 Margaret
Oliphant
1828 - 1887
Scottish Novelist and Biographer
Margaret Oliphant was one of the
most prolific and versatile authors of the
nineteenth century, producing a book a year for
forty years in succession and writing over one
hundred books. She is well-known for her works
portraying Scottish and English life and
character.
Born on April 4, 1828 in
Midlothian, Scotland, Margaret Oliphant was the
daughter of a businessman. She grew up in
Glasgow and Liverpool, giving her the background
necessary for depicting life in Scotland and
England. She published her first novel,
“Margaret Maitland”, in 1849, which was well
received.
She married her cousin Frank
Wilson Oliphant, but was left a widow with a
young family to support in 1859 when Frank died
of tuberculosis. She relied on her writing,
which included journalism and serialization in
“Blackwood’s Magazine”, writing novels, and
writing biographies, to support her family.
During her lifetime Margaret wrote over a
hundred novels and around thirty non-fiction
books. Nevertheless, she strove to maintain a
literary standard in her work. Her labors made
it possible for her to educate her two sons at
Eton and support her nephew Frank.
Though most of her books have
Scottish themes, Margaret only lived in Scotland
for short periods of time in her adulthood. Most
of her time was spent living in London or
Europe. Among her works depicting Scottish life
are “Katie Stewart”, “The Laird of Norlan”, “The
Chronicles of Carlingford” (which was in nine
volumes), “The Ladies Lindores”, and “Mrs.
Blencarrow’s Troubles”.
Margaret was not only a prolific
writer, but extremely versatile, more, perhaps,
than any other female novelist of her time. She
could switch genre without effort. From pure
fiction she could turn to psychological subjects
and from these to historical themes and then to
sketches of travel.
Her works on history and
biography include “The Literary History of
England”, “The Makers of Florence”, “Makers of
Venice”, “Jerusalem, The Holy City”, and “St.
Francis of Assisi”. She also wrote two volumes
of “Historical Sketches of the Reign of George
II”. These volumes consist of short biographies
that were historical, political, literary, and
fashionable. She also wrote a vivid description
of George Whitefield and his revival work among
the Bristol common man. It was her belief that
portraying the lives of a group of leading
individuals in the various walks of life was one
of the easiest ways to study history.
Margaret continued writing
throughout her entire life. In her later years,
she worked on a history of the Blackwood
Publishing House, which is a rich source of
19th-century literary gossip. She died on June
25, 1887 in London.
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