Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Hungerford, Margaret Wolfe

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1317725Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement, Volume 3 — Hungerford, Margaret Wolfe1901Elizabeth Lee

HUNGERFORD, Mrs. MARGARET WOLFE (1855?–1897), novelist, eldest daughter of Canon Fitzjohn Stannus Hamilton, vicar-choral of Ross Cathedral and rector of Ross, co. Cork, was born about 1855, and educated in Ireland. Her early home was at St. Brenda's, co. Cork. She married, first, Edward Argles, a Dublin solicitor, by whom she had three daughters; and, secondly, Mr. Thomas H. Hungerford, by whom she had two sons and one daughter. She died of typhoid fever at Bandon on 24 Jan. 1897.

Mrs. Hungerford wrote over thirty novels dealing with the more frivolous aspects of modern society. They had a great vogue in their day. The first, 'Phyllis,' appeared in 1877; the most popular of all was perhaps 'Molly Bawn' (1878). Most of the books appeared anonymously, but a few bore the pseudonym 'The Duchess.' Her plots are poor and conventional, but she possessed the faculty of reproducing faithfully the tone of contemporary society.

[Allibone's Dict., Suppl. ii. 872; Times, 25 Jan. 1897.]

E. L.