Mrs. S. C. Hall (1800–1881)

Mrs. S.C. Hall was the pen name of Anna Maria Hall, née Fielding, born in Dublin, Ireland. She went to live in England with her mother as a teenager. In 1824, she married Samuel Carter Hall. She made her literary debut in 1829 with a sketch entitled "Master Ben," which appeared in The Spirit and Manners of the Age, a publication edited by her husband. This and other tales were collected into a volume called Sketches of Irish Character (1829). The following year, she published a book for children, Chronicles of a School-Room. The first of her nine novels, The Buccaneer, appeared in 1832. She turned her story "The Groves of Blarney" into a play that was popular enough to run for an entire season in London in 1838; it was the first of her three plays that was performed. In 1840, she published what has been called the best of her novels, the three-volume Marian, or a Young Maid's Fortunes. She collaborated with her husband on a book called Ireland, its Scenery, Characters & etc., and edited the St. James's Magazine in 1862–1863. She was also involved in philanthropy and played a leading role in founding the Hospital for Consumption at Brompton, the Governesses' Institute, the Home for Decayed Gentlewomen, and the Nightingale Fund. She also worked for the temperance movement and the women's rights movement.