Author: Bristow, Amelia
Biography:
BRISTOW, Amelia, formerly SOLOMON (1783-1860: Orlando)
She was born on 19 July 1783 in London, the daughter of Simon and Rachel Solomon, observant Jews. She later became Christian and was baptised at Christ Church, Greyfriars, on 9 Dec. 1817. She married William Bristow, a writing clerk, in the same church, 26 Dec. 1825. She published a translation of a French poem, The Maniac (1810), to which she added some poems, but it passed largely unnoticed. She then published The Faithful Servant (1824), a female-servant narrative aspiring to be a conduct book, but with only 152 subscribers it was not a financial success. She also published a portrait of Polish Jewry, Sophia de Lissau (1826), but its appeal must have been limited and by 1827 she was forced to apply to the RLF for assistance. She published another harsher and perhaps Evangelical-influenced portrait of Jews in Emma de Lissau (1828) and works illustrative of Jewish customs and life, The Orphans of Lissau (1830) and Miriam and Rosette (1837). By 1839 she had moved from Pimlico to Blackheath, where her husband died, and she continued to apply to the RLF up until 1845. Her final years as an aged widow were made more difficult by the loss of friends and income, ill-health, and partial loss of sight. However, she may have been assisted by a benefactor, since she died in the richer and more fashionable area of Regent's Park, aged 76, on 18 Mar. 1860. (Orlando; ancestry.co.uk 4 Aug. 2020; EN2; RLF 1/596) AA
Other Names:
- A. Bristow