Anne Isabella, Lady Ritchie ( Thackeray; 9 June 1837 – 26 February 1919), eldest daughter of

William Makepeace Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray (; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel ''Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portrait of British society, and t ...

, was an English writer, whose several novels were appreciated in their time and made her a central figure on the late Victorian literary scene. She is noted especially as the custodian of her father's literary legacy, and for short fiction that places fairy tale narratives in a Victorian milieu. Her 1885 novel ''Mrs. Dymond'' introduced into English the proverb, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for life."

Life

Anne Isabella Thackeray was born in London, the eldest daughter of

and his wife Isabella Gethin Shawe (1816–1893). She had two younger sisters: Jane, born in 1839, who died at eight months, and Harriet Marian "Minny" (1840–1875), who married

Leslie Stephen Sir Leslie Stephen (28 November 1832 – 22 February 1904) was an English author, critic, historian, biographer, and mountaineer, and the father of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell. Life Sir Leslie Stephen came from a distinguished intellect ...

in 1869. Anne, whose father called her Anny, spent her childhood in France and England, where she and her sister were accompanied by the future poet Anne Evans.Virginia Blain, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy: ''The Feminist Companion to Literature in English. Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present Day'' (London: Batsford, 1990), "Anne Evans", p. 346. In 1877, she married her cousin, Richmond Ritchie, who was 17 years her junior. They had two children, Hester and Billy. She was a step-aunt of

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...

, who penned an obituary of her in the ''

Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to '' The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

''. She is also thought to have inspired the character of Mrs Hilbery in Woolf's ''Night and Day''. Lady Ritchie (Miss Thackeray) c1890 Hollyer

Literary career

In 1863, Anne Isabella published ''The Story of Elizabeth'' with immediate success. Several other works followed: *''The Village on the Cliff'' (1867) *''To Esther, and Other Sketches'' (1869) *''Old Kensington'' (1873) *''Toilers and Spinsters, and Other Essays'' (1874) *''Bluebeard's Keys, and Other Stories'' (1874) *''Five Old Friends'' (1875) *''Madame de Sévigné'' (1881), a biography with literary excerptsForeign Classics for English Readers (William Blackwood & Sons) - Book Series List. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
/ref> In other writings, she made unusual use of old

folk stories Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging fro ...

to depict modern situations and occurrences, such as ''Sleeping Beauty'', ''Cinderella'' and ''Little Red Riding Hood''. She also wrote the five novels: *''Miss Angel'' (1875) *''From An Island'' (1877), a semi-autobiographical novella *''Miss Williamson's Divagations'' (1881) *''A Book of Sibyls: Mrs. Barbauld, Mrs. Opie, Miss Edgeworth, Miss Austen'' (1883) *''Mrs. Dymond'' (1885; reprinted in 1890)

References

Bibliography

* * *
"Introduction" by Anne Thackeray Ritchie
in ''Our Village'', fully and openly available online in th
Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature Digital Collection
* * *Aplin, John. ''The Inheritance of Genius – A Thackeray Family Biography, 1798–1875'', Lutterworth Press (2010). *Aplin, John. ''Memory and Legacy – A Thackeray Family Biography, 1876–1919'', Lutterworth Press (2011). *Aplin, John (editor). ''The Correspondence and Journals of the Thackeray Family'', 5 vols., Pickering & Chatto (2011).

External links

* * * *
Genealogy of Anne Thackeray Ritchie
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ritchie, Anne Isabella Thackeray 19th-century English novelists English short story writers 1837 births 1919 deaths English children's writers Victorian women writers British women short story writers English women novelists 19th-century English women writers Writers from London

Anne Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...

19th-century British short story writers Victorian novelists