Bessie Marchant
Bessie Marchant was an English author born on December 12, 1862, in Petham, Kent. Educated at private institutions, she began her career in literature after moving to London, where she taught at a Baptist school. Marchant published her first novel, *The Old House by the Water*, in 1894, and used her own name for subsequent works, particularly adventure novels aimed at young girls. Notably, her semi-autobiographical novel *Yuppie* reflects her own upbringing in Kent. Marchant married clergyman Jabez Ambrose Comfort in 1899 and had one daughter. Over the next four decades, she became a prolific writer, releasing three to four novels annually, characterized by recurring themes and similar protagonists—often young British women facing challenges in foreign lands. Her stories frequently highlighted women's evolving roles, especially during World War I, where her heroines took on traditionally male responsibilities. While her works provide insights into the societal constraints of women in her era, they are now primarily viewed as reflective of the period rather than authentic representations of diverse cultures. Marchant passed away on November 10, 1941.
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Bessie Marchant
Writer
- Born: December 12, 1862
- Birthplace: Petham, Kent, England
- Died: November 10, 1941
Biography
Elizabeth “Bessie” Marchant was born on December 12, 1862, in Petham, Kent, England, the daughter of William Marchant and Jane Goucher Marchant. Like many young women of the time, Marchant was educated in private schools and at home by private tutors. In her early twenties, she moved to London and taught at a Baptist school.
Marchant published her first novel, The Old House by the Water, in 1894. She was not yet married and the book was published under the name Bessie Marchant, the name she would use on her subsequent adventure novels for girls. Her novel, Yuppie, is about a young girl growing up in Kent and is thought to be largely autobiographical. In 1899, when she was thirty-seven, she married Jabez Ambrose Comfort, a clergyman. The couple had one daughter, and the family lived in Charlbury, Oxfordshire.
Once she was married, Marchant published three or four novels a year, many of them with strikingly similar characters and plots in a variety of settings, for the next forty years. In addition to novels, she frequently published short stories in Little Folks, a popular British children’s magazine known for the quality of its writing. Marchant’s novels and stories typically feature an innocent but plucky young British woman, living on a threatened inheritance in a distant land, who must use her resolve and honesty to save herself from financial calamity. Like G. A. Henty, an equally prolific author of adventures for boys, she attempted to give her readers exciting stories that would teach essential qualities of character.
Marchant had a long writing career, and her novels and stories reflect the varying concerns and changing roles of women. During World War I, in novels such as A Girl Munition Worker and A Dangerous Mission, Marchant presented heroines taking on traditionally male roles at home and contributing to the war effort. Marchant died on November 10, 1941.
Although Marchant’s novels are set in exotic locations throughout the world, she herself never left England and made no attempt to represent other cultures authentically. Even her contemporary readers would have found her books exciting rather than enlightening. In the twenty-first century, the books are read primarily for their view of the legal and financial limitations of women during Marchant’s lifetime.