Jane Roberts (1792 – 1871) was an English author active in the 1830s, best known for her account of a two-year voyage to Van Diemen's Land (

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

) during which she visited and described the Swan River Colony. She had a considerable number of literary and social acquaintances including

Augusta Leigh Augusta Maria Leigh (''née'' Byron; 26 January 1783 – 12 October 1851) was the only surviving daughter of John Byron (British Army officer), John "Mad Jack" Byron, the poet Lord Byron's father, by his first wife, Amelia Osborne, Marchiones ...

and Lady Cork. During her own lifetime she was sometimes confused with

Emma Roberts Emma Rose Roberts (born February 10, 1991) Additional on October 9, 2016 is an American actress, singer and producer. Known for her performances spanning multiple genres of film and television, her work in the horror film, horror and thriller ...

, with whom she corresponded, though the two women were not related. They were about the same age and they were both referred to as Miss Roberts. Unusually for single women of that era they had also both travelled separately to Calcutta within two or three years of each other.

Early life

Jane Roberts was born in Hythe,

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, in 1792, the only surviving daughter of John and Martha Roberts (formerly Martha Bedson). Her father was paymaster of 10th Dragoons and later barrack master at Dungeness Fort in Kent, where he died in 1816. Her mother died at

Cheyne Walk Cheyne Walk is a historic road in Chelsea, London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It runs parallel with the River Thames. Before the construction of Chelsea Embankment reduced the width of the Thames here, it fronted t ...

in Chelsea in 1823, and was buried at

Mortlake Mortlake is a suburban district of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames on the south bank of the River Thames between Kew and Barnes, London, Barnes. Historically it was part of Surrey and until 1965 was in the Municipal Borough of Barnes ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, where Jane erected a tombstone to her memory. Two of Jane's brothers emigrated to Australia, one of whom was Peter Roberts (1786-1860), Deputy Assistant Commissary General in New South Wales. Jane intended to join her brothers in 1829, but for family reasons she immediately returned to England, where she wrote an account of her voyage.

Career

Jane Roberts' first book, "Two Years at Sea" was published by Richard Bentley in 1834 and dedicated to the Earl of Munster, a connection that stemmed from her father's links with the 10th Dragoons. Her first novel, ''Lowenstein, King of the Forests'' was published in 1836 by Whittaker & Co, but after this initial burst of activity she gradually faded from the literary mainstream. Her journal records that she maintained extensive connections with literary-minded people, amongst whom were Lady Bradford and Lady Dungannon. Lodging in London, she was able to support herself partly through her writing but probably far more by the patronage of Lady Cork, and by means of a pension that was administered by her brother John Roberts (1790–1868), First Clerk and Head of the Promotions Department of the War Office. The last entry in her journal is dated 1851, and in 1861 she was lodging in the Marylebone Road in London. She died in 1871. Jane Roberts also wrote a quantity of poetry, some of which was published anonymously, and a number of unpublished poems and draft plots for novels survive in her notebooks. She was the inventor of The Royal Historical Game of Cards, mentioned in her journal and published by Robert Hardwicke in 1835.Jane Roberts, Author - J. Edis, 2022

Works

* ''Two Years at Sea'' (1834) * ''The Royal Historical Game of Cards'' (1835) * ''Lowenstein King of the Forests'' (1836) * ''The Court Favourite'' (1840)

References

External links

Jane Roberts - Diary and Notebook 1833-1839 and 1851, Volume 1

Jane Roberts - Diary and Notebook 1833-1839 and 1851, Volume 2
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Jane 1792 births English women poets 1860s deaths English women novelists 19th-century English poets 19th-century English novelists 19th-century English women writers