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At the Circulating Library

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

Author: Ellen Georgiana Tanner

Author: Ellen Georgiana Tanner (1846–1937)

Alternate Name(s): BTAO "Rare Pale Margaret" (familiar name)

Biography: One of the more remarkable women writers. Ellen Georgiana Tanner was born in 1846 in Stapleton near Clifton, the daughter of the wealthy solicitor William Tanner and his wife Louisa Agnes. She grew up in wealth and comfort, spending much of her time at the family estate Frenchay Park. Her mother died when she was young and she subsequently spent her time tending to her father. In her thirties, she published five anonymous novels beginning with Rare Pale Margaret (1878). Though her books were well received, she kept her identity strictly secret, seemingly only revealed once by a local newspaper. Tanner's father died in 1887 and she and her sisters each inherited £18,000. Tanner almost immediately set off travelling the world, visiting Europe, Egypt, Turkey, India, and the Middle East. In 1894, she became the second European woman to cross Persia alone (her detailed diary was turned into a long manuscript, never published). Based on this experience, she became one of the first women elected a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Subsequent travels included two more trips to the Middle East (1897, 1903) and a trip to Somaliland (1910). She spent her last decade living at the Lansdown Grove Hotel in Bath. According to her obituary, "bed-ridden for the past three years, she enjoyed the memory of her adventurous travels which she never tired of telling." Tanner died age 90 years old on 19 November 1937 in Bath. She left her substantial collection of Persian items to several museums and created a fund for disabled soldiers of the Great War.

References: Bath Weekly Chronicle (27 November 1937); British Census (1851, 1871, 1881, 1921); Catrin Jones, "Ellen Tanner's Persia: A Museum Legacy Rediscovered," 19: Interdisiplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century (2020); North Wilts Herald (10 December 1881); NLS; Probate

Fiction Titles:

  1. Rare Pale Margaret: A Novel.  2 vol.  London: Sampson Low, 1878.
  2. The Two Miss Flemings: A Novel.  3 vol.  London: Sampson Low, 1879.
  3. Flower o' the Broom: A Novel.  3 vol.  London: Sampson Low, 1881.
  4. What's His Offence?.  3 vol.  London: Hurst and Blackett, 1885.
  5. Pomegranate Seed.  3 vol.  London: Sampson Low, 1886.