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OLIPHANT, MARGARET OLIPHANT (1828-1897)

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 84 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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OLIPHANT, See also:MARGARET OLIPHANT (1828-1897) , See also:British novelist and See also:historical writer, daughter of See also:Francis See also:Wilson, was See also:born at Wallyford, near See also:Musselburgh, Midlothian, in 1828. Her childhood was spent at Lasswade (near See also:Dalkeith), See also:Glasgow and See also:Liverpool. As a girl she constantly occupied herself with See also:literary experiments, and in 1849 published her first novel, Passages in the See also:Life of Mrs Margaret See also:Maitland. It dealt with the Scottish See also:Free See also:Church See also:movement, with which Mr and Mrs Wilson both sympathized, and had some success. This she followed up in 1851 with See also:Caleb See also:Field, and in the same See also:year met See also:Major See also:Blackwood in See also:Edinburgh, and was invited by him to contribute to the famous Blackwood's See also:Magazine. The connexion thus See also:early commenced lasted during her whole lifetime, and she contributed considerably more than too articles to its pages. In May 1852 she married her See also:cousin, See also:Frank Wilson Oliphant, at See also:Birkenhead, and settled at See also:Harrington Square, in See also:London. Her See also:husband was an artist, principally in stained See also:glass. He had very delicate See also:health, and two of their See also:children died in See also:infancy, while the See also:father himself See also:developed alarming symptoms of See also:consumption. For the See also:sake of his health they moved in See also:January 1859 to See also:Florence, and thence to See also:Rome, where Frank Oliphant died. His wife, See also:left almost entirely without resources, returned to See also:England and took up the See also:burden of supporting her three children by her own literary activity. She had now become a popular writer, and worked with amazing See also:industry to sustain her position.

Unfortunately, her See also:

home life was full of sorrow and disappointment. In January 1864 her only daughter died in Rome, and was buried in her father's See also:grave. Her See also:brother, who had emigrated to See also:Canada, was shortly afterwards involved in See also:financial ruin, and Mrs Oliphant offered a home to him and his children, and added their support to her already heavy responsibilities. In 1866 she settled at See also:Windsor to be near her sons who were being educated at See also:Eton. This was her home for the See also:rest of her life, and for more than See also:thirty years she pursued a varied literary career with courage scarcely broken by a See also:series of the gravest troubles. The ambitions she cherished for her sons were unfulfilled. See also:Cyril Francis, the See also:elder, died in 189o, leaving a Life of See also:Alfred de See also:Musset, incorporated in his See also:mother's See also:Foreign See also:Classics for See also:English Readers. The younger, Frank, collaborated with her in the Victorian See also:Age of English Literature and won a position at the British Museum, but was rejected by the doctors. He died in 1894. With the last of her children lost to her, she had but little further See also:interest in life. Her health steadily declined, and she died at See also:Wimbledon, on the 25th of See also:June 1897. In the course of her See also:long struggle with circumstances, Mrs Oliphant produced more than 120 See also:separate See also:works, including novels, books of travel and description, histories and volumes of literary See also:criticism.

Among the best known of her works of fiction are See also:

Adam Graeme (1852), Magdalen See also:Hepburn (1854), Lilliesleaf (1855), The See also:Laird of Norlaw (1858) and a series of stories with the collective See also:title of The See also:Chronicles of See also:Carlingford, which, originally appearing in Blackwood's Magazine (1862-1865), did much to widen her reputation. This series included See also:Salem See also:Chapel (1863), The See also:Rector; and the See also:Doctor's See also:Family (1863), The Perpetual See also:Curate (1864) and See also:Miss Marjoribanks (1866). Other successful novels were Madonna See also:Mary (1867), See also:Squire See also:Arden (1871), He that will not when he may (188o), Hester (1 883) ,Kirsteen (189o), The See also:Marriage of Elinor (1892) and The Ways of Life (1897). Her tendency to See also:mysticism found expression in The Beleaguered See also:City (188o) and A Little See also:Pilgrim in the Unseen (1882). Her See also:biographies of See also:Edward See also:Irving (1862) and Laurence Oliphant (1892), together with her life of See also:Sheridan in the "English Men of Letters " (1883), have vivacity and a sympathetic See also:touch. She also wrote historical and See also:critical works of considerable variety, including Historical Sketches of the Reign of See also:George II. (1869), The Makers of Florence (1876), A Literary See also:History of England from i790 to 1825 (1882), The Makers of See also:Venice (1887), Royal Edinburgh (189o), See also:Jerusalem (1891) and The Makers of See also:Modern Rome(1895), while at the See also:time of her See also:death she was still occupied upon See also:Annals of a See also:Publishing See also:House, a See also:record of the progress and achievement of the See also:firm of Blackwood, with which she had been so long and honourably connected. Iler Autobiography and Letters, which See also:present a touching picture of her domestic anxieties, appeared in 1899.

End of Article: OLIPHANT, MARGARET OLIPHANT (1828-1897)

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