Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Wilson, Mrs. Cornwell Baron

by Elizabeth Lee

WILSON, Mrs. CORNWELL BARON, whose maiden name was Margaret Harries (1797–1846), author, born in Shropshire in 1797, was the only child of Roger Harries of Canonbury Place, Islington, and afterwards of Woburn Place, Russell Square, by his wife Sophia, daughter of Matthew Arbouin of Mincing Lane (cf. Parry, Welsh Melodies, vol. iii.). Her literary attainments were versatile; she wrote poems, romantic dramas, comic interludes, novels, and biographies. Her first book of poems, ‘Melancholy Hours,’ was published anonymously in 1816; her second, ‘Astarte: a Sicilian Tale; with other Poems,’ to which she prefixed her name, attracted some attention. It reached a second edition in 1818, a fourth in 1827, and was republished in 1840. On 15 April 1819 she married Cornwell Baron Wilson of Lincoln's Inn Fields, a solicitor. In 1829 Mrs. Wilson wrote the words for the third volume of Parry's ‘Welsh Melodies.’ Mrs. Hemans had contributed the verses for the first volume. In 1833 she commenced an ephemeral publication, ‘La Ninon, or Leaves for the Album,’ which ran to three numbers. A fourth number, entitled ‘The Bas Bleu's Scrap Sheet, or La Ninon improved,’ appeared in the same year. In 1833 she also commenced to edit ‘The Weekly Belle Assemblée.’ In 1834 the title was changed to ‘The New Monthly Belle Assemblée.’ It continued to appear until 1870. In 1834 Mrs. Wilson gained a prize for a poem on the Princess Victoria, awarded at the Cardiff bardic festival; there were two hundred candidates.

In June 1836 her ‘Venus in Arms, or the Petticoat Colonel,’ a comic interlude in one act, adapted from the French, was performed at the Strand Theatre, London, with Mrs. Stirling in the title rôle (cf. Duncombe, Brit. Theatre, vol. xxvi.; Cumberland, Minor Theatre, vol. xiv.). Her other dramatic ventures were: ‘The Maid of Switzerland,’ a romantic drama in one act in prose (1830?); and ‘Venus, a Vestal,’ a mythological drama in two acts (1840).

Her excursions into biography include ‘Memoirs of Harriot, Duchess of St. Alban's’ (2 vols. 12mo, 1839; 2nd edit. 1840; 3rd edit. 1886). In 1839 also appeared in two volumes her ‘Life and Correspondence of Monk Lewis.’ They are useful compilations, without much literary merit.

Mrs. Wilson died at Woburn Place, London, on 12 Jan. 1846, leaving several children. Other works by Mrs. Wilson are:

1. ‘Hours at Home: a Collection of Miscellaneous Poems,’ 1826; 2nd edit. 1827.
2. ‘The Cypress Wreath: a Collection of Original Ballads and Tales in Verse,’ 1828.
3. ‘Poems,’ 1831.
4. ‘A Volume of Lyrics,’ 1840.
5. ‘Chronicles of Life,’ 1840, 3 vols.
6. ‘Popularity: and the Destinies of Woman: Tales of the World,’ 1842, 2 vols.
7. ‘Our Actresses; or Glances at Stage Favourites past and present,’ 1844, 2 vols.

[Allibone's Dict. of Engl. Lit.; Gent. Mag. 1794 i. 480, 1819 i. 368, 1846 i. 662.]

E. L.