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Isabella Harwood

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Isabella Harwood
Born14 June 1837
Dorset
Died29 May 1888
St Mary-in-the-Castle
NationalityBritish

Isabella Harwood or Ross Neil (14 June 1837 – 29 May 1888) was a British novelist who also wrote dramas in verse.

Biography

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Harwood was probably born in Dorset in 1837 where her parents Phillip Harwood and his wife Isabella Neil lived. Phillip Harwood was then a Unitarian minister in Bridport.[1]

Between 1864 and 1870 she wrote four sensational novels which were published without attribution. Between 1871 and 1883 she wrote a number of unfashionable blank verse dramas which were said to be readable.[2] Two were produced in Edinburgh and London but they were not favourably received.[3]

Harwood lived with her father in London and then in Hastings. She died in St Mary-in-the-Castle in 1888 in Hastings a year after her father.[3]

Works

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Novels

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  • Abbot's Cleve
  • Carleton Grange
  • Raymond's Heroine
  • Kathleen
  • The Heir Expectant
  • Plays
  • Lady Jane Grey; Inez, or, The Bride of Portugal

Plays

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  • The Cid; The King and the Angel; Duke for a Day; or The Tailor of Brussels
  • Elfinella, or, Home from Fairyland; Lord and Lady Russell
  • Arabella Stuart; The Heir of Linne; Tasso
  • Eglantine
  • Andrea the Painter; Claudia's Choice; Orestes; Pandora

References

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  1. ^ R. K. Webb, ‘Harwood, Philip (1811–1887)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 accessed 29 Dec 2014
  2. ^ Isabella Harwood ("Ross Neil") (1840–1888), Critical and Biographical Essay by Richard Garnett
  3. ^ a b Megan A. Stephan, ‘Harwood, Isabella Neil (1837?–1888)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2006 accessed 28 Dec 2014