Small image of a man handing a book to a women across a counter.

At the Circulating Library

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

Author: Florence Wilford

Author: Florence Wilford (1836–1897)

Biography: Florence Wilford was born on 29 February 1836 in Woolwich, Kent, the fourth child of Maj.-General Edmund Neal Wilford, RA, and Jane Drew. Her mother died a few days after her birth. She seems to have lived a peripatetic existence as the census shows her residing in Bromley, Winchester, Marylebone, Hastings, and Holdenhurst over her life. As a youth, she became one of Charlotte Yonge's "goslings" whom she encouraged and coached to write for the press. Wilford publshed her first novel The Master of Churchill Abbots, and his Little Friends in 1858 and would go to write over twenty books. Her best novel is Nigel Bartram's Ideal (1869). According to her sister's application to the Royal Literary Fund, Wilford suffered bout of bad health which necessitated stays in asylums and affected her ability to write. In spite of her career and a letter of support from Yonge, the RLF deemed her "literary claim not admitted." She never married and died on 20 September 1897 in Brislington, Somerset.

Author Tags:

References: British Census (1851, 1871, 1881, 1891); RLF (case number 2311)

Fiction Titles:

  1. The Master of Churchill Abbots, and his Little Friends.  1 vol.  London: Joseph Masters, 1858.
  2. Play and Earnest: A Tale.  1 vol.  London: Joseph Masters, 1860.
  3. A Maiden of our own Day.  1 vol.  London: Joseph Masters, 1862.
  4. An Author's Children.  1 vol.  London: Joseph Masters, 1867.
  5. The King of a Day: or, Glimpses of French Life in the Fifteenth Century.  1 vol.  London: Joseph Masters, 1868.
  6. Nigel Bartram's Ideal.  1 vol.  London: Frederick Warne, 1869.
  7. Vivia: A Modern Story.  1 vol.  London: Frederick Warne, 1870.
  8. Golden Gorse: and Uncle Mark's Snow-balls.  1 vol.  London: S. P. C. K., 1872.
  9. What Friends are Meant for.  1 vol.  London: S. P. C. K., 1872.
  10. Holiday Tales.  1 vol.  London: Griffith and Farran, 1873.
  11. No Man's Land: or, How the Church came to it.  1 vol.  London: J. T. Hayes, 1874.
  12. Little Lives and a Great Love.  1 vol.  London: Joseph Masters, 1874.
  13. Dominie Freylinghausen.  1 vol.  London: Mozley and Co., 1875.
  14. Harry Deane's Life-boat.  1 vol.  London: J. T. Hayes, 1876.
  15. In the Backwoods: A Tale.  1 vol.  London: J. T. Hayes, 1877.
  16. A Vantage Ground, and Other Stories.  1 vol.  London: Joseph Masters, 1879.
  17. Self-Conquest: The Story of Dulcie Ward.  1 vol.  London: S. P. C. K., 1881.
  18. Tender and True.  1 vol.  London: S. P. C. K., 1882.
  19. A Mother and her Boys.  1 vol.  London: A. R. Mowbray, 1895.