Digital Victorian Periodical Poetry

Poet, novelist, children’s writer, journalist. Pseudonym: F. B. Also known as The Blind Girl of Donegal, The Blind Poetess of Ulster, The Blind Poetess of Donegal. Alternative signature: Frances Brown. Blind from infancy following small pox. Born in Stranorlar, Donegal, from a Presbyterian family. Her father was the village postmaster. Prolific periodical poet who earned an income from writing, and financially supported her family, although she often struggled with poverty and ill health. Visited Scotland in 1847 with her sister (who worked as her amanuensis) during the Great Irish Famine. She lived in Edinburgh for five years, where she was part of a literary circle that included William and Robert Chambers and John Wilson. In 1852 she moved to London and, after her sister married, employed another amanuensis. Received a Civil List pension, and payments from the Royal Literary Fund. Declared bankrupt in 1867. Author of The Star of Attéghéi; the Vision of Schwartz; and Other Poems (1844), Lyrics and Miscellaneous Poems (1848), and Pictures and Songs of Home (1856). Biographical information: Orlando; Colman 44-7; Frances Browne, Chambers’s Journal, 4 May 1861, pp. 281-4. (AC)