Isabella Letitia Woulfe

Isabella Letitia Woulfe (11 May 1817 – 26 October 1870), writer known for an excellent debut novel.

Hon

Isabella Letitia Woulfe
Born
Isabella Letitia Graves

11 May 1817
Died26 October 1870(1870-10-26) (aged 53)
OccupationWriter
Notable work
Guy Vernon

Early life

Her father was Lord Thomas Graves, 2nd Baron Graves while her mother was Lady Mary Paget, daughter of the 1st Earl of Uxbridge. Isabella Letitia Graves was born on 11 May 1817.[1][2] Her parents had twelve children including Woulfe. The peerage was Irish but Graves was also a member of Parliament in Britain and so although not entitled to sit in the House of Lords he was in the House of Commons.[1] Scandal rocked the family when Graves committed suicide, supposedly because his wife was having an affair with the Duke of Cumberland although his wife had been living apart from her husband for some time. Woulfe was 12 when her father died. Lady Mary died when Graves was just 17.[3][4]

Career

In 1844 Woulfe became a Roman Catholic.[5] She married the only son of Stephen Woulfe, Stephen Roland Woulfe on 9 June 1853, an eminent Irish catholic. They had no children. During their marriage her husband was both magistrate and high sheriff for County Clare. He lived locally at Tiermaclane.[6][7]

Shortly before her death, Woulfe completed a sensation novel, Guy Vernon, including gypsies, scandals and two cases of bigamy.[8] The reviews for the novel were given in 1869. The reviews were generally positive, suggesting that for a first novel from the author it was an excellent start. She died in 1870 before she could write any further novels.[9][10][11][12]

Works
  • Guy Vernon. 3 vols. London: Hurst and Blackett, 1870.

References
  1. The peerage of the British empire as at present existing. To which is added the baronetage. 1845. pp. 254–.
  2. Bernard Burke (1898). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland. Harrison & sons.
  3. "News of the death of Lord Graves". Annual Register. 72. 7 February 1830.
  4. The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle. E. Cave. 1830. pp. 268–.
  5. Gordon-Gorman, William James (1910). Converts to Rome : a biographical list of the more notable converts to the Catholic Church in the United Kingdom during the last sixty years. London : Sands.
  6. Edward Walford (1869). The County Families of the United Kingdom Or, Royal Manual of the Titled and Untitled Aristocracy of Great Britain and Ireland ... R. Hardwicke. pp. 1054–.
  7. "BIRTHS. » 18 Jun 1853 » The Spectator Archive". The Spectator Archive.
  8. Author Information: Hon. Isabella Letitia Woulfe, At the Circulating Library. Accessed 7 April 2020.
  9. Isabella Letitia WOULFE (Hon.) (1870). Guy Vernon. [A Novel.]. Hurst and Blackett.
  10. "Guy Vernon Review". The Examiner. London. 11 December 1869.
  11. Maia McAleavey (18 May 2015). The Bigamy Plot: Sensation and Convention in the Victorian Novel. Cambridge University Press. pp. 182–. ISBN 978-1-316-36888-6.
  12. "Guy Vernon Review". The Morning Post. London. 25 November 1869.
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