Author: Lefanu, Alicia
Biography:
LEFANU, Alicia (1791-1844?: ancestry.co.uk)
She came from a literary family: her uncle was R. B. Sheridan (q.v.) and an aunt, Alicia Sheridan Lefanu (1753-1817), was a playwright. Her father, Henry Lefanu (1747-1821), captain in the 56th Regiment of Foot, was descended from Huguenots who had fled to Ireland; he married Ann Elizabeth Craford Sheridan (known as Betsy or Elizabeth) in London 4 July 1789. No record has been located for Alicia Lefanu’s birth, but it is generally assumed she was born in about 1791, possibly in Dublin; a sister, Harriet, was born in 1797. Her father’s occupation meant an unsettled life and the family struggled financially. They were in Bath 1799-c.1803 where Elizabeth Lefanu ran a school (she likely educated her daughters herself). On 1 Oct. 1803 Captain Lefanu was made a barrack-master and the family moved to Kingsbridge, Devonshire. Elizabeth contributed to the family income by publishing three novels—Lucy Osmond (1803), The India Voyage (1804), and The Sister (1810). Alicia Lefanu published her own first novel, Strathallan, in Sept. 1816; it was followed by five more works of fiction and her most successful work, Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Frances Sheridan (1824), about her grandmother. Harriet died in Birmingham on 8 Feb. 1818 and Henry Lefanu at Leamington Spa in Aug. 1821. Elizabeth Lefanu was granted an Irish civil pension and she continued living in Leamington with Alicia until her own death on 4 Jan. 1837. Alicia published nothing after a 4-volume novel, Henry the Fourth of France, in 1826. The ODNB states that her cousin, Caroline Norton (q.v.), obtained a Royal Bounty Fund pension for her. The 1841 Census records her living on Charlotte Street, Leamington. Fitzer identifies her as the Alice Le Fenne who is recorded in the 1861 Census as a boarder in a home in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. She died in Chipping Norton on 29 Jan. 1867 of an "effusion on the brain." The death certificate identifies her as a civil list pensioner. (ODNB for Philip Le Fanu 8 Mar. 2022; ancestry.co.uk 8 Mar. 2022; findagrave.com 8 Mar. 2022; Kentish Gazette 17 July 1779; Bath Chronicle 10 Oct. 1799, 25 June 1801, 10 June 1802; Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser 20 Feb. 1818, 23 Aug. 1821; W. Chamberlaine, “Anecdotes of Miss Lefanu and of Mrs. Jordan.” GM 94 [1824] 582-83; A. M. Fitzer, “Introduction,” Strathallan [2008]; death certificate from AA) SR
Other Names:
- Miss Alicia Lefanu