At the Circulating Library

Author: Gertrude Mary Ireland Blackburne

Author: Gertrude Mary Ireland Blackburne (1862–1951)

Biography: Gertrude Mary Ireland Blackburne was born in 1862 in Chester, the daughter of wine merchant John Ireland Blackburne. At an early age, she began writing for periodicals, including the Saturday Review, Cornhill, and The Monthly Packet. Blackburne eventually co-edited Churchwoman and Signs. She was active in a number of philanthropic, religious, and women's organizations, such as the Writers' Club, the Women Writers' Dinner, Grey Coat Hospital, the Biblical Study Library, and Queen Anne's School. In the 1880s, she wrote two novels: Zigzag: A Quiet Story (1885) and In Opposition (1888). She never married and died in 1951.

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References: Allibone; British Census (1881); NCBEL; Times (30 November 1951); Who's Who (1903)

Fiction Titles:

1. Zig-zag: A Quiet Story.  1 vol.  London: London Literary Society, 1885.
2. In Opposition.  3 vol.  London: Ward and Downey, 1888.