
Frances Minto Elliot (1820–1898) was a prolific English writer, primarily of non-fiction works on the social history of Italy, Spain, and France and
travelogues
Travelogue may refer to:
Genres
* Travel literature, a record of the experiences of an author travelling
* Travel documentary
A travel documentary is a documentary film, television program, or web series, online series that describes travel in g ...
. She also wrote three novels and published art criticism and gossipy, sometimes scandalous, sketches for ''
The Art Journal
''The Art Journal'' was the most important British 19th-century magazine on art. It was founded in 1839 by Hodgson & Graves, print publishers, 6 Pall Mall, with the title ''Art Union Monthly Journal'' (or ''The Art Union''), the first issue of 7 ...
'', ''
Bentley's Miscellany
''Bentley's Miscellany'' was an English literary magazine started by Richard Bentley. It was published between 1836 and 1868.
Contributors
Already a successful publisher of novels, Bentley began the journal in 1836 and invited Charles Dicken ...
'', and ''
The New Monthly Magazine
''The New Monthly Magazine'' was a British monthly magazine published from 1814 to 1884. It was founded by Henry Colburn and published by him through to 1845.
History
Colburn and Frederic Shoberl established ''The New Monthly Magazine and Uni ...
'', often under the pseudonym, "Florentia". Largely forgotten now, she was very popular in her day, with multiple re-printings of her books in both Europe and the United States. Elliot had a wide circle of literary friends including
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...
,
Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope ( ; 24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among the best-known of his 47 novels are two series of six novels each collectively known as the ''Chronicles of Barsetshire ...
and
Wilkie Collins
William Wilkie Collins (8 January 1824 – 23 September 1889) was an English novelist and playwright known especially for ''The Woman in White (novel), The Woman in White'' (1860), a mystery novel and early sensation novel, and for ''The Moonsto ...
. Collins dedicated his 1872 novel, ''Poor Miss Finch'', to her, and much of the content in Marian Holcolmbe's conversations in ''
The Woman in White'' is said to be based on her.
Biography

Frances Vickriss Dickinson was born at Farley Hill Court in the
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...
village of
Swallowfield
Swallowfield is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham, Wokingham district, in Berkshire, England, about south of Reading, Berkshire, Reading, and north of the county boundary with Hampshire. The civil parish of Swallowfield al ...
on 6 March 1820. She was the only child from Catherine Allingham's marriage to
Charles Dickinson of Queen Charlton Manor,
Somerset
Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
. She was an 18-year-old heiress when her life began to take its somewhat complicated path. On 8 October 1838, she married John Edward Geils from
Glasgow
Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
in the Swallowfield church. The couple then departed for Scotland, but the marriage proved to be a disaster. After seven years, she left her husband and returned to Farley Hill Court, alleging his adultery with two of their maids, and violence towards her. He, in turn, tried to deny her access to their four daughters and sued her for the "restitution of his conjugal rights". In 1855 she was finally able to obtain a divorce in the Scottish courts and regain custody of the children, although the case had been fought all the way to the
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
before it was finalised. Despite the fact that she was the innocent party in the divorce, she found herself socially ostracised from the upper-class circles in which she had once moved and travelled to Italy, where she was eventually to spend a large part of her life. According to the 1896 edition of her book, ''Roman Gossip'', one of the daughters from her first marriage (also named Frances) later married the Italian archaeologist and art historian,
Marchese Chigi.
During the protracted divorce proceedings, she worked as a journalist for several London magazines and became friends with Wilkie Collins, who also wrote for ''Bentley's Miscellany''. It was through Collins that she met Charles Dickens. Collins had asked her to play in the 1857 amateur performances of ''
The Frozen Deep
''The Frozen Deep'' is an 1856 play, originally staged as an amateur theatrical, written by Wilkie Collins under the substantial guidance of Charles Dickens. Dickens's hand was so prominent—beside acting in the play for several performances, ...
'', a play he had co-written with Dickens. In December 1863 she married the Very Rev. Gilbert Elliot,
Dean of
Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
, a widower twenty years her senior with three children from his first wife. However, within three years, that marriage was also in serious trouble. She eventually left Elliot and returned to Italy, although the couple were never legally separated or divorced. She continued to use her married name as an author, incorporating "Minto" for good measure, especially in British publications. Gilbert Elliot had family connections with the
Earls of Minto – her 1873 book, ''Old Court Life in France'', is dedicated to "My niece The Countess of Minto".
Francis Minto Elliot died in
Siena
Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...
on 26 October 1898, aged 78. She is buried in the
Protestant Cemetery in Rome near the grave of her second daughter, Mary Lucy, who had died in Rome in 1855 at the age of 13.
[Accademia di Danimarca]
Selected works

Frances Elliot's work was published under a variety of names during her lifetime: "Frances Geils", "Frances Vickriss Dickinson", "Florentia", "Frances Elliot", "Mrs. Elliot", and "Frances Minto Elliot". In addition to numerous articles in magazines and journals, she wrote the following books:
Non-fiction
*''Old Court Life in France''. London: Ward & Downey, 1886
* ''Old Court Life in Spain''. London: Chapman & Hall, 1893
* ''Pictures of Old Rome''. London: Chapman & Hall, 1872
* ''Roman Gossip''. London: J. Murray, 1894
* ''Diary of an Idle Woman in Italy''. London: Chapman & Hall, 1871
* ''Diary of an Idle Woman in Spain''. Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1882
* ''Diary of an Idle Woman in Sicily''. Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1882
* ''Diary of an Idle Woman in Constantinople''. London: J. Murray, 1893
Fiction
* ''The Italians: A Novel''. New York: D. Appleton, 1875
* ''The Red Cardinal: A Romance''. London: F. V. White, 1884
* ''The Ill-tempered Cousin''. London: F. V. White, 1885
*''The Story of Sophia''. Leipzig: Bernard Tauchnitz, 1891.
In popular culture
Elliot was the subject of Wendy Parkins’ 2024 novel ''The Defiance of Frances Dickinson''.
Notes
References
*Accademia di Danimarca, ''Protestant Cemetery, Rome: Burial records''
Frances Elliotan
Accessed 9 March 2009.
*''Atlantic Monthly''
Comment on New Books Volume 73, Issue 436, February 1894, pp. 272–281.
*Collins, Wilkie
''The Evil Genius''(Introduction and notes by Graham Law), Broadview Press, 1994, pp. 15–16.
*Elliot, Frances, ''Old Court Life in France'', G. P. Putnam, 1893.
*Elliot, Frances Minto, ''Roman Gossip'', J. Murray, 1896
*Gale, Robert L., ''A Henry James Encyclopedia'', Greenwood Press, 1989, p. 204.
*Foyster, Elizabeth A
''Marital Violence: An English Family History, 1660–1875'' Cambridge University Press, 2005.
*Hall, N. John (ed.)
''The Letters of Anthony Trollope'' Stanford University Press, 1983, p. 274.
*Hodgson, Barbara, ''No Place for a Lady: Tales of Adventurous Women Travelers'', Ten Speed Press, 2002.
*
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
Cases on Appeals and Writs of Error, Claims of Peerage, and Divorces: During the Sessions 1850–1852 Spettigue and Farrance, 1853, p. 280 and ''passim''.
*''The New York Times''
"English Literary Notes" 31 March 1877, p. 2.
*''The New York Times''
"Days in Turkey's Capital"(Review of Elliot's ''Diary of an Idle Woman in Constantinople''), 12 March 1893, p. 19.
*''The New York Times''
"The Publishers: Plans of Some of Them" 9 May 1903, p. BR14.
*''The New York Times''
"New York Book Announcements" 18 June 1910, p. BR12.
*Peters, Catherine, ''The king of inventors: a life of Wilkie Collins'', Secker & Warburg, 1991.
*Peters, Catherine
"Secondary Lives: Biography in Contextin ''The Art of Literary Biography'', John Batchelor (ed), Oxford University Press, 1995, pp. 43–56.
*Pfister, Manfred
''The Fatal Gift of Beauty: The Italies of British Travellers''(annotated anthology), Rodopi, 1996, p. 484.
*Rogal, Samuel J.
''
Dictionary of Literary Biography
The ''Dictionary of Biography in literature, Literary Biography'' is a specialist biographical dictionary dedicated to literature. Published by Gale (Cengage), Gale, the 375-volume setRogers, 106. covers a wide variety of literary topics, periods ...
'', Thomson Gale, 2005–2006. Accessed online 8 March 2009.
*Sternlieb, Lisa Ruth, ''The Female Narrator in the British Novel: Hidden Agendas'', Palgrave, 2002.
*Storey, Graham (ed.)
''The Letters of Charles Dickens: Volume 12: 1868–1870'' Oxford University Press, 2002.
Further reading
*
External links
Public domain copies of works by Frances Minto Elliot
*
*
''Old Court Life in France''Publisher: Ward & Downey, 1886
''Old Court Life in Spain''Publisher: Chapman & Hall, 1893
''Roman Gossip''Publisher: J. Murray, 1894
''Diary of an Idle Woman in Sicily''Publisher: Bernhard Tauchnitz, Leipzig, 1882
''Diary of an Idle Woman in Italy''Publisher: Chapman & Hall, 1871
''Diary of an Idle Woman in Constantinople''Publisher: J. Murray, 1893
''Diary of an Idle Woman in Spain''Publisher: Bernhard Tauchnitz, Leipzig, 1882
''The Italians''Publisher: Bernhard Tauchnitz, Leipzig, 1875
''Pictures of Old Rome''Publisher: Chapman & Hall, 1872
''The Italians: A Novel''Publisher: D. Appleton, 1875
''The Red Cardinal: A Romance''Publisher: F. V. White, 1884
**''The Ill-tempered Cousin''
Vol. 1Vol. 2Vol. 3Publisher: F. V. White, 1885
"Diary of a first Winter in Rome – 1854"in ''The New Monthly Magazine'' Vol. 101, Chapman & Hall, London, 1854.
"The Baths of Lucca"in ''The New Monthly Magazine'' Vol. 109, Chapman & Hall, London, 1857.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elliot, Frances Minto
English travel writers
19th-century English women writers
19th-century English writers
1820 births
1898 deaths
Burials in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome
English women travel writers