Catherine Sinclair

Catherine Sinclair (17 April 1800 – 6 August 1864) was a Scottish novelist and writer of children's literature.

Contents

Life

Catherine Sinclair was born in Edinburgh on 17 April 1800, the fourth daughter of Sir John Sinclair, 1st Baronet and Lady Diana Macdonald. Catherine died unmarried. Sir George Sinclair, 2nd Baronet, John Sinclair (1797–1875), and William Sinclair (1804–1878) were her brothers. She was her father's secretary from the age of fourteen till his death in 1835.[1][2]

She then began independent authorship, her first works being children's books, prompted by interest in her nephew, the Hon. George Boyle, 6th Earl of Glasgow. Her story of two anarchic children, in Holiday House, A Book for the Young, successfully engaged the imagination of her young readers. This work was a popular and a notable example of the genre, and a departure from the moralising approach of contemporary works. The book also encapsulates a fantasy tale of fairies and giants.[3]

On the subject of children's literature, she says in her preface,[4]

"But above all we never forget those who good humouredly complied with the constantly recurring petition of all young people in every generation, and in every house, — 'Will you tell us a story?'"

A monument was erected to her memory in Edinburgh's New Town. The inscription is,

"She was a friend of all children and through her book 'Holiday House' speaks to them still."[4]

Sinclair's activities in Edinburgh included charitable works such as the establishment of cooking depots in old and new Edinburgh, and in the maintenance of a mission station at the Water of Leith. She was instrumental in securing seats for crowded thoroughfares, and she set the example in Edinburgh of instituting drinking fountains, one of which bore her name and stood at the city's West End before it was removed as an obstruction to trams in 1926.

She died at the vicarage, Kensington, the residence of her brother, Archdeacon John Sinclair on 6 Aug. 1864, and was interred in the burying-ground of St. John's Episcopal Church, Edinburgh. Her portrait was drawn in crayons by James Archer, R.S.A. (cf. Cat. Third Loan Exhib. No. 620).[1]

Works

Miss Sinclair wrote brightly and wittily, and displayed much skill in characterisation and description. Several of her books were popular in America.

Undated and early works of Miss Sinclair's are: Charlie Seymour; Lives of the Cæsars, or the Juvenile Plutarch; Holiday House (once very popular with children); Modern Superstition; and Memoirs of the English Bible.[1]

Her other principal works are:[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c  Bayne, Thomas Wilson (1897). "Sinclair, Catherine". In Sidney Lee. Dictionary of National Biography. 52. London: Smith, Elder & Co. "sources: [Scotsman, 7 Aug. 1864; Gent. Mag. 1864, ii. 654; Archdeacon Sinclair's Memoir of Sir John Sinclair; Anderson's Scottish Nation; information from Mr. Cuninghame Steele, advocate, Edinburgh.]" 
  2. ^ Mitchell, Charlotte. [www.oxforddnb.com "Catherine Sinclair"]. DNB. Oxford University Press. www.oxforddnb.com. Retrieved 21 August 2011. 
  3. ^ Reid, Robin Anne (2009). "The creation of Literature for the Young.". Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy: Overviews. 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 264. ISBN 9780313335914. http://books.google.com/books?id=jKr0jWY8FLkC&pg=PA264. Retrieved 20 November 2010. 
  4. ^ a b Alison, Jim. "Towards an Overview of Scottish Children's Literature from 1823 to 2010". http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/ScotLit/ASLS/SWE/TBI/TBIIssue7/Alison.html. Retrieved 20 November 2010. 
  5. ^ Shattock, Joanne (2000-03-28). The Cambridge bibliography of English literature. Cambridge University Press. p. 2192. ISBN 9780521391009. http://books.google.com/books?id=zc6BnY4UQmIC&pg=PA2192. Retrieved 20 November 2010. 
Attribution

 "Sinclair, Catherine". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. 

External links