rule'', 1859. # ''Amy's Kitchen'', 1860. # ''Minnie's Love'', 1860. # ''When we were Young and other Stories'', 1860. # ''Little Sunshine'', 1861. # ''Coraline, or After many Days'', 1862. # ''Guardian Angel'', 1864. # ''The Naughty Girl of the Family'', 1865. # ''Charades'', 1866. # ''A Village Idol'', 1866. # ''Example better than Precept'', 1867. # ''Climbing the Hill'', 1868. # ''Granny's Spectacles'', 1869. # ''Married and Settled'', 1870. # ''Children's Sunday Album of Short Stories'', 1870. # ''Old Saws new Set'', 1871. # ''A Peerless Wife'', a novel, 1871. # ''A Mingled Yarn'', a novel, 1872. # ''Marion Lee's Good Work'', 1873. # ''Sweet Flowers'', 1873. # ''Children of the Olden Time'', 1874. # ''Tell Mamma'', 1874. # ''Wild Rose and other Tales'', 1874. # ''Snowdrop and other Tales'', 1874. # ''Only a Little Primrose'', 1874. # ''Rosebud Tales'', 1874. # ''Pearls restrung, stories from the Apocrypha'', 1878. # ''Only a Penny; a Moral Tale for Children'', 1878. # ''Dawn of the Morning'', 1879. # ''Only a Dog'', 1879. # ''A Woman without a Head'', 1892, published from a manuscript which had been lost for twelve years. She also contributed to the ''Magnet Stories'' (1860–2), wrote a collection of ''Ballad Stories'' for the ''Girl's Own Paper'', edited ''The Young Lady's Book'' (1876), and edited and contributed several stories to a publication called ''Lights and Shadows'' (1879). Some of her tales were collected and published as the ''Sunbeam Series''.

Notes

;Works cited * * *

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mackarness, Matilda Anne 1825 births 1881 deaths 19th-century English novelists British children's writers English women novelists British women children's writers 19th-century English women writers 19th-century British writers People from Ash, Dover District People from Margate