Frances Margaretta Jacson (born 13 October 1754 at

Bebington Bebington () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Cheshire, it is south of Liverpool, close to the River Mersey on the eastern side of the Wirral Peninsula ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, died 17 June 1842 at

Somersal Herbert Somersal Herbert is a hamlet and civil parish in Derbyshire, England, 2 miles northeast of Doveridge. Somersal Herbert Hall was built c.1564, incorporating an earlier building from c.1500, and is a Grade I listed building In the United Ki ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

) was an English novelist. Her work shows a strong moral purpose and insight into relationships and marriages.

Family commitments

Frances Jacson was one of five surviving children of the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of Bebington, Rev. Simon Jacson (1728–1808), and his wife Anne Fitzherbert (c. 1729–1795), daughter of Richard Fitzherbert of Somersal Herbert. Her elder brother Roger succeeded his father as rector, after which the family moved to

Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...

and then

Tarporley Tarporley is a large village and civil parish in Cheshire, England. The civil parish also contains the village of Rhuddall Heath. Tarporley is bypassed by the A49 and A51 roads. At the 2011 census, the population was 2,614. History Tarporl ...

, where her father became rector. She and her sister

Maria Elizabetha Jacson Maria Elizabetha Jacson (1755 – 10 October 1829) was an eighteenth-century English writer, as was her sister, Frances Jacson (1754–1842), known for her books on botany at a time when there were significant obstacles to women's authorship. I ...

(1755–1829) remained single, and looked after their father after he was widowed in 1795. While the family were at Tarporley, they became worried about Frances's other brother Shallcross (died 1821), also an ordained priest, who had taken to drink and horse-racing. The need to pay off his debts was the spur for the sisters to turn to writing. Frances completed two successful novels. On their father's death in 1808, they had to find a new home and accepted an offer made by their cousin Lord St Helens to lend them

Somersal Hall Somersal Herbert Hall is a privately owned timber-framed 16th-century country house at Somersal Herbert, near Ashbourne, Derbyshire, in England. It is a Grade I listed building. The FitzHerbert family came to Somersal in the 13th century when t ...

for life. Shallcross's problems resurfaced, with debts totalling £1760. Francis paid these off with her earnings from two further novels and with help from Roger and Maria. She was desolated by the death of her sister in 1829, but eventually resumed her social life among the county gentry and her extended family. Her favourite nephew

Henry Gally Knight Henry Gally Knight, Fellow of the Royal Society, F.R.S. (2 December 1786 – 9 February 1846) was a British politician, traveller and writer. Biography Knight was the only son of Henry Gally (afterwards Gally Knight), barrister, of Langold, and ...

Tory A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...

) kept her in touch with politics, in which she was a firm Whig and supporter of

parliamentary reform The Reform Acts (or Reform Bills, before they were passed) are legislation enacted in the United Kingdom in the 19th and 20th century to enfranchise new groups of voters and to redistribute seats in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the U ...

. She also remained a firm Christian.

Publications

Jacson's first novel, ''Plain Sense'' (1795; second e.: London: William Lane at the

Minerva Press Minerva Press was a publishing house, notable for creating a lucrative market in sentimental and Gothic fiction, active in the late 18th and early 19th centuries (1790–1820). It was established by William Lane (c. 1745–1814) at No 33 Lead ...

, 1796; third e. 1799) was immediately popular and followed by a second, ''Disobedience'' (London: William Lane at the Minerva Press, 1797). These and her subsequent novels appeared anonymously. ''Things by their Right Names'' (London: George Robinson, 1812; second e. "by the author of ''Plain Sense'': London: G. & S. Robinson; Gale, Curtis & Fenner, 1814) was followed by ''Rhoda. A Novel'' ("By the author of ''Things by their Right Names''. London:

Henry Colburn Henry Colburn (1784 – 16 August 1855) was a British publisher. Life Virtually nothing is known about Henry Colburn's parentage or early life, and there is uncertainty over his year of birth. He was well-educated and fluent in French and h ...

& Co., 1816 wo eds, for which she turned to one of the foremost London novel publishers. It is considered "the more accomplished" of the two. The second pair of novels were wrongly ascribed to the Scottish writer

Mary Brunton Mary Brunton (née Balfour) (1 November 1778 – 7 December 1818) was a Scottish novelist, whose work has been seen as redefining femininity. Fay Weldon praised Brunton's writings as "rich in invention, ripe with incident, shrewd in comment, ...

. Jacson's authorship was not suggested until 1823. There were further false attributions in the early twentieth century to Alethea Lewis. Despite the financial motives behind her writing activity, Jacson never abandoned her moral purpose, so that her novels are

didactic Didacticism is a philosophy that emphasises instructional and informative qualities in literature, art, and design. In art, design, architecture, and landscape, didacticism is a conceptual approach that is driven by the urgent need to explain. ...

, all featuring a heroine in relatively high society. Through them she shows strong creative insight, especially into burgeoning relationships and marriage. In most cases her heroines discern flaws in the perceptions of themselves and others. There is much irony in the portrayal of several minor characters. ''Rhoda'' was preferred to Jane Austen's '' Emma'' by

Maria Edgeworth Maria Edgeworth (1 January 1768 – 22 May 1849) was a prolific Anglo-Irish novelist of adults' and children's literature. She was one of the first realist writers in children's literature and a significant figure in the evolution of the novel i ...

, from whom the Jacson sisters received a social call in 1818.Maria Edgeworth wrote to Miss Waller (aunt of her stepmother) on 24 November 1818, "We have not yet seen any visitors since we came here and have paid only one visit to the Miss Jacksons ic Miss Fanny you know is the author of Rhoda – Miss Maria Jackson the author of Dialogues on botany...
Retrieved 19 November 2010.
/ref> It was also recommended by

Sydney Smith Sydney Smith (3 June 1771 – 22 February 1845) was an English wit, writer, and Anglican cleric. Besides his energetic parochial work, he was known for his writing and philosophy, founding the ''Edinburgh Review'', lecturing at the Royal Inst ...

. ''Isabella'' ("By the author of ''Rhoda''": London: Henry Colburn & Co., 1823) was written in a calmer period of Jacson's life. The "self-righteous loquacity" of Mrs. Nesbit has been compared to Mrs. Norris in

Jane Austen Jane Austen ( ; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for #List of works, her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century ...

's ''

Mansfield Park ''Mansfield Park'' is the third published novel by the English author Jane Austen, first published in 1814 by Thomas Egerton (publisher), Thomas Egerton. A second edition was published in 1816 by John Murray (publishing house), John Murray, st ...

''. The French translation of this by Mme Collet in 1823, ''Isabelle Hastings'', was wrongly ascribed to

William Godwin William Godwin (3 March 1756 – 7 April 1836) was an English journalist, political philosopher and novelist. He is considered one of the first exponents of utilitarianism and the first modern proponent of anarchism. Godwin is most famous fo ...

. Even her diaries, kept from 1829 until her death, were thought for a time to be her brother's. Jacson is also known to have written a religious pamphlet, ''Every Day Christianity'' (1816).

References

Bibliography

Chawton House Chawton House is a listed building, Grade II* listed manor house in Hampshire on the South side of Chawton village, and the present building was started in 1580. In the late 18th century it was the home of Edward Austen Knight, a wealthy bro ...

Library: ''Isabella''
PDF
; ''Things by their Right Names''
PDF
. Both retrieved 29 September 2022. *Orlando Project
Retrieved 19 November 2010. Subscription required for most information.
* *Percy, Joan. "An Unrecognized Novelist: Frances Jacson (1754–1842)." ''The British Library Journal'' 23.1 (1997): 81–97. Reproduces an 1814 water colour portrait of Frances Jacson. {{DEFAULTSORT:Jacson, Frances 1754 births 1842 deaths 18th-century English novelists 19th-century English novelists 18th-century English women writers 19th-century English women writers English women novelists Pseudonymous women writers Anglican writers People from Bebington 18th-century English people 18th-century pseudonymous writers 19th-century pseudonymous writers

Family commitments

Publications

See also

References

Bibliography