Loading AI tools
British poet, playwright, and author From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eliza Bland Smith Erskine Norton (1795 – 20 September 1855) was a British poet, playwright, and author.
Eliza Bland Smith Erskine Norton | |
---|---|
Born | 1795 Whitehaven |
Died | 20 September 1855 (aged 59–60) |
Spouse(s) | Esmé Stuart Erskine, James Norton |
Eliza Bland Smith was born in 1795 in Whitehaven, England, the daughter of a Lieutenant Colonel Smith. In 1809, she married Lt. Col. Esmé Stewart Erskine, son of Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine. He lost an arm at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and died in 1817.[1] In Mumbai on 3 November 1819, she married James Norton, then in the naval service of the East India Company.[2] He later joined the Imperial Brazilian Navy and during the Cisplatine War, he lost an arm in battle in 1828.[3] He died in 1835.[1]
Eliza Bland Smith Erskine Norton died on 20 September 1855 in Baden-Baden at the home of her son-in-law, diplomat Frederic Douglas-Hamilton.[4]
She published two books of poetry, Isabel (1814) and Alcon Malanzore (1815). The latter was a long narrative poem about the doomed interracial love between a Christian woman, Rosaline, and the titular Moorish commander.[5] She also published a play, The Martyr (1848), and a collection of stories, The Gossip (1852). She contributed to periodicals including The Metropolitan and Bentley's Miscellaney.[6]
Her works are sometimes confused with those of the more famous author Caroline Norton; the latter quipped that "Mrs. Erskine Norton has ingeniously taken to playing at being me to all the publishers."[7] The two women engaged in a debate about this confusion and the appropriate use of British naming conventions in letters to The Times.[8]
Eliza and Esmé Stewart Erskine had three children:
Eliza and James Norton had six children:
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.