At the Circulating Library

Author: Emma Augusta Bridges

Author: Emma Augusta Bridges (1833–1918)

Alternate Name(s): Elderly Bachelor (pseudonym); E. A. B. (pseudonym); S. A. E. B. (pseudonym)

Biography: Emma Augusta Bridges was born on 29 October 1833 in Tottenham, the daughter of Devon landowner Thomas Bridges. She lived her early life in Devon, near Exeter. At the young at of nineteen, she wrote a novel The Vicarage of Elwood (1852) and followed it with several more, including the anonymous The Close of S. Andrew's (1870) which cause some local controversy with its depictions of well-known clergymen. By the 1880s, she joined an Anglican convent in Clewer and later the House of Mercy in Highgate. Even after joining the convent, she continued to write fiction. She never married and died on 28 February 1918 in Highgate.

References: British Census (1841, 1851, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911); Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries (1913, 1921); North Devon Journal (7 March 1918); Probate

Fiction Titles:

1. The Vicarage of Elwood: A Tale.  1 vol.  London: Hope, 1852.
2. Trevenan Court: A Tale.  1 vol.  London: Joseph Masters, 1860.
3. The Close of S. Andrew's: or, Cathedral Lights and Shadows. A Tale of Modern English Life in a Cathedral City.  1 vol.  London: John Hodges, 1870.
4. "What He did with Her": A Tale.  1 vol.  London: John Hodges, 1873.
5. Not Many Years Ago: Memories of my Life.  1 vol.  London: Remington, 1881.
6. Not Many Years Ago: Memories of my Life.  1 vol.  London: Remington, 1881.
7. Hutton Hall: or, Could it be Only a Dream? A Tale.  1 vol.  London: Skeffington, 1902.