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At the Circulating Library

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

Author: Mrs. Hartley

Author: Mrs. Hartley (1834–1897)

Alternate Name(s): Emily Biedermann (maiden name); Hartley (first married name); Somerset (second married name)

Biography: Emily Biedermann was born on 13 November 1834 in Wiltshire, the daughter of George Augustus Biedermann and his wife Maria (née Young). In 1855, she married Winchcombe Henry Howard Hartley of Buckleberg and Lye Grove, Gloucestershire. As Mrs. Hartley, she wrote three novels with several advertisements further identifying the author as "Mrs. Winchcombe Hartley." In 1883, two years after the death of her first husband, she remarried to Col. Fitzroy Somerset of Frimley Priory, Surrey. Both marriages appear to be childless. She died on 28 March 1897 in Farnham.

References: Clifton Society (15 April 1897); Probate

Fiction Titles:

  1. Hilda and I: A Novel.  2 vol.  London: Samuel Tinsley, 1874.
  2. Spiders and Flies: A Novel.  2 vol.  London: Chapman and Hall, 1875.
  3. King or Knave?.  2 vol.  London: Chapman and Hall, 1877.