Adeline Sergeant (4 July 1851 – 4 December 1904) was an English writer.
Life
Born Emily Frances Adeline Sergeant at
Ashbourne, Derbyshire
Ashbourne is a market town in the Derbyshire Dales district in Derbyshire, England. Its population was measured at 8,377 in the 2011 census and was estimated to have grown to 9,163 by 2019. It has many historical buildings and independent sho ...
, the second daughter of Richard Sergeant and Jane (Hall),
she was home schooled until the age of thirteen, when she attended school in
Weston-super-Mare. Her mother was a writer of stories for youngsters that were published under the pen name 'Adeline'; Emily later adopted this name for her own writings.
At fifteen a collection of Emily's poems were published in a volume that received positive notice in Weslayan periodicals. She won a scholarship to attend
Queen's College, London
Queen's College is an independent school for girls aged 11–18 with an adjoining prep school for girls aged 4–11 located in the City of Westminster, London. Founded in 1848 by theologian and social reformer Frederick Denison Maurice along wit ...
. Her father died in 1870, and for several years she became a governess at
Riverhead, Kent.
In 1882, her novel ''Jacobi's wife'' resulted in a small award of £100,
and the work was published serially in London. For the next several years her writings were serialized in the Dundee newspaper, where she lived from 1885-7. Adeline then moved to
Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions.
Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...
,
London, where she earned enough keep to support herself through her writings.
In the late 1880s she developed an interest in
Fabianism and the plight of the poor in London.
Over her literary career, she produced over ninety novels; with some involving a religious theme. Her religious views evolved over time, including a period in the 1880s when she was briefly
agnostic
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...
.
Finally, she converted to Catholicism at the end of the century. Emily served as literary adviser to the publishing company
R. Bentley & Sons.
She frequently traveled abroad, making trips to
Egypt and
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
. In 1901 she moved to
Bournemouth
Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...
, where she died in 1904.
Bibliography
* ''Beyond recall''
(1882)
* ''Jacobi's wife''
(1882)
* ''An open foe. A romance''
(1884)
* ''No saint''
(1886)
* ''Roy's repentance; a novel''
(1888)
* ''Seventy times seven: a novel''
(1888)
* ''A life sentence: a novel''
(1889)
* ''The luck of the house: a novel'' (1889)
* ''Esther Denison''
(1889)
* ''Name and fame: a novel''
(1890)
* ''A true friend: a novel''
(1890)
* ''Brooke's daughter: a novel''
(1891)
* ''Christine; a novel''
(1892)
* ''The story of a penitent soul''
(1892)
* ''Under false pretenses''
(1892)
* ''In Vallombrosa''
(1894)
* ''The surrender of Margaret Bellarmine. A fragment'' (1894)
* ''The mistress of Quest; a novel''
(1895)
* ''Out of due season : a mezzotint''
(1895)
* ''The failure of Sibyl Fletcher: a novel''
(1896)
* ''The idol maker''
(1897)
* ''The Lady Charlotte: a novel''
(1897)
* ''Margaret Wynne''
(1898)
* ''The story of Phil Enerby''
(1898)
* ''A rise in the world; a novel''
(1900)
* ''My lady's diamonds''
(1901)
* ''This body of death''
(1901)
* ''Daunay's tower : a novel''
(1901)
* ''A soul apart''
(1902)
* ''Anthea's way''
(1903)
* ''Beneath the veil''
(1903)
* ''The passion of Paul Marillier''
(1908), posthumous
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sergeant, Adeline
1851 births
1904 deaths
19th-century English novelists
People from Ashbourne, Derbyshire
English women novelists
20th-century English novelists
20th-century English women writers
19th-century English women writers
19th-century British writers