Margaret Oliphant - Infinite Women

Born: 4 April 1828, United Kingdom
Died: 25 June 1897
Country most active: United Kingdom
Also known as: Margaret Oliphant Wilson, Mrs. Oliphant

The following is excerpted from Woman: Her Position, Influence and Achievement Throughout the Civilized World. Designed and Arranged by William C. King. Published in 1900 by The King-Richardson Co. Copyright 1903 The King-Richardson Co.

Margaret Oliphant, English Novelist and Biographer, 1828 – 1887 A.D.
She is one of the most prolific authors of this age. For forty years she produced a book and has written in all over seventy books. She is especially happy in the delineation of Scottish and English life and character. Her birthplace was in Midlothian, Scotland.
Among her works are Katie Stewart, The Laird of Norlan, The Chronicles of Cartlingford (in nine volumes), The Ladies Lindores, and Mrs. Blencarrows’ Troubles.
Of her works on history and biography we mention, The Literary History of England, The Makers of Florence, Makers of Venice, Jerusalem, the Holy City, and St. Francis of Assissi.
She edited for the Messrs. Blackwood series of Foreign Classics for English Readers and prepared the volume on Dante and Cervantes.
Mrs. Oliphant as a write is not only prolific but versatile. More so, perhaps, than any other female novelist. From pure fiction she could turn to psychological subjects and from these historical themes ad thence to sketches of travel. Two volumes of Historical Sketches of the Reign of George II. are of great interest and permanent value. The volumes consist of short biographies, political, literary, and fashionable. Queen Caroline and Walpole come first, then they follow “The Man of the World” (Lord Chesterfield), “The Woman of Fashion” (Lady Montagu), “The Poet” (Pope), “The Reformer” (John Wesley), “The Sailor” (Anson), “The Philosopher” (Berkeley), “The Novelist” (Richardson), “The Skeptic” (David Hume), and “The Painter” (Hogarth).
This is a happy idea of showing the times, through the portraiture of a group of leading individuals in the various walks of life. One of the easiest ways of leading individuals in the various walks of life. One of the easiest ways of studying history is through the biographies of leaders.
We would especially mention in this connection her vivid description of George Whitefield and the Bristol Colliers.

The following is excerpted from A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature, written by John W. Cousins and published in 1929 by J. M. Dent & Sons, Ltd.

OLIPHANT, MRS. MARGARET OLIPHANT (WILSON) (1828-1897). —Novelist and miscellaneous writer, was b. near Musselburgh. Her literary output began when she was little more than a girl, and was continued almost up to the end of her life. Her first novel, Mrs. Margaret Maitland, appeared in 1849, and its humour, pathos, and insight into character gave the author an immediate position in literature. It was followed by an endless succession, of which the best were the series of The Chronicles of Carlingford (1861-65), including Salem Chapel, The Perpetual Curate, and Miss Marjoribanks, all of which, as well as much of her other work, appeared in Blackwood’s Magazine, with which she had a lifelong connection. Others of some note were The Primrose Path, Madonna Mary (1866), The Wizard’s Son, and A Beleaguered City. She did not, however, confine herself to fiction, but wrote many books of history and biography, including Sketches of the Reign of George II. (1869), The Makers of Florence (1876), Literary History of England 1790-1825, Royal Edinburgh (1890), and Lives of St. Francis of Assisi, Edward Irving, and Principal Tulloch. Her generosity in supporting and educating the family of a brother as well as her own two sons rendered necessary a rate of production which was fatal to the permanence of her work. She was negligent as to style, and often wrote on subjects to which her intellectual equipment and knowledge did not enable her to do proper justice. She had, however, considerable power of painting character, and a vein of humour, and showed untiring industry in getting up her subjects.