A. A. P.,
Mary Berwick,
Miss Berwick.Member of the Society for the Promotion of the Employment of Women, the Langham Place group, and the Portfolio Society. Involved with the Victoria Press, including co-founding the English Woman’s Journal and editing The Victoria Regia (1861). Had an intimate relationship with Matilda Hays that some scholars believe might have been homosexual. Submitted poems regularly to Household Words under the pseudonym
Mary Berwick,out of concern that Dickens would feel obliged to accept her work because of his friendship with her father, Bryan Waller Procter; Dickens discovered her identity late in 1854 (Lohrli 404-5). Converted to Catholicism by 1851. Volumes of poetry include Legends and Lyrics (1858), Legends and Lyrics, Series Two (1861), and A Chaplet of Verses (1862). Biographical information: ODNB, Orlando. (SMM, AC, BGL)