Small image of a man handing a book to a women across a counter.

At the Circulating Library

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

Author: Lily Tinsley

Author: Lily Tinsley (1865–1921)

Alternate Name(s): Lilian Tinsley (alternate name)

Biography: Lily (or Lilian) Tinsley was born in 1865 at Wood Green, Tottenham, the fourth daughter of publisher William Tinsley (1831–1902). As a teenager, she assisted her father's business, including running Tinsley's Magazine where she published poems and stories and serialized her novel In the Ring (1886) and the unfinished The Darrel Girls: A Story of Today (1887). The latter was a casualty of the failure of her father's publishing business. Tinsley co-wrote a play called Devil's Luck: or, The Man She Loved (1885) and continued to publish stories in lesser periodicals such as England. After her father died in 1902, Tinsley appears to have stopped writing and turned to teaching music. She never married and died in 1921.

Author Tags:

References: British Census (1881, 1891, 1901, 1911); Peter Newbolt, William Tinsley (1831–1902) (Ashgate, 2001)

Fiction Titles:

  1. A Woman's Revenge.  2 vol.  London: Tinsley Brothers, 1885.
  2. Cousin Dick.  1 vol.  London: Tinsley Brothers, 1885.
  3. Little Witness: A Tale.  1 vol.  London: Tinsley Brothers, 1885.
  4. In the Ring: A Novel.  3 vol.  London: Tinsley Brothers, 1886.