Frances Minto Elliot
Encyclopedia
Frances Minto Elliot was a prolific English
writer, primarily of non-fiction works on the social history of Italy
, Spain
, and France
and travelogues
. She also wrote three novels and published art criticism and gossipy, sometimes scandalous, sketches for The Art Journal
, Bentley's Miscellany
, and The New Monthly Magazine
, often under the pseudonym
, "Florentia". Largely forgotten now, she was very popular in her day, with multiple re-printings of her books in both Europe and the United States. Elliot had a wide circle of literary friends including Charles Dickens
, Anthony Trollope
and Wilkie Collins
. Collins dedicated his 1872 novel, Poor Miss Finch, to her, and much of the content in Marian Holcolmbe's conversations in The Woman in White
is said to be based on her.
village of Swallowfield
on 6 March 1820, the only child of Charles Dickinson of Queen Charlton Manor, Somerset
. She was an 18 year old heiress when her life began to take its somewhat complicated path. On 8 October 1838, she married John Edward Geils from Glasgow
in the Swallowfield church. The couple then departed for Scotland, but the marriage proved to be a disaster. After seven years, she left her husband and returned to Farley Hill Court, alleging his adultery with two of their maids, and violence towards her. He, in turn, tried to deny her access to their four daughters and sued her for the "restitution of his conjugal rights". In 1855 she was finally able to obtain a divorce in the Scottish courts and regain custody of the children, although the case had been fought all the way to the House of Lords
before it was finalized. Despite the fact that she was the innocent party in the divorce, she found herself socially ostracised from the upper-class circles in which she had once moved and travelled to Italy, where she was eventually to spend a large part of her life. According to the 1896 edition of her book, Roman Gossip, one of the daughters from her first marriage (also named Frances) later married the Italian archeologist and art historian, Marchese Chigi.
During the protracted divorce proceedings, she worked as a journalist for several London magazines and became friends with Wilkie Collins, who also wrote for Bentley's Miscellany. It was through Collins that she met Charles Dickens. Collins had asked her to play in the 1857 amateur performances of The Frozen Deep
, a play he had co-written with Dickens. In December 1863 she married the Very Rev. Gilbert Elliot, Dean of Bristol
, a widower twenty years her senior with three children from his first wife. However, within three years, that marriage was also in serious trouble. She eventually left Elliot and returned to Italy, although the couple were never legally separated or divorced. She continued to use her married name as an author, incorporating "Minto" for good measure, especially in British publications. Gilbert Elliot had family connections with the Earls of Minto
– her 1873 book, Old Court Life in France, is dedicated to "My niece The Countess of Minto".
Francis Minto Elliot died in Siena
on 26 October 1898, aged 78. She is buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome
near the grave of her second daughter, Mary Lucy, who had died in Rome in 1855 at the age of 13.
Non-fiction
Fiction
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
writer, primarily of non-fiction works on the social history of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and travelogues
Travel literature
Travel literature is travel writing of literary value. Travel literature typically records the experiences of an author touring a place for the pleasure of travel. An individual work is sometimes called a travelogue or itinerary. Travel literature may be cross-cultural or transnational in focus, or...
. She also wrote three novels and published art criticism and gossipy, sometimes scandalous, sketches for The Art Journal
The Art Journal
The Art Journal, published in London, was the most important Victorian magazine on art. It was founded in 1839 by Hodgson & Graves, print publishers, 6 Pall Mall, with the title the Art Union Monthly Journal, the first issue of 750 copies appearing 15 February 1839.Hodgson & Graves hired Samuel...
, Bentley's Miscellany
Bentley's Miscellany
Bentley's Miscellany was an English literary magazine started by Richard Bentley. It was published between 1836 and 1868.-Contributors:Already a successful publisher of novels, Bentley began the journal in 1836 and invited Charles Dickens to be its first editor...
, and The New Monthly Magazine
The New Monthly Magazine
The New Monthly Magazine was a British monthly magazine published by Henry Colburn between 1814 and 1884.-History:Colburn and Frederic Shoberl established The New Monthly Magazine and Universal Register as a "virulently Tory" competitor to Sir Richard Phillips' Monthly Magazine in 1814...
, often under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
, "Florentia". Largely forgotten now, she was very popular in her day, with multiple re-printings of her books in both Europe and the United States. Elliot had a wide circle of literary friends including Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
, Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope was one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of his best-loved works, collectively known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire...
and Wilkie Collins
Wilkie Collins
William Wilkie Collins was an English novelist, playwright, and author of short stories. He was very popular during the Victorian era and wrote 30 novels, more than 60 short stories, 14 plays, and over 100 non-fiction pieces...
. Collins dedicated his 1872 novel, Poor Miss Finch, to her, and much of the content in Marian Holcolmbe's conversations in The Woman in White
The Woman in White (novel)
The Woman in White is an epistolary novel written by Wilkie Collins in 1859, serialized in 1859–1860, and first published in book form in 1860...
is said to be based on her.
Biography
Francis Elliot was born Frances Vickriss Dickinson at Farley Hill Court in the BerkshireBerkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
village of Swallowfield
Swallowfield
Swallowfield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire. It is situated south of the town of Reading, and north of the county boundary with Hampshire....
on 6 March 1820, the only child of Charles Dickinson of Queen Charlton Manor, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
. She was an 18 year old heiress when her life began to take its somewhat complicated path. On 8 October 1838, she married John Edward Geils from Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
in the Swallowfield church. The couple then departed for Scotland, but the marriage proved to be a disaster. After seven years, she left her husband and returned to Farley Hill Court, alleging his adultery with two of their maids, and violence towards her. He, in turn, tried to deny her access to their four daughters and sued her for the "restitution of his conjugal rights". In 1855 she was finally able to obtain a divorce in the Scottish courts and regain custody of the children, although the case had been fought all the way to the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
before it was finalized. Despite the fact that she was the innocent party in the divorce, she found herself socially ostracised from the upper-class circles in which she had once moved and travelled to Italy, where she was eventually to spend a large part of her life. According to the 1896 edition of her book, Roman Gossip, one of the daughters from her first marriage (also named Frances) later married the Italian archeologist and art historian, Marchese Chigi.
During the protracted divorce proceedings, she worked as a journalist for several London magazines and became friends with Wilkie Collins, who also wrote for Bentley's Miscellany. It was through Collins that she met Charles Dickens. Collins had asked her to play in the 1857 amateur performances of The Frozen Deep
The Frozen Deep
The Frozen Deep was a play, originally staged as an amateur theatrical, written by Wilkie Collins along with the substantial guidance of Charles Dickens in 1856...
, a play he had co-written with Dickens. In December 1863 she married the Very Rev. Gilbert Elliot, Dean of Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, a widower twenty years her senior with three children from his first wife. However, within three years, that marriage was also in serious trouble. She eventually left Elliot and returned to Italy, although the couple were never legally separated or divorced. She continued to use her married name as an author, incorporating "Minto" for good measure, especially in British publications. Gilbert Elliot had family connections with the Earls of Minto
Earl of Minto
Earl of Minto, in the County of Roxburgh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1813 for Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Baron Minto. The family descends from the politician and judge Gilbert Elliot, who served as a Lord of Session under the judicial title of Lord...
– her 1873 book, Old Court Life in France, is dedicated to "My niece The Countess of Minto".
Francis Minto Elliot died in Siena
Siena
Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008...
on 26 October 1898, aged 78. She is buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome
Protestant Cemetery, Rome
The Protestant Cemetery , now officially called the Cimitero acattolico and often referred to as the Cimitero degli Inglesi is a cemetery in Rome, located near Porta San Paolo alongside the Pyramid of Cestius, a small-scale Egyptian-style pyramid built in 30 BC as a tomb and later incorporated...
near the grave of her second daughter, Mary Lucy, who had died in Rome in 1855 at the age of 13.
Selected works
Frances Elliot's work was published under a variety of names during her lifetime: "Frances Geils", "Frances Vickriss Dickinson", "Florentia", "Frances Elliot", "Mrs. Elliot", and "Frances Minto Elliot". In addition to numerous articles in magazines and journals, she wrote the following books:Non-fiction
- Old Court Life in France
- Old Court Life in Spain
- Pictures of Old Rome
- Roman Gossip
- Diary of an Idle Woman in Italy
- Diary of an Idle Woman in Spain
- Diary of an Idle Woman in Sicily
- Diary of an Idle Woman in Constantinople
Fiction
- The Italians
- The Red Cardinal
- The Ill-tempered Cousin
External links
Public domain copies of works by Frances Minto Elliot- Old Court Life in France Publisher: Ward & Downey, 1886
- Old Court Life in Spain Publisher: Chapman & Hall, 1893
- Roman Gossip Publisher: J. Murray, 1894
- Diary of an Idle Woman in Sicily Publisher: Bernhard Tauchnitz, Leipzig, 1882
- Diary of an Idle Woman in Italy Publisher: Chapman & Hall, 1871
- Diary of an Idle Woman in Constantinople Publisher: J. Murray, 1893
- The Italians Publisher: Bernhard Tauchnitz, Leipzig, 1875
- "Diary of a first Winter in Rome – 1854" in The New Monthly Magazine Vol. 101, Chapman & Hall, London, 1854.
- "The Baths of Lucca" in The New Monthly Magazine Vol. 109, Chapman & Hall, London, 1857.