Isabella Eleanor Darling Aylmer (1840 – 27 December 1908) was a British novelist and poet who published under the names I. D. Fenton and Isabella D. Fenton. Isabella Eleanor Darling was born in 1840 in Bellshill, Northumberland, the daughter of George Darling. In 1857, she married Captain Fenton John Aylmer, son of Sir Arthur Percy Aylmer, 11th Baronet and a

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

veteran. They had four children, including future Victoria Cross recipient Sir Fenton Aylmer, 13th Baronet, before he died in 1862.Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes''. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003. volume 1, page 202 Her novel ''Adventures of Mrs. Colonel Somerset in

Caffraria Kaffraria, Kaffiria, or Kaffirland, was the descriptive name given to the southeast part of what is today the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Kaffraria, i.e., the land of the Kaffirs, is no longer an official designation (with the term ''kaffi ...

, During the War'' (1858) is about a woman, Helen Somerset, who is shipwrecked off southern Africa and is held captive by the

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

, but later chooses to remain with them. The novel is sympathetic to the Xhosa and critical of colonialism. Her novel ''Distant Homes: Or the Graham Family in New Zealand'' (1862) has been described as "the second New Zealand novel", after ''Taranaki: A Tale of the War'' (1861) by Henry Butler Stoney. Aylmer, however, never visited New Zealand, relying on correspondence with another Isabella Aylmer, the wife of Rev. William Joseph Aylmer, the first minister in

Akaroa Akaroa is a small town on Banks Peninsula in the Canterbury Region of the South Island of New Zealand, situated within a harbour of the same name. The name Akaroa is Ngāi Tahu, Kāi Tahu Māori language, Māori for "Long Harbour", which woul ...

. The novel has been derided by critics as cliched, sentimental, inaccurate, and implausible.Wattie, Nelson. "Aylmer, Mrs J. E.." ''The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature''. : Oxford University Press, . Oxford Reference. Aylmer died on 27 December 1908.

Bibliography

* ''Adventures of Mrs. Colonel Somerset in Caffraria, During the War''. 1 vol. London: Hope, 1858. * ''Memoirs of a Lady in Waiting''. 2 vol. London: Saunders and Otley, 1860. * ''Distant Homes: Or the Graham Family in New Zealand,'' 1862. * ''Alec Tomlin: or, Choose Wisely''. 1 vol. London: Frederick Warne, 1873.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Darling, Isabella Created via preloaddraft 1840 births 1908 deaths British women novelists