Charlotte Anne Elizabeth Moberly (1846–1937) was an English academic, and first Principal of

St Hugh's College, Oxford St Hugh's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a ...

. Her claimed time-travel book ''An Adventure'', written in 1911 with fellow academic Eleanor Jourdain, became a bestseller.

Family

Born in

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

on 16 September 1846, Moberly was the tenth child in a family of 15. Her father was George Moberly and her mother was Mary Anne (1812–1890). One of her brothers was Robert Moberly, the first Principal of

St Stephen's House, Oxford St Stephen's House is an external theological college with observer status at the University of Oxford, affiliated with the Church of England. From 2003 to 2023 it was a permanent private hall of the University of Oxford. The college typicall ...

. Tutored at home by a private teacher and her mother, she also gained basic skills in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. She participated at length in discussions about the

Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a theological movement of high-church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the Un ...

with

John Keble John Keble (25 April 1792 – 29 March 1866) was an English Anglican priest and poet who was one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement. Keble College, Oxford, is named after him. Early life Keble was born on 25 April 1792 in Fairford, Glouces ...

, who had baptised her and whose wife was her god-mother.

Career

In 1869, Moberly undertook secretarial duties for her father who had been appointed as

Bishop of Salisbury The Bishop of Salisbury is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset. The Episcopal see, see is in the Salisbur ...

. She continued in this capacity, with the additional duties of nursing him when his health deteriorated, until he died in 1885.

Elizabeth Wordsworth Dame Elizabeth Wordsworth (22 June 1840 – 30 November 1932) was founding Principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford and she funded and founded St Hugh's College. She was also an author, sometimes writing under the name Grant Lloyd. Life Word ...

established St. Hugh's Hall in 1886 and Moberly was appointed as Principal, where she served until her retirement in 1915. In 1911, under Moberly's leadership, St Hugh's Hall became

. She remained a member of the governing council of the college until her death and was an honorary fellow.

Works

In addition to the collaborative work with Eleanor Jourdain, ''An Adventure'', published under the pseudonyms Elizabeth Morison and Frances Lamont, in which they claimed to have seen the gardens of the Palace of Versailles as they had been in the late eighteenth century, and ghosts of Marie Antoinette and others, Moberly published several other works. ''An Adventure'' is a classic ghost story based on a joint experience they had at

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

and became a best-seller which was reprinted in editions in 1913, 1924, 1931, 1955, and 1988. Other works include: * * * * *

References

Citations Bibliography * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moberly, Charlotte Anne 1846 births 1937 deaths English women writers Principals of St Hugh's College, Oxford