Author: Williams, Catharine M.
Biography:
WILLIAMS, Catharine M. (fl 1830?)
There are few facts to rely on in the identification of Catharine M. Williams, author of Tales of Glendevon, and Other Poems. There is no date of publication on the title-page. An “Address” to the reader, also undated, is signed from 14, Great Cambridge Street, Hackney Road (in Shoreditch, London). Williams explains that her formerly “prosperous and sunshiny existence” had suffered an extreme reverse of fortune, followed by financial losses that induced her to publish her poems for sale to her friends. The poems themselves are conventional and generally sombre, reflecting on the delusions of love and romance, the hardships of women, and the duplicities of men. The Shoreditch address has no matches in the census records. The author’s full name, “Catharine M.” has no obvious matches although there are many Catharine or Catherine Williamses to choose from. The single known review reveals that she was “Miss” not Mrs. Williams, and that the longer poems were written while she was still in her teens. That review, however, dates from 1844, which raises the possibility that the work has been misdated and does not belong in this bibliography at all. (ancestry.com 12 June 2024; findmypast.com 12 June 2024; MR ns 3 [1844], 410) HJ
Other Names:
- Mrs. Williams