Person    | Female  Born 30/9/1832  Died 24/9/1906

Charlotte Riddell

Categories: Literature

Countries: Ireland

Born as Charlotte Eliza Lawson Cowan in Ireland. Moved to London in 1855. Married Joseph Hadley Riddell, a hot water engineer in 1857. They lived in St John's Lodge 1868 - 1873. Published her first novel in 1856 under a pseudonym, of which she used several, until 1866 when she used her own name, or rather the Victorian version of it: Mrs J. H. Riddell.

She published 56 books and was editor of the Home Magazine and part-owner and editor of the St. James's Magazine, a prestigious Victorian literary magazine. Her husband's business failed in 1871 which left her as the bread-winner which probably explains the prodigious output. The couple had no children. Joseph died in 1880. Charlotte died at home,12 Lampton Road, Hounslow.

We have not (yet) read any of her books but apparently some are set in the City, where she lived for a time, and others have supernatural themes.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Charlotte Riddell

Commemorated ati

Charlotte Riddell

Unveiled on International Women's Day.

Read More

Other Subjects

Arnold Bennett

Arnold Bennett

Born 92 (then 90) Hope Street, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent. The "Five Towns" in his novels are based on this area, "the Potteries" as it was in his youth. Some would have called him a "champagne social...

Person, Literature

3 memorials
Robert Fabian

Robert Fabian

Robert Honey Fabian was born in Lewisham. He joined the police in 1921 and rose to the rank of Detective Superintendent in the Metropolitan Police. We wonder if he managed to keep his middle name s...

Person, Emergency Services, Literature

1 memorial
E.F. Benson

E.F. Benson

Edward Frederic.  Writer best know for the Mapp and Lucia series set in the village of Tilling, actually Rye, which Benson first visited to see Henry James who was staying there. Born Wellington C...

Person, Literature

1 memorial
Sir Leslie Stephen

Sir Leslie Stephen

Scholar, writer and mountaineer. Born in Kensington Gore, (now 42 Hyde Park Gate). Father of Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf. He became an Anglican clergyman but later renounced his religious belie...

Person, Literature, Sport / Games, Switzerland

1 memorial
George Grossmith, Snr

George Grossmith, Snr

Born London. Entertainer and author. Created a number of the great Gilbert and Sullivan roles, including Bunthorne, possibly modelled on Oscar Wilde. With his brother Weedon wrote the comic novel '...

Person, Literature, Music / songs, Theatre

1 memorial