Ada Buisson (26 March 1839 – 27 December 1866) was an English novelist best remembered for her

ghost stories A ghost story is any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them."Ghost Stories" in Margaret Drabble (ed.), ''Oxford Companion to English Literature''. ...

Biography

Ada Buisson was born in

Battersea Battersea is a large district in southwest London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and also extends along the south bank of the Thames Tideway. It includes the Battersea Park. Hist ...

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 ...

, the third child of French-born merchant Jean François (aka 'John Francis') Buisson (1797–1871) and his English wife Dorothy Jane ( Smither; 1817–1852). Her eldest sibling was Leontine, who later became a teacher, writer and fine essayist,

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to vo ...

and campaigner for women's rights in

Queensland, Australia Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, ...

. Her father was declared bankrupt in 1842, and in about 1850 she and her family moved to

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

, where her mother died in 1852. From 1854 to 1855, along with her sisters Leontine and Irma, she studied

moral philosophy Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied et ...

and

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

at the women-only Bedford College in London. Ada Buisson died in 1866 in

Boulogne-sur-Mer Boulogne-sur-Mer (; ; ; or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Hauts-de-France, Northern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Pas-de-Calais. Boul ...

, aged 27.

Work

During her life, Buisson published one novel, ''Put to the Test'' (1865), published by John Maxwell. The remainder of her work, consisting of a second novel, ''A Terrible Wrong: A Novel'' (1867), published by T. C. Newby, and various short stories, were published shortly after her death. Various of her writings appeared in ''

Belgravia Belgravia () is a district in Central London, covering parts of the areas of the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Belgravia was known as the 'Five Fields' during the Tudor Period, and became a dangerous pla ...

'', a magazine edited by her friend, the novelist

Mary Elizabeth Braddon Mary Elizabeth Braddon (4 October 1835 – 4 February 1915) was an English popular Novelists, novelist of the Victorian era. She is best known for her 1862 sensation novel ''Lady Audley's Secret'', which has also been dramatised and filmed seve ...

, whom she met through Braddon's husband, Buisson's publisher John Maxwell. In this were posthumously published her six ghost stories: "My Aunt's Pearl Ring" (1867), "A Story Told in a Church" (1867), "The Ghost's Summons" (1868), "The Baron's Coffin" (1869), and "My Sister Caroline" (1870).Snailham, Fiona (ed.) Notes on "A Story Told in a Church", ''Holy Ghosts: Classic Tales of the Ecclesiastical Uncanny'',

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

, 2023, pg 127 Buisson's writings were later mistakenly ascribed to Braddon by

Montague Summers Augustus Montague Summers (10 April 1880 – 10 August 1948) was an English author, clergyman, and teacher. As an independent scholar, he published many works on the English drama of the Stuart Restoration (1660–1688) and helped to organise ...

, a scholar of

Gothic literature Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror (primarily in the 20th century), is a literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name of the genre is derived from the Renaissance era use of the word "gothic", as a pejorative to mean m ...

. Summers's mistake, published 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 ...

'' on 30 September 1944, was corrected by Buisson's nephew Frederick Buisson Evans (1874-1952) three weeks later.''The Review of English Studies'', Volume os-XXI, Issue 82, April 1945, Pages 158–160, https://doi.org/10.1093/res/os-XXI.82.158 Published: 01 April 1945 Buisson's tale "The Ghost's Summons", published posthumously in ''Belgravia'' (January 1868), has been anthologised in collections of ghost stories. A collection of five of her ghost stories, originally printed in ''Belgravia'', was published in 2022 as ''The Baron's Coffin and Other Disquieting Tales''.

References

External links

"The Ghost's Summons" by Ada Buisson (1868)
''Christmas Ghost Stories: Part 2'' – The Gothic Library. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Buisson, Ada 1839 births 1866 deaths 19th-century English women writers 19th-century English writers Alumni of Bedford College, London English fantasy writers English horror writers English people of French descent English short story writers English women novelists British ghost story writers People from Battersea Victorian novelists Victorian women writers Victorian writers British women horror writers Writers from the London Borough of Wandsworth