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At the Circulating Library

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

Author: F. S. A. Barnett

Author: F. S. A. Barnett (1824–1904)

Alternate Name(s): Frederica Sophia Ann Barnett (legal name)

Biography: Frederica Sophia Ann Barnett was born on 18 July 1824 in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), the eldest daughter of army officer John Barnett and his wife Sophia Wilhelmina (née Coffin). Her father served in the 71st Highland Regiment and fought at Waterloo. Her forename "Frederica" seems to have been adopted later in life as it is not her birth name. Barnett never married and lived with her parents or one or more siblings her entire life. Rather late in life, she penned Sprott (1884) which is narrated by a dog and dedicated to her niece. She lived for many years in Costislost, Cornwall but died on 30 October 1904 in Yoxford, Suffolk.

References: British Census (1851, 1861, 1881, 1891); Cornishman (10 November 1904)

Fiction Titles:

  1. Sprott: An Autobiography.  1 vol.  London: Hatchard, 1884.