Emilie Searchfield

Emilie Searchfield was a British author born in 1844 in Knook, Wiltshire. According to At the Circulating Library: A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901, she was the daughter of Thomas Searchfield, a carpenter, and Harriet Searchfield, a schoolmistress, and she spent her life in Wiltshire, helping at her mother's school before moving into writing.

The same source says she began very young, writing poetry as a child and later winning a story competition in a local newspaper, which helped bring her to the attention of London publishers. She went on to become a prolific novelist and a contributor to periodicals, publishing works including My Neighbours' Windows, Afterward, Claimed at Last, and The Heiress of Wyvern Court.

Late in life, her writing was affected by serious illness, and she died in Salisbury in 1911. I couldn't confirm a reliable portrait from the sources I found, so no profile image is included here.