At the Circulating Library

Author: Emily Spender

Author: Emily Spender (1841–1922)

Biography: Emily Spender was born in 1841 in Bath, the daughter of John Cottle Spender. Her brother, Dr. John Kent Spender, married the novelist Lillian Headland, better known as Mrs. John Kent Spender. Emily Spender began to write novels at an early age beginning with Son and Heir (1864). Spender was one of the pioneers of the early suffrage movement, touring the west of England giving speeches as early as 1870, and figuring in numerous suffrage organizations. She spend much of later years in Italy, a subject of her later fiction such as A Soldier for a Day: A Story of the Italian War of Independence (1901). Spender never married and died in 1922 living long enough to see women vote in England.

Author Tags:

• Suffragists

References: Allibone; Elizabeth Crawford, The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide, 1866-1928 (Routledge, 2001); Times (4 April 1922)

Fiction Titles:

1. Son and Heir.  3 vol.  London: Hurst and Blackett, 1864.
2. Kingsford: A Novel.  2 vol.  London: Hurst and Blackett, 1866.
3. Restored.  3 vol.  London: Hurst and Blackett, 1871.
4. True Marriage.  3 vol.  London: Hurst and Blackett, 1878.
5. Until the Day Breaks.  3 vol.  London: Hurst and Blackett, 1886.
6. A Soldier for a Day: A Story of the Italian War of Independence.  1 vol.  London: F. V. White, 1901.