Ritchie Anne Isabella (1837–1919)

British novelist and essayist. Name variations: Anne Thackeray; Lady Ritchie; Anna Isabella Ritchie; Lady Anne Thackeray Ritchie; Mrs. Richmond Ritchie. Born Anne Isabella Thackeray, 1837, in England; died Feb 1919 on Isle of Wight; eldest dau. of William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863, novelist) and Isabella Gethin Shawe; aunt of Virginia Woolf; m. 2nd cousin Richmond Thackeray Willoughby Ritchie, also seen as Sir Richard Ritchie (worked in Indian civil service and was knighted, 1907), in 1877; children: 2.

Grew up surrounded by many of the leading literary figures of the Victorian era, several of whom became the subjects of her biographical studies; published 1st novel, The Story of Elizabeth (1863), based upon her childhood in Paris; became known for novels with domestic settings and themes, in particular The Village on the Green (1867) and Old Kensington (1873); based 4th novel, Miss Angel (1875), on life of Angelica Kauffmann; set 5th novel, Mrs. Dymond (1885), often considered one of her best, during Franco-Prussian War (1870–71); nonfiction titles include Toilers and Spinners (1874), which exposed the difficulties of unmarried, unemployed women, and A Book of Sibyls (1883), a collection of essays about women writers; also wrote Madame de Sévigné (1881), Records of Tennyson, Ruskin and Browning (1892), Alfred Tennyson and His Friends (1893), and the essay collections Blackstick Papers (1908) and From the Porch (1913); was the model for the character of Mrs. Hilbery in Virginia Woolf's Night and Day.

See also Women in World History.