Harriet Miller Davidson

Harriet Miller Davidson
Born 25 November 1839
Cromarty
Died 21 December 1883
Adelaide
Nationality British
Education Edinburgh and London
Known for writing
Parent(s) Hugh Miller and Lydia Mackenzie Falconer Miller

Harriet Miller Davidson (25 November 1839 – 21 December 1883) was a British poet and novelist.

Life

Davidson was born in Cromarty in 1839. She was the daughter of Hugh Miller who was a self-taught geologist and Lydia Mackenzie Falconer Miller who was a writer for children.[1] Davidson was said to have been effected for the rest of her life by her father's suicide on Christmas Eve 1856.[2]

She met her husband, John Davidson, whilst in Europe and she married the Presbyterian minister in 1860.[3] They emigrated to Adelaide in 1870 after her husband was made minister at Chalmer's Church in the city. When the University of Adelaide was created her husband was chosen as the first Hughes professor of English literature[3] although it was argued that his wife was just as well qualified.[4]

She wrote Isabel Jardine's History which was published by the Scottish Temperance League in 1867. She published poems and stories in both countries about temperance and of daughters left by inspirational fathers. She wrote Christian Osborn's Friends in 1869 as well as contributing poems and stories to the local newspapers and Chambers's Journal.[2]

Davidson ran a small school at her home in Adelaide.[2] She visited Scotland in 1877 but died in Adelaide in 1883 having become an invalid.[3] After she died her four daughters moved back to Britain. One of the daughters married in 1890 to become Lydia Falconer Fraser Miller Middleton.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Marian McKenzie Johnston, ‘Miller , Lydia Mackenzie Falconer (bap. 1812, d. 1876)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 accessed 8 Dec 2014
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 W. G. Blaikie, ‘Davidson, Harriet Miller (1839–1883)’, rev. Pam Perkins, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 8 Dec 2014
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 R. B. Walker, 'Davidson, John (1834–1881)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/davidson-john-3372/text5097, published first in hardcopy 1972, accessed online 9 December 2014.
  4. ↑ Harriet Davidson Miller, wikisource
  5. ↑ Obituary. The Times, Tuesday, Nov 27, 1934; Issue 46922; pg. 9; col B