Barbara Hofland

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Standard Name: Hofland, Barbara
Birth Name: Barbara Wreaks
Married Name: Barbara Hoole
Married Name: Barbara Hofland
Pseudonym: An Old-Fashioned Englishman
Pseudonym: Benjamin Blunderhead, Esq.
Pseudonym: The Author of an Officer's Widow and her Young Family
Pseudonym: The Author of Says She to Her Neighbour, What?
In forty years of writing BH produced nearly seventy titles, not all discussed here (besides doubtful attributions). They include books for children or young adults and adult novels, with some poems, plays, guidebooks, and handbooks on artistic topics. More than 300,000 copies were sold in Britain and as many, proportionately to population, in the USA. Many were translated, covering most European languages.
Ramsay, Thomas. The Life and Literary Remains of Barbara Hofland. W. J. Cleaver, 1849.
viii
Though her titles fall naturally into groups, named (in later parlance branded) from family relationships (notably widows as struggling, successful single mothers), or virtues, or boys' careers in the expanding British empire, BH always varies her formulas. Her novels for the adult market are independent in their attitudes, expressing an original and thinking mind.
Black and white photograph of a stipple engraving, published 1823 (National Portrait Gallery), of a painting of Barbara Hofland, shown from the waist up, wearing a simple dark dress with a light lace-trimmed shawl around her shoulders. Her dark curly hair is covered with a turban-style bonnet. Underneath in italic script is written "Mrs. Hofland / Author of The Son of a Genius - Integrity, a tale, &c, &c."

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Dedications Eliza Kirkham Mathews
There was another edition or issue at York. This second collection of EKM 's poems, divided into Sonnets, Elegies, Odes, and Ballads, reprints pieces both from her earlier collection and from her novel What...
Education Christina Rossetti
Christina and her siblings were educated by their mother , in reading, writing, the Bible and rudimentary French. The boys were sent to school when they were seven, while the girls continued at home. Their...
Family and Intimate relationships Maria Edgeworth
Maria mourned so intensely that she fell ill. She was pleased by a letter from Barbara Hofland recognising the very special nature of her loss; on the other hand she was offended at Elizabeth Inchbald
Friends, Associates Agnes Strickland
They began to build a network of literary friends and potential supporters: Thomas Campbell , Robert Southey , Charles Lamb , editor William Jerdan , and even more helpfully women like Barbara Hofland , Jane
Friends, Associates Sarah Pearson
The thousand subscribers to SP 's first publication suggest that she had an impressive circle of friends and contacts in Sheffield and also in the Channel Islands. She and her writings were well known...
Friends, Associates Mary Ann Kelty
Little is known of any literary contacts of MAK . She met and became a friend of Barbara Hofland , and in the early 1830s she sought [the] acquaintance by letter of Harriet Martineau ...
Friends, Associates Eliza Fay
At some unknown date EF met the novelist Barbara Hofland , to whom she related the incident about the alleged buying of the slave.
Hofland, Barbara. The Captives in India. R. Bentley, 1834, 3 vols.
1: 193ff
Friends, Associates Mary Russell Mitford
Among her earlier literary friends, MRM wrote with particular warmth of Barbara Hofland (with whom she stayed in London for the first night of her play Julian), Eleanor Porden , and Joanna Baillie ...
Intertextuality and Influence Eliza Meteyard
This illustrated story of a young girl's childhood and education has some autobiographical elements (Howitt calls it her own early life),
qtd. in
Lee, Amice. Laurels & Rosemary: The Life of William and Mary Howitt. Oxford University Press, 1955.
188
including the profession of the army surgeon father of the eponymous character...
Literary responses Eliza Fay
The Calcutta Gazette gave EF a warm review.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
Barbara Hofland admired her letters for the moral qualities (the female fortitude) they displayed.
Hofland, Barbara. The Captives in India. R. Bentley, 1834, 3 vols.
1: prelims
She gave some real incidents and situations from Fay's experience...
Occupation Sarah Pearson
SP was a protégée (rather than a servant)
Jung, Sandro. “Susanna Pearson and the Elegiac Lyric”. Studia Neophilologica: A Journal of Germanic and Romance Languages and Literature, Vol.
78
, No. 2, 8 Mar. 2006, pp. 153-64.
153n2
Basker, James G., editor. Amazing Grace. Yale University Press, 2002.
412
of Charlotte, Countess Fitzwilliam (c. 1750-13 May 1822), to whom she dedicated her first publication. Lady Fitzwilliam was also a patron to Barbara Hofland and...
Author summary Elizabeth Meeke
EM , who was not correctly identified until 2013, was unusually prolific among novelists (twenty-six titles), children's writers, and translators of the Romantic period. (She also compiled an anthology for children.) She issued through the...
Textual Production Mary Russell Mitford
Mitford sought to secure a review from either Mary or William Howitt , but Mary replied that reviews had already appeared in the journals they had links with. Another friend, Barbara Hofland , reviewed it...
Textual Production Agnes Strickland
Even before settling in London, AS began her professional authorial career with tales for children, many published in The Parting Gift, of which she was at that time the editor.
Pope-Hennessy, Una. Agnes Strickland: Biographer of the Queens of England. Chatto and Windus, 1940.
22
She published...
Textual Production Sarah Pearson
It seems that SP continued to value her writing, while recognising that it was not valued by others. She kept a considerable archive, but instructed her friend Barbara Hofland in her will to read all...

Timeline

6 November 1817: Princess Charlotte died at 2.30 a.m. after...

National or international item

6 November 1817

Princess Charlotte died at 2.30 a.m. after delivering a stillborn son. Poor clinical judgement was to blame; intense national mourning and controversy followed.
Towler, Jean. Midwives in History and Society. Croom Helm, 1986.
142-4
Bynum, William F. Science and the Practice of Medicine in the Nineteenth Century. Cambridge University Press, 1994.
205
Macalpine, Ida, and Richard Hunter. George III and the Mad-Business. Allen Lane, 1969.
241-2
Gentleman’s Magazine. Various publishers.
2 (1817): 449

Texts

Hofland, Barbara et al. A Descriptive Account of the Mansion and Gardens at White-Knights. Printed for his Grace the Duke of Marlborough by W. Wilson, 1819.
Hofland, Barbara. A Father as He Should Be. Minerva, 1815, 4 vols.
Hofland, Barbara. A Season at Harrogate. R. Wilson, 1812.
Hofland, Barbara. A Visit to London; or, Emily and her Friends. Minerva, 1814, 4 vols.
Hofland, Barbara. Adelaide; or, The Intrepid Daughter. J. Harris, 1823.
Hofland, Barbara. Africa Described. Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1828.
Hofland, Barbara. Alfred Campbell, the Young Pilgrim. J. Harris, 1825.
Hofland, Barbara. An Englishwoman’s Letter to Mrs. Hannah More. J. Hatchard, 1820.
Hofland, Barbara. Beatrice. Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1829, 3 vols.
Hofland, Barbara. Daniel Dennison; and, The Cumberland Statesman. R. Bentley, 1846, 3 vols.
Hofland, Barbara. Decision. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1824.
Hofland, Barbara. Description of the House and Museum on the North Side of Lincoln’s Inn Fields, the residence of Sir John Soane. Printed by Levey, Robson, and Franklyn, 1835.
Hofland, Barbara. Ellen, the Teacher. J. Harris, 1814, 2 vols.
Hofland, Barbara. Emily’s Reward; or, The Holiday Trip to Paris. Grant and Griffith, 1844.
Hofland, Barbara. Energy. A. K. Newman, 1838.
Hofland, Barbara. Farewell Tales. A. K. Newman, 1840.
Hofland, Barbara. Fortitude. A. K. Newman, 1835.
Hofland, Barbara. Humility. A. K. Newman, 1837.
Hofland, Barbara. Integrity. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, 1823.
Hofland, Barbara. Iwanowna; or, The Maid of Moscow. G. and S. Robinson, 1813, 2 vols.
Hofland, Barbara. Little Dramas for Young People. Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme, 1810.
Hofland, Barbara. Little Manuel, the Captive Boy. Garland, 1978.
Hofland, Barbara. Matilda; or, The Barbadoes Girl. Minerva, 1816.
Hofland, Barbara. Moderation. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1825.
Hofland, Barbara. Patience. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1824.