Author: Houghton, Mary Arnald
Biography:
HOUGHTON, Mary Arnald (fl 1810-15)
The only thing that is certain about "Miss Houghton" is that besides her poem Emilia of Lindenau (1815) she was the author also of two novels, The Mysteries of the Forest (1810, 2nd edn 1822) and The Border Chieftains (1813, 2nd edn. 1815), both published first in London. (EN2 mentions only the 1822 2nd edn. of The Mysteries of the Forest, but a 2nd edn was advertised as "ready for delivery" in Jan. 1818.) In the Preface to The Border Chieftains she describes herself as a "young Candidate" for literary fame. Mysteries is dated from Hampstead, Emilia from Hereford. There seems to be no further trace of her. (ancestry.com 11 Sept. 2025, findmypast 11 Sept. 2025; Aris's Birmingham Gazette 26 Jan. 2025; EN2) HJ