Jane Porter, 1776-1850
Biographical note
Scottish historical novelist and dramatist. Her novel Thaddeus of Warsaw (1803) is one of the earliest examples of the historical novel, and it went through a dozen editions. Based on eye-witness accounts from Polish refugees of the doomed independence struggle of the 1790s, the book was praised by one of its characters, the great Polish patriot Kosciusko. The Scottish Chiefs (1810) a novel about William Wallace, was also a success (the French version was banned by Napoleon), and it has remained popular with Scottish children. The Pastor's Fireside (1815), was a story about the later Stuarts. She wrote a number of novels, as well as two plays, which were less successful. Her play, Switzerland (1819), had Edmund Kean and Charles Kemble in the principal roles but it closed after one performance. A later play, Owen, Prince of Powys (1822), closed after three performances. Jane also contributed to various periodicals. She also wrote Tales Round a Winter Hearth (1821), Coming Out (1828) and The Field of Forty Footsteps (1828) with her sister, Anna Maria Porter (1780–1832).
Works
- Thaddeus of Warsaw [1803]
- The Scottish Chiefs [1810]
- Sir Edward Seaward's narrative of his shipwreck, and consequent discovery of certain islands in the Caribbean Sea: with a detail of many extraordinary and highly interesting events in his life, from the year 1733 to 1749, as written in his own diary [New York: Harper, 1831] / Dr. William Ogilvie Porter; edited by Jane Porter
- Sir Edward Seaward's narrative of his shipwreck, and consequent discovery of certain islands in the Caribbean Sea: with a detail of many extraordinary and highly interesting events in his life, from the year 1733 to 1749, as written in his own diary [London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1841] / Dr. William Ogilvie Porter; edited by Jane Porter
