Alicia Le Fanu (1791 – 29 January 1867) was an Irish poet and writer.

Biography

Alicia Le Fanu was the daughter of

Betsy Sheridan Ann Elizabeth Sheridan Le Fanu (1758– 4 January 1837) was an Anglo-Irish diarist and novelist. She was a daughter of Irish stage actor Thomas Sheridan and the sister of satirist Richard Brinsley Sheridan and playwright A playwright or drama ...

and Captain Henry Le Fanu, and a granddaughter of actor

Thomas Sheridan Thomas Sheridan may refer to: *Thomas Sheridan (divine) (1687–1738), Anglican divine *Thomas Sheridan (actor) (1719–1788), Irish actor and teacher of elocution *Thomas Sheridan (soldier) (1775–1817/18) *Thomas B. Sheridan (born 1931), America ...

and his wife, writer Frances Sheridan. She had a younger sister, Harriet. The family moved from Dublin to

Kingsbridge Kingsbridge is a market town in the South Hams district of Devon, England, with a population of 6,116 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census. Two electoral wards bear the name of ''Kingsbridge'' (East & North). Their combined population ...

, Devon in the 1790s, and later

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, from where her mother wrote letters mentioning Le Fanu's emerging literary talents, she considered her daughter's talent for writing to be "much superior" to her own. Her mother encouraged her writing, and ensured that the family library held books that would interest and educate Le Fanu. She began her publishing career in 1809. Le Fanu moved to

Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply LeamingtonEven more colloquially, also referred to as Lem or Leam (). (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Pri ...

around 1822 with her mother, following the deaths of her father and sister. The exact date of her death is generally stated to be unknownRicorso
/ref> and has been asserted as early as 29 January 1826, but is usually stated to have been in or after 1844. She is known to have been alive in 1844, when she received £150 from the

Royal Bounty Fund The Royal Bounty Fund was a special British government fund originally set up in 1782 by Edmund Burke. The operation of the fund was always shrouded in secrecy. Gifts, grants and pensions were paid out from the fund under the patronage of the prime ...

, secured on her behalf by her cousin,

Caroline Norton Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton, Lady Stirling-Maxwell (''née'' Sheridan; 22 March 1808 – 15 June 1877) was an active English social reformer and author.Perkin, pp. 26–28. She left her husband, who was accused by many of coercive behaviour, ...

. However, Fitzer has determined that she died from a subdural effusion on 29 January 1867, while boarding with a family in

Chipping Norton Chipping Norton is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cotswolds in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about south-west of Banbury and north-west of Oxford. The United Kingdom Census 2011, 201 ...

. Le Fanu's poems are moralistic fables, while her historical romances are melodramas, with some satire and elements of comedy. The 1824 ''Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Mrs Frances Sheridan'' was an account of her grandmother's life but it is accepted that it contains a number of unsubstantiated facts.

Select bibliography

* ''The Flowers; or, The Sylphid Queen: A Fairy Tale in Verse'' (London: J. Harris, 1809) * ''Rosara’s Chain; or, The Choice of Life: a poem'' (London: M. J. Godwin, 1812) * ''Strathallan'' (London: Sherwood, Neely & Jones, 1816) * ''Helen Monteagle'' (London: Sherwood, Neely & Jones, 1818) * ''Leolin Abbey: A Novel'' (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, 1819) * ''Don Juan De Las Sierras: A Romance'' (London: Newman & Co., 1823) * ''Tales of a Tourist'' (London: Newman & Co., 1824) * ''Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Mrs Frances Sheridan'' (London: G. and W. B. Whittaker, 1824) * ''Henry the Fourth of France: A Romance'' (London: Newman & Co., 1826)

References

External links

Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Mrs Frances Sheridan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Le Fanu, Alicia 1791 births 1867 deaths 19th-century Irish novelists 19th-century Irish poets 19th-century Irish women writers Irish women poets Writers from Dublin (city) Alicia Irish women novelists 19th-century Irish memoirists Irish women memoirists