Author: Phelan, Charlotte Elizabeth
Biography:
PHELAN, Charlotte Elizabeth formerly BROWNE, later TONNA (1790-1846: ODNB)
She was born at Norwich where her father, Michael Browne, was the rector of St Giles’s Church; her mother, Sarah Murrray, was descended from Scots Covenantors. She was temporarily blind in her childhood and later became deaf. In 1811 her father died, leaving the family in a difficult financial situation, and in 1813 she married George Phelan, an Irish officer, at Lambeth, Surrey. They went to Nova Scotia for two years with his regiment but the marriage was not a success and Phelan proved an abusive husband. They moved to Kilkenny, Ireland, where he was involved in litigation over his family’s estate. There she had a conversion experience, became involved with the Dublin Evangelical Tract Society, and began publishing under the name Charlotte Elizabeth. When George Phelan moved to America, she stayed behind; in 1824 he reappeared and unsuccessfully petitioned for a share in her literary earnings. She went to Bristol and, later, Sandhurst to be under the protection of her younger brother; she was traumatised by his sudden death from drowning in 1828. She moved to London where she served as editor for the Christian Lady’s Magazine (1836-46) and the Protestant Magazine (1841-46); she also edited the Protestant Annual in 1840. Strongly anti-Catholic, she agitated for conversion of Irish Catholics and supported the Orange Order (for which she wrote songs that became very popular). With Phelan’s death in 1837 she was free to re-visit Ireland and, in 1841, to marry a co-writer, Lewis Hippolytus Joseph Tonna (1812-57). She developed breast cancer and, shortly before her death, moved to Ramsgate for health reasons. Surprisingly, given her religious views, she is buried in St Augustine Catholic Cemetery in Ramsgate. She was a prolific writer who composed many didactic prose and fiction works. (ODNB 17 Aug. 2020; DIB 17 Aug. 2020; Orlando; ancestry.co.uk 17 Aug. 2020; Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna, Personal Recollections [1841])
Other Names:
- C. E. Phelan
- Charlotte Elizabeth
- Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna