Ogle

ANNE OGLE (1832 - 1918)

Anne Ogle was born at the vicarage in Bedlington, Northumberland. This is now a service wing to the present vicarage of 1835. She stated: 'Every church or cathedral I have ever seen evokes some recollection of Bedlington'. She was chary of the local miners, however, whom she describes as a 'savage and improvident race'.

Anne lived most of her life in Northumberland, eventually moving to her sister's house at Chesters on the Roman Wall, near Hexham. Her first novel A Lost Love (1854) published as by 'Ashford Owen' is in part autobiographical, reflecting her own restricted youth. It is set in the Bedlington area and the heroine is called Georgy Sandon, in homage to George Sand. It had considerable success, and led to Anne becoming acquainted with the Brownings, Tennyson and Thackeray. Robert Browning tried to get someone to write up the old legal case he had discovered in the market at Florence. He approached Anne Ogle in 1860. 'I had the book for two years,' she 'remembered, ' but it was all in Latin and I could make nothing of it.' It was not until late 1862 that the poet decided he must make something of it himself. The result was Browning's great epic poem The Ring and the Book. A Lost Love ends at Kirkley on the River Blyth, the ancestral home of the Ogles. She refers to 'the rioting rapids of the Tyne' where she hopes to end her days. Swinburne (q.v.) used the phrase in the tremendous ending of his Tale of Balen (1896). Anne appears to have met Swinburne at Wallington Hall in 1858, and was there at the same time in 1865. A collaboration of sorts seems to have occurred subsequently. Mrs Molesworth wrote to Swinburne 26 May 1885 to arrange a lunch with Anne Ogle, who was, it seems 'very, very, very anxious to meet you' (with underlining dictated by Anne Ogle). Swinburne is referred to as an 'old friend' of Anne's, who 'told me to tell you that she remembers everything - all the readings and consultations - she is working at her second novel now - and retaining your names. Mark, the villain, I think, is one.' Anne's only other published novel The Story of Catherine (1885) like the first, depicts the conventional restriction of woman's freedom of action. The villain is called Mark Avron, and the American academic Terry Meyers sees the influence of Swinburne on a number of aspects of the work.

Augustus Hare (q.v.) visited Chesters on 6 October 1896 and saw 'the widow and children of my dear old friend George Clayton and Miss Annie Ogle, whom I knew so well in those far-off days, here as a delightful old lady, with snow-white hair, but the same winning character and ways as in her youth.'

Myers Literary Guide:	The North-East
ANNE OGLE (1832 - 1918) Anne Ogle was born at the vicarage in Bedlington, Northumberland. This is now a service wing to the present vicarage of 1835. She stated: 'Every church or cathedral I have ever seen evokes some recollection of Bedlington'. She was chary of the local miners, however, whom she describes as a 'savage and improvident race'. Anne lived most of her life in Northumberland, eventually moving to her sister's house at Chesters on the Roman Wall, near Hexham. Her first novel A Lost Love (1854) published as by 'Ashford Owen' is in part autobiographical, reflecting her own restricted youth. It is set in the Bedlington area and the heroine is called Georgy Sandon, in homage to George Sand. It had considerable success, and led to Anne becoming acquainted with the Brownings, Tennyson and Thackeray. Robert Browning tried to get someone to write up the old legal case he had discovered in the market at Florence. He approached Anne Ogle in 1860. 'I had the book for two years,' she 'remembered, ' but it was all in Latin and I could make nothing of it.' It was not until late 1862 that the poet decided he must make something of it himself. The result was Browning's great epic poem The Ring and the Book. A Lost Love ends at Kirkley on the River Blyth, the ancestral home of the Ogles. She refers to 'the rioting rapids of the Tyne' where she hopes to end her days. Swinburne (q.v.) used the phrase in the tremendous ending of his Tale of Balen (1896). Anne appears to have met Swinburne at Wallington Hall in 1858, and was there at the same time in 1865. A collaboration of sorts seems to have occurred subsequently. Mrs Molesworth wrote to Swinburne 26 May 1885 to arrange a lunch with Anne Ogle, who was, it seems 'very, very, very anxious to meet you' (with underlining dictated by Anne Ogle). Swinburne is referred to as an 'old friend' of Anne's, who 'told me to tell you that she remembers everything - all the readings and consultations - she is working at her second novel now - and retaining your names. Mark, the villain, I think, is one.' Anne's only other published novel The Story of Catherine (1885) like the first, depicts the conventional restriction of woman's freedom of action. The villain is called Mark Avron, and the American academic Terry Meyers sees the influence of Swinburne on a number of aspects of the work. Augustus Hare (q.v.) visited Chesters on 6 October 1896 and saw 'the widow and children of my dear old friend George Clayton and Miss Annie Ogle, whom I knew so well in those far-off days, here as a delightful old lady, with snow-white hair, but the same winning character and ways as in her youth.'
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