Digital Victorian Periodical Poetry

Poet, newspaper correspondent, editor, novelist, and short story writer. Pseudonyms: “Princess Top-Storey,” “Judith Vermont,” and “M. Nugent.” Also known as “Mary Muir Dowie” and “Mary Muriel Dowie.” Granddaughter of Robert Chambers. Born in Liverpool. Educated at home, private school in Liverpool, Queen Olga’s School in Stuttgart, a Protestant seminary school in Bordeaux, and also took correspondence classes in Edinburgh. Moved to London in 1884 to pursue a career as an actress and performed in Scarborough. Travelled to the Polish Carpathian mountains in 1890 and recounted her tour in A Girl in the Karpathians (1891). Worked as a newspaper correspondent in Northern England and became involved in women’s rights and labour politics. Married twice, Henry Norman on 28 August 1891 and Edward FitzGerald on 13 August 1903. Travelled abroad in Europe, Asia, and north Africa, including to Egypt and Sudan. Travelled around England giving lectures about her trips. Editor of the collection of essays Women Adventurers (1893). Contributed reviews and was the author of the weekly column “A woman’s view” (1896) for the Daily Chronicle. Contributed to the Yellow Book. Immigrated to the United States in 1941. Chambers’s Journal ledger entry for Dowie’s “Rondel,” published on 7 December 1889, refers to her as Miss M. M. Dowie, of 213 Boulevard Raspail, Paris (NLS Dep 341/370). Biographical information: ODNB. (AC, CC)