Browne, Frances (1816–1879)
Browne, Frances (1816–1879)
Irish author. Name variations: Blind Poetess of Donegal. Born Frances Browne in Stranolar, County Donegal, Ireland, on January 16, 1816; died in London on August 25, 1879; educated at home; never married; no children.
Selected works:
The Star of Alteghei (1844); Granny's Wonderful Chair and the Stories It Told (1856); My Share in the World (1861).
Frances Browne was born in Stranolar, County Donegal, Ireland, on January 16, 1816; at 18 months, she lost her sight due to smallpox. The seventh of eleven children, Frances remained at home while her siblings attended school and did their chores in exchange for their reading aloud to her at night from schoolbooks or volumes borrowed from neighbors. By age seven, she composed poetry to amuse her family, and her siblings acted as secretaries, writing down her recitations. In adulthood, Browne's work was published regularly in journals and periodicals. She moved with a sister to Edinburgh in 1847, then to London in 1852, to facilitate her career. Literary pensions and wealthy supporters, including the marquess of Lands-downe, kept her comfortable and productive. Granny's Wonderful Chair and the Stories It Told (1856) was Browne's most popular work and was kept in print long after her 1879 death.
Crista Martin , Boston, Massachusetts