| This blog explores social attitudes in Jane Austen's time, discusses her novels, reviews forgotten 18th century novels, and throws some occasional shade at the modern academy. The introductory post is here. My "six simple questions for academics" post is here. Spoilers abound in my discussion of these forgotten novels, and I discuss 18th-century attitudes which I do not necessarily endorse. I am resuming my postings about the novel The Woman of Colour because I have some news... Click on the "Woman of Colour Mystery" menu item to the right for the other posts about this novel. |
CMP#264 Meet the (possible) author of The Woman of Colour
The scholarly reprint of The Woman of Colour came out eighteen years ago. It tells the story of a mixed-race heiress, Olivia Fairfield, who comes to England in obedience to her father's last will and testament, to marry her cousin Augustus, who is white. See here for a synopsis and a review of this novel that I wrote a few years ago.
The question of who might have authored The Woman of Colour has added a strong fillip of interest to the reception of the text ever since. Lyndon J. Dominique, editor of the 2008 edition, said in his introduction that "weighing the facts that this text was probably written by a woman but not a British one--rather, one who had significant ties to the colonies as well as in-depth knowledge of British society--it seems most plausible to propose that a woman of color wrote The Woman of Colour". That was an exciting possibility. A novel, written in 1808, by a racially aware mixed-race woman. As my grandmother would say, rarer than hen's teeth. When studying the voices of people of colour in this era, the pickings are slim. The autobiography of Olaudah Equiano, a freed slave, was a big bestseller in its time (1789). There is the History of Mary Prince (1833), an enslaved woman who made it to freedom in England and dictated her life story to English abolitionists. Dominique arranged to digitize a rare surviving copy of The Woman of Colour held in the British Library and bring it widespread academic and popular attention. But, is there any evidence for who wrote it?
The question of who might have authored The Woman of Colour has added a strong fillip of interest to the reception of the text ever since. Lyndon J. Dominique, editor of the 2008 edition, said in his introduction that "weighing the facts that this text was probably written by a woman but not a British one--rather, one who had significant ties to the colonies as well as in-depth knowledge of British society--it seems most plausible to propose that a woman of color wrote The Woman of Colour". That was an exciting possibility. A novel, written in 1808, by a racially aware mixed-race woman. As my grandmother would say, rarer than hen's teeth. When studying the voices of people of colour in this era, the pickings are slim. The autobiography of Olaudah Equiano, a freed slave, was a big bestseller in its time (1789). There is the History of Mary Prince (1833), an enslaved woman who made it to freedom in England and dictated her life story to English abolitionists. Dominique arranged to digitize a rare surviving copy of The Woman of Colour held in the British Library and bring it widespread academic and popular attention. But, is there any evidence for who wrote it?
A real West Indian heiress--the inspiration or the author?
As Victoria Barnett-Woods explains, "Dominique... believes that the novel may have been written by a woman named Ann Wright Maitland (1788–1833). Born to the Jamaican planter Andrew Wright and Ruth Sinclair, a free woman of colour, Ann and her sister Rebecca were to marry in England after the decease of their father. Records indicate that the women had spent most of their lives in Jamaica living on their father’s sugar and coffee plantations but were in England continuing their education at the time of his death. They were not to return to Jamaica unmarried. Sharing the destiny of the fictional Olivia Fairfield, both Ann and Rebecca were forced into marriage should they wish to claim their inheritance. If either woman were to return to Jamaica unmarried, their claims would pass on to cousins, as if they were “‘virtually dead without issue of [their] body’”.
The resemblances between Ann Maitland's life and the opening premise of The Woman of Colour are quite amazing, and I don't discount the possibility that her story and the strange clauses of her father's will came to the attention of the author of The Woman of Colour and inspired her plot. Ann Maitland's father lived in London.
However, the resemblance between real and fictional is not exact. Ann Maitland married, not a white man, but a free black man of colour, who I gather was also her cousin. The fictional Olivia Fairfield is married to her white cousin Augustus Merton but the marriage turns out to be invalid because Augustus's first wife, whom he thought was dead, reappears.
As Victoria Barnett-Woods explains, "Dominique... believes that the novel may have been written by a woman named Ann Wright Maitland (1788–1833). Born to the Jamaican planter Andrew Wright and Ruth Sinclair, a free woman of colour, Ann and her sister Rebecca were to marry in England after the decease of their father. Records indicate that the women had spent most of their lives in Jamaica living on their father’s sugar and coffee plantations but were in England continuing their education at the time of his death. They were not to return to Jamaica unmarried. Sharing the destiny of the fictional Olivia Fairfield, both Ann and Rebecca were forced into marriage should they wish to claim their inheritance. If either woman were to return to Jamaica unmarried, their claims would pass on to cousins, as if they were “‘virtually dead without issue of [their] body’”.
The resemblances between Ann Maitland's life and the opening premise of The Woman of Colour are quite amazing, and I don't discount the possibility that her story and the strange clauses of her father's will came to the attention of the author of The Woman of Colour and inspired her plot. Ann Maitland's father lived in London.
However, the resemblance between real and fictional is not exact. Ann Maitland married, not a white man, but a free black man of colour, who I gather was also her cousin. The fictional Olivia Fairfield is married to her white cousin Augustus Merton but the marriage turns out to be invalid because Augustus's first wife, whom he thought was dead, reappears.
Captain Kirk and the doomed Miramanee So... who wrote The Woman of Colour?
What should have raised more skepticism about the authorship is the novel itself. It features the conventional language and views of a white abolitionist of the day, which many today would find patronizing. It features stereotypical portrayals which today we would find both jarring and unrealistic. There is the pidgin-speaking, fiercely loyal servant Dido, and the romantic story of the heroine's mother, an African princess taken into captivity who falls in love with her enslaver. And dies, of course. This durable trope of the doomed interracial romance was used in Star Trek in the 1960s. Previous 20th century examples include the movies Broken Arrow (1950) and Green Mansions (1959).
However, yes, there are sections of the book where the heroine describes her experiences as she enters English society as a mixed-race woman, and these passages are the best part of the book and quite possibly unique in English literature. I say "quite possibly" because just as this novel was forgotten for 200 years, there might be some other forgotten examples slumbering on the shelves of our libraries.
What should have raised more skepticism about the authorship is the novel itself. It features the conventional language and views of a white abolitionist of the day, which many today would find patronizing. It features stereotypical portrayals which today we would find both jarring and unrealistic. There is the pidgin-speaking, fiercely loyal servant Dido, and the romantic story of the heroine's mother, an African princess taken into captivity who falls in love with her enslaver. And dies, of course. This durable trope of the doomed interracial romance was used in Star Trek in the 1960s. Previous 20th century examples include the movies Broken Arrow (1950) and Green Mansions (1959).
However, yes, there are sections of the book where the heroine describes her experiences as she enters English society as a mixed-race woman, and these passages are the best part of the book and quite possibly unique in English literature. I say "quite possibly" because just as this novel was forgotten for 200 years, there might be some other forgotten examples slumbering on the shelves of our libraries.
Research, not speculation
"One can only surmise about the person who wrote The Woman of Colour," Victoria Barnett-Woods writes. "The work was published anonymously, and no recovered record points to who may have penned the work. However, that does not mean that scholars and researchers of the novel have not speculated."
Yes, indeed. But speculation will only get you so far. For months, I have been conducting research--carefully reading the novels and the 20 other novels connected to The Woman of Colour, looking for biographical clues and intertextual connections, searching for mentions of this novel and the other connected novels in the newspapers of the day. For more about these novels and the attributions, you can start here. Last January, I tumbled across a real lead in an old newspaper and followed it up with some genealogical research. I arranged for some research to be carried out at the National Archives of the UK and visited the British Library to read the two surviving novels which are not digitized. I concluded I had built enough of a case to take to the academic community.
So... drumroll.... Last week, the British academic journal Notes & Queries published my article about the author of The Woman of Colour.
"One can only surmise about the person who wrote The Woman of Colour," Victoria Barnett-Woods writes. "The work was published anonymously, and no recovered record points to who may have penned the work. However, that does not mean that scholars and researchers of the novel have not speculated."
Yes, indeed. But speculation will only get you so far. For months, I have been conducting research--carefully reading the novels and the 20 other novels connected to The Woman of Colour, looking for biographical clues and intertextual connections, searching for mentions of this novel and the other connected novels in the newspapers of the day. For more about these novels and the attributions, you can start here. Last January, I tumbled across a real lead in an old newspaper and followed it up with some genealogical research. I arranged for some research to be carried out at the National Archives of the UK and visited the British Library to read the two surviving novels which are not digitized. I concluded I had built enough of a case to take to the academic community.
So... drumroll.... Last week, the British academic journal Notes & Queries published my article about the author of The Woman of Colour.
A long-buried clue
Here is the newspaper discovery that led to my identification of the possible author; a little literary squib in a September 1820 issue of The Bristol Mirror, that says that "The niece of the Rev. Stafford Smith [was the author] of a novel called The House that Jack built, or the Revealer of Secrets and some others." The article has the subtitle swapped around with the title, but it is surely the same book that is last on the list of novels attributed to the author of The Woman of Colour.
The other authors on this list are accurate. They are the authors of the books and poetry attributed to them, except the 11th Canto of Don Juan doesn't make any sense because everyone knew who Byron was. Perhaps that is a Don Juan Canto parody poem. But the others are correct.
Here is the newspaper discovery that led to my identification of the possible author; a little literary squib in a September 1820 issue of The Bristol Mirror, that says that "The niece of the Rev. Stafford Smith [was the author] of a novel called The House that Jack built, or the Revealer of Secrets and some others." The article has the subtitle swapped around with the title, but it is surely the same book that is last on the list of novels attributed to the author of The Woman of Colour.
The other authors on this list are accurate. They are the authors of the books and poetry attributed to them, except the 11th Canto of Don Juan doesn't make any sense because everyone knew who Byron was. Perhaps that is a Don Juan Canto parody poem. But the others are correct.
The Palladian Bridge at Prior Park Estate near Bath Who was the niece of the Rev. Stafford Smith?
I used genealogical records to track down the Stafford Smith family, and zeroed in on my candidate -- Gertrude Stafford Smith (1781-1851) or possibly her older sister Harriett Tordiffe (1776-1828).
If this information is accurate, the author is an English gentlewoman from a family of high-ranking churchmen and prominent church musicians. I know this will be disappointing to many people. She is the goddaughter of Gertrude Tucker Warburton Stafford Smith, whose second husband was the Rev. Martin Stafford Smith, Gertrude's uncle. The Rev. Stafford Smith was a prominent clergyman in Bath, very active in the social and civic affairs of the city. Gertrude T.W.S.S. was the heiress of Ralph Allen, a prominent postmaster and entrepreneur and the first citizen of Bath. From him she inherited the gracious estate of Prior Park which looked down on the city of Bath. The Rev. Martin Stafford Smith was her second husband. I imagine that her nieces came and visited their aunt and uncle in Bath when they could at Prior Park or at their elegant townhome in Queens Square. And, it never hurts to name your daughter after a rich and childless relative, does it?
I used genealogical records to track down the Stafford Smith family, and zeroed in on my candidate -- Gertrude Stafford Smith (1781-1851) or possibly her older sister Harriett Tordiffe (1776-1828).
If this information is accurate, the author is an English gentlewoman from a family of high-ranking churchmen and prominent church musicians. I know this will be disappointing to many people. She is the goddaughter of Gertrude Tucker Warburton Stafford Smith, whose second husband was the Rev. Martin Stafford Smith, Gertrude's uncle. The Rev. Stafford Smith was a prominent clergyman in Bath, very active in the social and civic affairs of the city. Gertrude T.W.S.S. was the heiress of Ralph Allen, a prominent postmaster and entrepreneur and the first citizen of Bath. From him she inherited the gracious estate of Prior Park which looked down on the city of Bath. The Rev. Martin Stafford Smith was her second husband. I imagine that her nieces came and visited their aunt and uncle in Bath when they could at Prior Park or at their elegant townhome in Queens Square. And, it never hurts to name your daughter after a rich and childless relative, does it?
John Stafford Smith (1750-1836) Stafford Smith family tree
John Stafford Smith, Gertrude's father, was the organist for the Royal Chapel at St. James Palace, the composer of the song Anacreon in Heaven which is the tune for the Star Spangled Banner, and an award-winning composer of glees. Remember that it is a glee which the Bertram siblings and Mr. Rushworth are singing around the piano one pleasant evening at Mansfield Park when Mary Crawford is invited to join them, and her graceful movements and singing distract Edmund from his intention to go star-gazing with Fanny. Below is a YouTube clip of a performance of his glee, "Blest Pair of Sirens". I'll post more about the family tree later.
Gertrude must have been taught harpsichord and piano as a child. But as I think back over the 20 novels, I don't remember much of an emphasis on music; I don't remember her heroines being musical. She is more apt to disparage "accomplishments" in favour of a solid rational education for her heroines. Perhaps Gertrude wasn't musical. Maybe she did not inherit her father's fine singing voice.
A few more things....
There is more information about Gertrude Stafford Smith and the other novels in the attribution chain in my Notes & Queries article. There is other textual evidence connecting Gertrude Stafford Smith to The Woman of Colour, but I'll unveil that in the future. My research continues. I have more information coming, and more articles submitted for potential publication. But these things move slowly!
I should mention that late in her life, poor Gertrude was declared a lunatic and was under the control of a committee. This was decades after the publication of The Woman of Colour, but being voted a lunatic by a committee of twelve men ought to give her some compensatory prestige when it comes to identity politics.
John Stafford Smith, Gertrude's father, was the organist for the Royal Chapel at St. James Palace, the composer of the song Anacreon in Heaven which is the tune for the Star Spangled Banner, and an award-winning composer of glees. Remember that it is a glee which the Bertram siblings and Mr. Rushworth are singing around the piano one pleasant evening at Mansfield Park when Mary Crawford is invited to join them, and her graceful movements and singing distract Edmund from his intention to go star-gazing with Fanny. Below is a YouTube clip of a performance of his glee, "Blest Pair of Sirens". I'll post more about the family tree later.
Gertrude must have been taught harpsichord and piano as a child. But as I think back over the 20 novels, I don't remember much of an emphasis on music; I don't remember her heroines being musical. She is more apt to disparage "accomplishments" in favour of a solid rational education for her heroines. Perhaps Gertrude wasn't musical. Maybe she did not inherit her father's fine singing voice.
A few more things....
There is more information about Gertrude Stafford Smith and the other novels in the attribution chain in my Notes & Queries article. There is other textual evidence connecting Gertrude Stafford Smith to The Woman of Colour, but I'll unveil that in the future. My research continues. I have more information coming, and more articles submitted for potential publication. But these things move slowly!
I should mention that late in her life, poor Gertrude was declared a lunatic and was under the control of a committee. This was decades after the publication of The Woman of Colour, but being voted a lunatic by a committee of twelve men ought to give her some compensatory prestige when it comes to identity politics.
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| Manning, Lona, A Possible Identification of the Author of The Woman of Colour, 73 Notes and Queries, 2026;, gjag115, https://doi.org/10.1093/notesj/gjag115 Barnett-Woods, Victoria. "27 Anonymous, The Woman of Colour; A Tale (1808)". Handbook of the British Novel in the Long Eighteenth Century, eds. Katrin Berndt and Alessa Johns, De Gruyter, 2022, pp. 483-498. Dominique, Lyndon J., lecture. ‘Political Blackness in The Woman of Colour,’ Jane Austen Summer Program lecture series, 2021. | |
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