Spedding

SARAH FRANCIS SPEDDING (1836 - 1921)

Sarah Spedding was the daughter of John Spedding, the brother of James Spedding the Bacon scholar and friend of Tennyson. Sarah was born in Newcastle but little is known of her life. It seems that she published at least five novels under her pseudonym 'Susan Morley'. The first, Aileen Ferrers (1874) has good northern and class conflict scenes, turning on a niece being adopted into a wealthy family. Throstlethwaite (1875) and Margaret Chetwynd (1877) are fairly conventional romances, but Corbie's Pool (1882) and Dolly Lorraine (1888) have interesting 'bad girls' and reveal a sharp awareness of the position of women as writers. and intellectuals.

Myers Literary Guide:	The North-East
SARAH FRANCIS SPEDDING (1836 - 1921) Sarah Spedding was the daughter of John Spedding, the brother of James Spedding the Bacon scholar and friend of Tennyson. Sarah was born in Newcastle but little is known of her life. It seems that she published at least five novels under her pseudonym 'Susan Morley'. The first, Aileen Ferrers (1874) has good northern and class conflict scenes, turning on a niece being adopted into a wealthy family. Throstlethwaite (1875) and Margaret Chetwynd (1877) are fairly conventional romances, but Corbie's Pool (1882) and Dolly Lorraine (1888) have interesting 'bad girls' and reveal a sharp awareness of the position of women as writers. and intellectuals.
Return to Index	On to next Author