Anne Marsh-Caldwell

Anne Marsh-Caldwell (1791–1874) was an English novelist, popular in the Victorian period. Her unmarried name was Anne Caldwell, and from 1817 when she married Arthur Cuthbert Marsh, to 1858, she was known as Anne Marsh.

Anne Marsh-Caldwell, 1836 portrait

Life

She was the third daughter and fourth child of James Caldwell, J.P., of Linley Wood, Staffordshire, who was recorder of Newcastle-under-Lyme, and deputy-lieutenant of the county; her mother was Elizabeth, daughter and coheiress of Thomas Stamford of Derby. In July 1817 she married Arthur Cuthbert Marsh, latterly of Eastbury Lodge, Hertfordshire. ^[1]

Arthur Cuthbert Marsh (died 23 December 1849) was son of William Marsh, senior and sleeping partner in the London banking firm of Marsh, Stacey, & Graham, ruined in 1824 by Henry Fauntleroy, a junior partner. There were seven children of the marriage. On the death of her brother, James Stamford Caldwell, in 1858, Anne Marsh succeeded to the estate of Linley Wood, and resumed by royal licence the surname of Caldwell in addition to that of Marsh. She died at Linley Wood, 5 October 1874.^[1]

Works

Anne Marsh was one of the most popular British novelists, for nearly a quarter of a century. Her first book, Two Old Men's Tales, was made up of two stories, The Deformed and The Admiral's Daughter. It was published at the suggestion of Harriet Martineau. Recognised as didactic in character, her books were published anonymously and mainly describe life in the upper middle class and the lower ranks of the aristocracy. They include the following:^[1]

• Two Old Men's Tales, 1834.
• Tales of the Woods and Fields, 1838.
• Triumphs of Time, 1844.
• Aubrey, 1845.
• Mount Sorel, 1845.
• Father Darcy, an Historical Romance, 1846.
• Emilia Wyndham, 1846,
• Norman's Bridge, or the Modern Midas, 1847.
• Angela, or the Captain's Daughter, 1848.
• The Previsions of Lady Evelyn.
• Mordaunt Hall, 1849.
• The Wilmingtons, 1849.
• Lettice Arnold, 1850.
• Time the Avenger, 1851.
• Ravenscliffe, 1851.
• Castle Avon, 1852.
• The Heiress of Haughton, 1856.
• Evelyn Marston, 1856.
• The Rose of Ashurst, 1867.

Many of these works passed through several editions. A collection of them, in 15 volumes, was published in Thomas Hodgson's Parlour Library, 1857. Marsh wrote also The Protestant Reformation in France and the Huguenots (1847), and a translation of the Song of Roland, as chanted before the Battle of Hastings by the minstrel Taillefer (1854).^[1]

Marsh has been wrongly credited with novels written by Julia Cecilia Stretton (1812–1878), such as Margaret and her Bridesmaids.^[1]

Notes

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1893). "Marsh-Caldwell, Anne". Dictionary of National Biography. 36. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 

External links