Myers Literary Guide:
The North-East
 

ANNA MARIA PORTER (1780 - 1832)

Anna Porter, poet, novelist and sister of Jane (q.v.), was born in the Bailey in Durham, the posthumous child of William Porter (1735-1779), who had served as an army surgeon for 23 years. He is buried in St Oswald's church.

Anna, being fair-haired, pretty and gay, was nicknamed L'Allegra. She was in London by the 1790s, publishing verse in the Universal Magazine. After her Artless Tales, she also wrote a short novel Walsh Colville published anonymously in 1797. Though her sister was the more popular writer, Anna was the more prolific. The Hungarian Brothers (1807), a stirring historical romance set against the French Revolutionary Wars was a considerable success and went into several editions. Anna also produced the humanitarian Tales of Pity on Fishing, Shooting and Hunting in 1814, and collaborated with her sister on collections of stories. In all, she published some thirty works, many being translated into French.

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