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At the Circulating Library

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

Author: Ellen Mary Abdy Williams

Author: Ellen Mary Abdy Williams (1857–1937)

Alternate Name(s): Abdy-Williams (alternate name); Mrs. Bernhard Whishaw (married name)

Biography: Ellen Mary Abdy Williams was born around 1857 in Dawlish, Devon. She worked as a journalist and wrote four novels beginning with Two Ifs (1884). In 1885 she married education reformer and writer Bernhard Whishaw (1857–1914). For a time, she edited the literary periodical Time (1885–1888?). Her last novel, The World Below (1887), she admits in a preface, lacked polish due to a long illness. Around 1900, the couple moved to Seville, Spain, and devoted themselves to the study of Spanish culture and archeology. After her husband's death in 1914, Williams moved to Andalusia where she helped create a museum. She wrote various books about Spain, such as My Spanish Year (1914) and Atlantis in Andalucia: A Study of Folk Memory (1929). She likely died in 1937 in Spain.

Author Tags:

References: British Census (1891, 1901); pers inf (Colin Wallace); J. Whishaw, A History of the Whishaw Family (Methuen, 1935)

Fiction Titles:

  1. Two Ifs: A Novel.  3 vol.  London: Swan Sonnenschein, 1884.
  2. For His Friend.  3 vol.  London: Swan Sonnenschein, 1885.
  3. Forewarned!.  1 vol.  London: Swan Sonnenschein, 1885.
  4. The World Below: A Novel.  3 vol.  London: Swan Sonnenschein, 1887.