Charlotte Palmer

Charlotte Palmer (about 1762 – 1834 or after) was a British teacher and writer who was mentioned in the Dictionary of National Biography.^[1] She published a small number of novels.

Life

Palmer is estimated to have been born in 1762 and she comes to notice with a five volume novel told as series of letters. It was called Female Stability; or the History of Miss Belville and it was published in 1780. This book is confusing because the preface says that it was written by "a sister" who has since died. Despite this comment there were three more works published during the 1790s. These books were Letters on several subjects from a preceptress to her pupils who have left school in 1791, and A Newly-Invented Copybook in 1797. Both of these were aimed at the educational market and the latter came with an apology from a woman to the "superior" gender of schoolteachers.^[2]

Her two other works were Integrity and Content: an Allegory and intrigingly It is and it is not: a Novel which were both published in 1792. The latter has been included in The Novel: An Alternative History, 1600-1800 which was published in 2002.^[3]

Palmer continued to operate schools, but she was arrested for debt. In time she cleared this debt and she was last identified in 1834. Her death like her birth date is unknown.^[2]

References