Author: Harvey, Jane
Biography:
HARVEY, Jane (1771-1848: ODNB)
Recent scholarship has cleared up some longstanding errors in the records relating to “Miss Harvey of Newcastle.” She was baptised on 8 Jul. 1771 at Gateshead, County Durham, just across the river from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and apparently lived at Tynemouth during her childhood. Her father was a wharfinger, an official responsible for managing docking and collecting payments; he and Jane Marshall had married at Gateshead on 29 Jun. 1769. Nothing is known of her education but she was a precocious writer of both verse and prose. Her first book, published anonymously by subscription, was a travel guide, A Sentimental Tour through Newcastle (1794). It was followed by the first collection of poems, this time under her own name, also by subscription. She later earned a living mostly by writing novels for the Minerva Press and other publishers—a dozen in all between 1802 and 1828. She did not marry; she may have run a circulating library in Tynemouth. Besides her poems for children, she wrote occasional verses on behalf of local causes such as a labour dispute between keelmen and their employers, some of which are included in her final volume, Fugitive Pieces (1841). At the time of her death on 4 Mar. 1848, she was living in Brunswick Place, Newcastle; she was buried in the Newcastle general cemetery on 6 Mar. (ODNB 18 Feb. 2022; Orlando 18 Feb. 2022; findmypast.com 18 Feb. 2022; Blain) HJ
Other Names:
- Miss Harvey