Emma Robinson (author)

Emma Robinson (1814 – 18 December 1890) was an English writer. All of her works were published anonymously or using pseudonyms.

The daughter of Joseph Robinson, a bookseller, she was born in London. In 1844, she published Whitefriars, or, The Days of Charles the Second: an Historical Romance, a historical novel, and Richelieu in Love, a historical play. She published seven more historical novels from 1844 to 1849 and seven more from 1854 to 1865. She also published five critiques of the society of the time, beginning with The Gold-Worshippers, or, The Days we Live in: a Future Historical Novel in 1851. In 1858, she published Mauleverer's Divorce, or, The Story of a Woman's Wrongs, which dealt with issues raised by the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857. Her 1862 novel Which Wins, Love or Money? provided much of the content for Henry Thornton Craven's play Philomel.[1] In 1848, she published a second play The Revolt of Flanders, An Historical Tragedy in Five Acts.[2]

The performance of Robinson's play Richelieu in Love, already in rehearsal, was prohibited by the Lord Chamberlain's office in 1844 because it dealt with Charles I, then viewed as a forbidden topic. A revised version of the play was licensed for performance in 1852.[3]

In 1862, she was granted a civil list pension. She published The Matrimonial Vanity Fair, a critique of the matrimonial market and her last published work, in 1867.[1]

Robinson was diagnosed with mental illness some time after 1867. She died in Norwood Green at the age of 76 at the London County Lunatic Asylum due to bronchitis, heart disease and cirrhosis.[1][2]

References
  1. Humpherys, Anne. "Robinson, Emma". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/40240. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. "Emma Robinson". The Orlando Project. Cambridge University.
  3. Stephens, John Russell (2010). The Censorship of English Drama 1824-1901. pp. 48–50. ISBN 978-0521136556.
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