Author: RYVES, Margracia
Biography:
RYVES, Margracia later LOUDON (1788?-1860: findmypast.co.uk)
One of five children born to Frances Ryves (q.v.) and William Ryves, she was probably born at Ryves Castle, Limerick, Ireland. (O'Toole gives a birth year of c. 1795.) Details of her early life and education are unknown, but after her father’s death in 1817, she lived with her mother and sisters in spa towns including Bath and Leamington. On 1 July 1830 at Leamington Priors, Warwickshire, she married Charles Loudon, a medical writer and physician. They had no children. When Loudon retired in 1841, they moved to Paris; he died in 1844 but she remained living there at least through 1846 when she wrote to Sir Robert Peel about a proposed translation of works about the plight of Christians in Bulgaria. She died at Cheltenham on 30 July 1860 and was buried on 3 Aug. at Norton, Gloucestershire. She left effects in England of under £200 and is described as "formerly of Merrion Square, Dublin." She published novels: First Love (1830), Fortune Hunting (1832), Dilemmas of Pride (1833), and Maternal Love (1845). In her lifetime she was also well known for her association with the Anti-Corn Law League and her work on political economy—Philanthropic Economy (1835) and The Light of Mental Science (1845). She also published The Voice of Bulgaria in 1846 although no copy has been located. (findmypast.co.uk 15 Sept. 2020; ancestry.co.uk 30 Sept. 2025; Sarah Richardson, The Political Worlds of Women [2013]; T. O'Toole, et al, Munster Women Writers, 1800-2000 [2020], 122; NCCO, Letters of Sir Robert Peel; contributions from AA) SR
Other Names:
- Margracia Loudon