Anna Maria Hall
Anna Maria Hall, born Anna Maria Fielding in Dublin, Ireland, in 1800, was a notable novelist and writer whose works primarily reflect her experiences in Ireland. Raised by her grandparents after the death of her father before her birth, she moved to London at the age of fourteen due to financial challenges. At twenty-four, she married journalist Samuel Carter Hall, which marked the beginning of her literary career. Hall gained recognition for her storytelling, particularly through her acclaimed collection "Sketches of Irish Character" and the later "Sketches on Irish Highways." Her narratives often focused on themes of compassion and social responsibility, encouraging women to extend their care beyond their families to help those in need. Hall's commitment to raising awareness about poverty in Ireland is evident in her work, which critiques absentee landlords and their impact on local communities. Despite her prolific output and activism in areas like women's rights and health care, her writings did not achieve significant popularity in Ireland, partly due to her refusal to align with any political party. Anna Maria Hall’s legacy as an early Victorian Anglo-Irish writer remains significant for its gentle didacticism and social commentary.
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Subject Terms
Anna Maria Hall
Author
- Born: January 6, 1800
- Birthplace: Dublin, Ireland
- Died: January 30, 1881
- Place of death: East Mousley, England
Biography
Not much is known about the early years of novelist Anna Maria Hall. She was born Anna Maria Fielding in Dublin, Ireland, in 1800. Her mother was descended from the Huguenots, who migrated from France to Ireland to avoid religious persecution. Her father died before she was born, so her grandparents adopted her. At fourteen, her family moved to London for financial reasons. Here she met and married English journalist Samuel Carter Hall when she was twenty-four, and began writing books.
Much of her work is set in her native Ireland and based on childhood remembrances. Her Sketches on Irish Highways (1834-1835) was a series of eight stories commissioned by New Monthly Magazine. Her first book of short stories, Sketches of Irish Character (1829-1831), was met with acclaim. In it, she instructs women to focus on helping others in need, in addition to caring for their own immediate families. In “Lilly O’Brien,” the very proper widowed protagonist Mrs. Cassidy cares not only for her son, Edward, but adopts her orphaned niece, Lilly, as well. In “Hospitality,” the orphan Gertrude Raymond becomes a ward of the wealthy English lady Mrs. Dorrington, who lives in Ireland to oversee her land. Like her friend, the famous Irish novelist Maria Edgeworth, Hall deplored absentee landlords who lived off their rents abroad, away from their lands, while their renters who became more impoverished, and used the story to illustrate the results of their neglect.
Hall was a prolific early Victorian Anglo-Irish writer. She wrote and edited dozens of books that included novels, plays, and children’s books. In most of her books, Hall attempted to improve Irish life by making her British readers aware of the high level of poverty in Ireland. Her work, remembered for its gentle didacticism and satiric tone, never gained popularity in Ireland because she refused to ally herself with a political party. She was an activist for temperance, women’s rights, and health care.