Poet, novelist, teacher, and governess. Pseudonym: “Janet Byrne.” Governess and then
family friend to the Dent family, based in Stafford, and especially close to Rupert
Arthur Dent, who was deaf and who later became an artist. Founded the Staffordshire
Church Mission to the Deaf and Dumb in 1886, and the Wolverhampton Home for Deaf and
Dumb Women and Girls. Publications include *Picture Teaching Series of Books for the
Young* (1873), *Patsy’s First Glimpse of Heaven* (1873), *Comfort: A Book for the
Cottage* (1882), *Wonders Under the Earth* (1882), and *Vanished Faces, and Other
Poems* (1884). Also authored books for primary school and religious books. Biographical
information: Reilly, *Late Victorian Poetry*, p. 44; Cushing 352; “Deaf Artist, Rupert
Arthur Dent, and Jane Besemeres”, *UCL Ear Institute & Action on Hearing Loss Libraries*,
<https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/library-rnid/2013/06/07/deaf-artist-rupert-arthur-dent-and-jane-besemeres/>
(15 August 2021). (KH, CC)