Mrs. J. H. Riddell

Charlotte Eliza Lawson Riddell was born in Carrickfergus, County Antrim, Ireland, on September 30, 1832. After her father’s death, she moved to London with her mother and pursued a literary career at a time when writing was one of the few respectable professions open to women. In 1857, she married civil engineer Joseph Hadley Riddell.

Writing under the name Mrs. J. H. Riddell, she published dozens of novels, short stories, and other works. Her fiction often explored London’s financial and commercial life, earning her the nickname “Novelist of the City,” while stories such as The Uninhabited House established her as an important writer of Victorian supernatural fiction.

Riddell also became part-owner and editor of St. James’s Magazine. Her partly autobiographical novel A Struggle for Fame reflects the challenges of building a career as a woman writer. She died in London on September 24, 1906.