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At the Circulating Library

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

Author: Jane Louisa Willyams

Author: Jane Louisa Willyams (1786–1878)

Biography: Jane Louisa Willyams was born in 1786 in Carmanton, Cornwall, the fourth and youngest daughter of James Willyams. In conjunction with her sister, she wrote the novel Coquetry (1818) which saw print through the intercession of Sir Walter Scott who had taken pity on the inexperienced authors. Nearly thirty years later, Willyams wrote a second novel, Chillon: or, Protestants of the Sixteenth Century (1845). In her later years, she wrote two history books and a collection of poems. Her obituary says, she "held strong Protestant opinions, and at various times published many treatises in support of the principles which she professed." She never married and died in 1878.

References: Academy (8 June 1878)

Fiction Titles:

  1. Chillon: or, Protestants of the Sixteenth Century. An Historical Tale.  2 vol.  London: Hatchard, 1845.
  2. The Tower of the Hawk: Some Passages in the History of the House of Hapsburg.  1 vol.  London: Hatchard, 1871.