Misses Corbett Explained

The Misses Corbett were sisters Walterina Cunningham (died 1 April 1837) and Grace Corbett (– 11 June 1843).[1] [2] They were Scottish authors who wrote a number of books, poems and songs in the early nineteenth century, most notably a series of anthologies called The Odd Volume (1826–1827).[3] While their books were published anonymously, generally as "by the authors of The Odd Volume", they were traditionally ascribed to "The Misses Corbett", "Misses M and — Corbett" or "Marion and Margaret Corbett".[4] [5] [6]

Biography

Walterina and Grace (born around 1765 or 1770) were the daughters of John Corbett (died 20 January 1815) of the ancient Glaswegian family of Corbett of Tollcross.[1] [2] [7]

When only eleven years old, Grace was said to have composed the song "O Mary ye's be clad in silk", a new melody to a slightly altered version of the "Siller Crown". This was included in Peter Urbani's Selection of Scots Songs (1794), and James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum (1803).[8]

The sisters lived in Portobello, Edinburgh.[2] Walterina married John Cunningham of the 54th Regiment of the British Army.[2] The sisters' niece Laura Corbett (1795–1863) lived with Grace, and may have assisted her with some of the books. An unidentified "H. C." is also given as the author of two songs and a waltz in The Odd Volume (1826), and may have been a relative of the sisters.[1]

Their anthology The Odd Volume (1826) proved to be popular, with one publisher requesting a reprint of 750 copies, and an advance order for 1,250 copies of The Odd Volume: Second Series (1827), which contained entirely new material.[9] [4] The poem "We'll Go to Sea No More" from The Odd Volume: Second Series was reprinted a number of times, including in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Poems of Places (1874) where it was ascribed to Marion Corbett.[10]

The sisters wrote a novel The Busy Bodies (1827) set in Portobello, with characters based on real people. Author William Baird wrote "That some of the characters represented were drawn from the life is only too evident from a statement we have heard that after its publication the Misses Corbett had to leave Portobello for a time to escape the wrath of the so-called Busybodies."[2]

In 1828, one of the sisters' plays, Aloyse, was performed at the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh, and was said by author Ralston Inglis to have been a great success. This was followed two or three years later by another of their plays, A Week at Holyrood, or the Merry Days of James the Sixth.[7]

Their book The Sisters' Budget was another anthology, with a preface dated "London, April 1831".[11] Four years later in 1835, they applied to the Royal Literary Fund while living in Saint Saviour, Jersey.[3]

They were correspondents with and considered by Thomas Aird to be friends of physician and writer David Macbeth Moir (1798–1851).[12]

Walterina died on 1 April 1837, and Grace in Portobello, Edinburgh on 11 June 1843. They were both buried in Portobello Old Parish Church graveyard.[1] [2]

Bibliography

Anthologies

Novels

Plays

As contributors

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Book: Baptie, David. Musical Scotland. 1894. 33.
  2. Book: Baird, William. Annals of Duddingston and Portobello. 1898. 468–470.
  3. Book: Killick, Tim. British Short Fiction in the Early Nineteenth Century: The Rise of the Tale. 2008. Ashgate. 9780754664130. 107–115.
  4. Hilary. Brown. German Women Writers in English Short Story Anthologies of the 1820s. The Modern Language Review. 97. 3. July 2002. 621. 10.2307/3737496 . 3737496 .
  5. Encyclopedia: Bibliography: Corbett, Marion & Margaret. Scottish National Dictionary. 2022-02-05.
  6. Book: British Museum Catalogue of Printed Books: Colm–Comly. 1886. 137–138.
  7. Book: Inglis, Ralston. The Dramatic Writers of Scotland. 1868. 129–130. 2027/uc1.$b261541?urlappend=%3Bseq=135 .
  8. Web site: The 'Scots Musical Museum' - Volume VI, song 585, page 605 - 'O Mary ye's be clad in silk'. Burns Scotland. https://web.archive.org/web/20210605232932/http://www.burnsscotland.com/items/v/volume-vi,-song-585,-page-605-o-mary-yes-be-clad-in-silk.aspx. 2021-06-05.
  9. Book: Turley, Richard Marggraf. Bright Stars: John Keats, Barry Cornwall and Romantic Literary Culture. Liverpool University Press. 2013. 9781846318139. 63.
  10. Book: Corbett, Marion. Henry Wadsworth. Longfellow. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. May, the Island: We'll Go to Sea No More. Poems of Places. VI–VIII.
  11. Web site: Ebbes. Verena. Garside. Peter. Koch. Angela. Mandal. Anthony. Schöwerling. Rainer. The English Novel, 1830–1836: A Bibliographical Survey of Fiction Published in the British Isles. Romantic Textualities. 21 November 2016. 2022-02-05.
  12. Book: Thomas. Aird. Thomas Aird. The Poetical Works of David Macbeth Moir. 1852. 1. xcii. 2027/hvd.32044090372384?urlappend=%3Bseq=90 .
  13. Web site: Corbett, Marion. The Women's Print History Project. 2019. 2022-02-05.
  14. Web site: Corbett, Margaret. The Women's Print History Project. 2019. 2022-02-05.
  15. Book: Corbett, M.. The New Happy Week, or Holidays at Beechwood. 1841. iii.
  16. Web site: Tim. Killick. The Rise of the Tale: A Preliminary Checklist of Collections of Short Fiction Published 1820–29 in the Corvey Collection. 29 January 2013. Romantic Textualities. 2022-02-05.

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