| Mary Catherine Rowsell | |
| Birth Date: | 29 December 1839 |
| Birth Place: | Finsbury, London, England |
| Death Place: | Bromley, Kent, England |
| Nationality: | English |
| Occupation: | Novelist |
| Years Active: | 1864–1910 |
| Known For: | Writing novels with historical subjects |
| Notable Works: | Traitor or Patriot? A Tale of the Rye-House Plot (1885) |
| Relations: | Thomas James Rowsell (uncle), Charles Barry (uncle) |
Mary Catherine Rowsell (29 December 183915 June 1921) was an English novelist, author of children's fiction, and dramatist. Her education in Belgium and Germany resulted in books based on German folk tales, and on French historical figures. Most of her children's books were set around well-known historical events.
Rowsell was born on 29 December 1839 and baptised in St. Dionis Backchurch on 22 January 1840. Her father was Charles John Rowsell (28 March 180228 January 1882), an accountant who may have patented the Graphoscopeand certainly patented improvements to it. Her mother was Sarah Lewis (buried 18 August 1897), and her parents were married on 6 June 1829, in St. Nicholas, Brighton, Sussex, England. Her uncle was the popular preacher Thomas James Rowsell, and her aunt Sarah Rowsell was married to the architect Sir Charles Barry.[1]
Rowsell was educated at Queen's College, London in Harley Street, and later in Brussels and Bonn. This enabled her to write books based on German folk-tales and on people from French history.
Rowsell produced four types of works: books for children (largely based either on folk tales or on historical subjects), novels for adults, plays, and shorter fiction.
Rowsell's first book was published in her mid twenties, under her initials, "M. C. R.". This was a translation of Rosalie Koch's collection of forty fairy tales, German: Rübezahl: Berggeist im Riesengebirge (; 1845). The first edition of the book was well received, and another edition was issued for the Christmas gift-book market. In advertising the Christmas edition, the publishers quoted the press reviews of the first edition:
Despite this initial success Rowsell had no further work published until Abbots' Crag in July 1872. On this occasion the author was identified as M. C. Rowsell.
The following list is based on searches on the Jisc Library Hub Discover, which collates the catalogues of 162 national, academic, and specialist libraries in the UK and Ireland. The online availability of texts is indicated for the following repositories:
| Notes | ||||||||||
| 1 | 1864 | The Spirit of the Giant Mountains: A Series of Fairy Tales | 231 p., 9 pl., 8º | London: Murray & Co | ||||||
| 2 | 1872 | Abbots' Crag: A Tale | 168 p., 8º | London: Whittaker | ||||||
| 3 | 1874 | Plays for Home Performance: Thornrose and Sparkledor; Riquet with the Tuft | 63 p., 8º | London: Samuel French | ||||||
| 4 | 1876 | Saint Nicolas' Eve, and Other Tales | 256 p., 8º | London: Samuel Tinsley | ||||||
| 5 | 1878 | Love Loyal | 3 v., 8º | London: Hurst & Blackett | ||||||
| 6 | 1880 | Jeannette | 3 v., 8º | London: Hurst & Blackett | ||||||
| 7 | 1882 | Hymns and Narrative Verses for Children (third edition) | 30 p., 16º | London: J. T. Hayes | ||||||
| 8 | 1883 | Tales of Filial Devotion: Examples of the Faithful Heroism of Girls, Drawn from French History | 198 p., 8º | London: Sonnenschein & Co | ||||||
| 9 | 1884 | Number Nip; or, the Spirit of the Giant Mountains | 286 p., 8º | London: Sonnenschein & Co | ||||||
| 10 | 1884 | Traitor or Patriot? A Tale of the Rye-House Plot | vi, 287, fs., 8º | London: Blackie & Son | ||||||
| 11 | 1885 | The Pedlar and his Dog | 160 p. : ill., 8º | London: Blackie & Son | ||||||
| 12 | 1885 | Miss Vanbrugh: A Stage Story | 158, [4] p., 12º | Bristol: G. W. Arrowsmith | ||||||
| 13 | 1886 | Fisherman Grim | 96 p., 8º | London: Blackie & Son | ||||||
| 14 | 1886 | Sepperl the Drummer-Boy | 95 p., fs., 8º | London: Blackie & Son | ||||||
| 15 | 1886 | The Silver Dial | 3 v., 8º | London: Swan Sonnenschein | ||||||
| 16 | 1887 | Hans the Painter | 96 p., fs., 8º | London: Blackie & Son | ||||||
| 17 | 1887 | Hatto's Tower and Other Stories | 127 p., 8º | London: Blackie & Son | ||||||
| 18 | 1888 | The Red House | 176 p., 8º | London: Hamilton, Adams & Co | ||||||
| 19 | 1889 | John a' Dale; or, The King and the Tinker | 128 p., 8º | London: Blackie & Son | ||||||
| 20 | 1889 | Whips of Steel | ||||||||
| 21 | 1890 | The Story of a Queen | 159 p., 8º | London: Blackie & Son | ||||||
| 22 | 1890 | Thorndyke Manor | 287 p., 8º | London: Blackie & Son | ||||||
| 23 | 1891 | Petronella; and Madame Ponowski | 107 p., fs., 8º | London: Skeffington & Son | ||||||
| 24 | 1892 | Richard's Play: A Comedietta, in One Act | 16 p., 8º | London: Samuel French | ||||||
| 25 | 1894 | The Friend of the People | 3 v., 8º | London: T. F. Unwin | ||||||
| 26 | 1896 | The Green Men of Norwell, and Other Stories | 87 p., 8º | London: Simpkin & Marshall | ||||||
| 27 | 1897 | France: The Children's Study | 362 p., fs., 8º | London: T. Fisher Unwin | ||||||
| 28 | 1898 | The Boys of Fairmead | 319 p., 8º | London: F. Warne & Co | ||||||
| 29 | 1899 | Honour Bright | 48 p., 8º | London: E. Nister | ||||||
| 30 | 1900 | Dick of Temple Bar | 127 p., ill. | London: E. Nister | ||||||
| 31 | 1902 | The Last Link | London: Samuel French | |||||||
| 32 | 1903 | My Lady's Favour, a Comedy by M. C. Rowsell and E. G. Howell | London: Samuel French | |||||||
| 33 | 1905 | The Life-Story of Charlotte de la Trémoille: Countess of Derby | viii, 188 p., ill., 8º | London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner | ||||||
| 34 | 1905 | The Wild Swans, or, The Adventure of Roland Cleeve | 128, 32 p., ill., 8º | London: S. W. Partridge & Co | ||||||
| 35 | 1907 | Monsieur de Paris: a Romance | 306 p. | London: Chatto & Windus | ||||||
| 36 | 1910 | Ninon de L'Enclos and Her Century | ix, 310 p., 2 pl., 8º | London: Hurst & Blackett | ||||||
| 37 | 1920 | The Sea-King's Son and Fisherman Grim | 78 p., 8º | London: Blackie & Son |
Rowsell edited the short lived (one volume only) St. Paul's Magazine in 1889. This should not be confused with Saint Paul's, a monthly magazine edited by Anthony Trollope which ran for 14 volumes from 18671874. Rowsell contributed, with James Macdonald Oxley and John Alexander Hammerton to The Children's Friend: a Magazine for Boys and Girls at Home and School (London: S. W. Partridge) in 1902 and 1903.
Several of Rowell's published novels were serialised, but she also published shorter fiction and serial stories including:
Rowsell had fallen on hard times by the end of the 19th century. The small annuity left her by her father, who died in 1882, and her mother, who died in 1897, shrank due to bad investment choices. As a result, she appealed four times to the Royal Literary Fund. Rowsell died at 81 years of age on 15 June 1921. The cause of death was stated to be epilepsy and senile decay.