Elizabeth Hely Walshe (1835-1869), was an Irish

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

of children's stories and histories.

Life

Elizabeth Hely Walshe was born in 1835 in

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

to an evangelical Protestant family. Her father was a clergyman and she had at least one sister. She lived in Canada for some years but was back in Ireland by 1865. She was an accomplished artist and musician. She worked as a Sunday-school teacher. She also believed in the education of the poor. Walshe was a regular contributor to '' Leisure Hour Magazine'' and ''

Sunday at Home ''Sunday at Home'' was a weekly magazine published in London by the Religious Tract Society beginning in 1854. It was one of the most successful examples of the " Sunday reading" genre of periodicals: inexpensive magazines intended to provide whol ...

''. She also worked with George Etell Sargent on stories for children. Like many writers of that era the

Irish Famine The Great Famine, also known as the Great Hunger ( ), the Famine and the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland lasting from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a historical social crisis and had a major impact ...

has an impact on the themes of her stories. Walshe was on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

in 1869 when she died of consumption.

Bibliography

* ''Cedar Creek'' (1863) * ''Story of the faith in Hungary'' * ''From dawn to dark in Italy'' (1865) * ''Golden Hills'' (1865) * ''The Manuscript Man'' (1869) * ''The Foster-Brothers of Doon: A Tale of the Irish Rebellion of 1798'' (1890) * ''Within sea walls, or, How the Dutch kept the faith'' * ''Kingston's revenge: a story of bravery and single-hearted endeavour''

References and sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walshe, Elizabeth Hely 1835 births 1869 deaths 19th-century Irish women writers 19th-century Canadian women writers Writers from Limerick (city) Irish children's writers Irish women children's writers Canadian women children's writers Canadian children's writers 19th-century Irish writers 19th-century Canadian writers 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in England