Adeline Sergeant (4 July 1851 – 4 December 1904) was a prolific English writer of theVictorian era. She wrote over ninety novels during her lifetime, includingJacobi's Wife.
Born Emily Frances Adeline Sergeant atAshbourne, Derbyshire, the second daughter of Richard Sergeant and Jane (Hall),[1] Adeline Sergeant was home schooled until the age of thirteen, when she began attending school inWeston-super-Mare. Her mother was a writer ofchildren's literature that she published under the pen names 'Adeline' or 'Adeline Hall.' Apart from her first book, which appeared under her initials, Sergeant's signed work all seems to have appeared under her preferred form of name, Adeline Sergeant.[2] At fifteen a collection of Sergeant'sPoems,[3] with a short introduction by her mother, were published in a volume that received positive notice in Wesleyan periodicals. She won a scholarship to attendQueen's College, London. Her father died in 1870, and for several years she worked as a governess atRiverhead, Kent.[4]
One of Sergeant's first major published works for an adult audience appears to be a translation of the novelThe Chase; a tale of the Southern States, from the French ofJules Lermina (London: J.C. Nimmo & Bain, 1880). In 1882 her novelJacobi's Wife earned an award of £100,[1] and the work was publishedserially byThe People's Friend (Dundee).[4] It appeared in other newspapers as well, and on the conclusion of the serialisation in London in 1887 as a three volume novel.[5] For the next several years her writings were serialized in this Dundee publication, where she lived from 1885 to 1887.
In 1888 Sergeant soldA Dead Man's Trust to W. C. Leng and Co., which ran a newspaper syndication service based inSheffield. The story appeared in several British and Australian newspapers, but does not appear to have been published separately as a book under this title. Sometime later, Tillotson's Fiction Bureau, a rival operation based inBolton, Lancashire, offered Sergeant a five-year contract to produce a full-length serial and a short story totalling around 160,000 words annually, for which she was paid £162 per annum.[6] Around this time, Sergeant moved toBloomsbury,London, where she earned enough to support herself through her writings.[4]
In the late 1880s, Sergeant developed an interest inFabianism and the plight of the poor in London.[2] Over her literary career, she produced over ninety novels; with some involving a religious theme. Her religious views evolved over time, including a period in the 1880s when she was brieflyagnostic.[1] Finally, she converted toCatholicism at the end of the century. Adeline Sergeant served as literary adviser to the publishing companyR. Bentley & Sons.[2] She frequently travelled abroad, making trips toEgypt andPalestine. In 1901 she moved toBournemouth, where she died in 1904.[4] A biography of Adeline Sergeant appeared the following year.[7]
^The Lists of the Publications of Richard Bentley & Son, 1829–1898, folio 2190, indicates this book was co-written with her cousinLewis Sergeant (1841–1902), who used thenom-de-guerre or pseudonym 'A. S. Ewing-Lester' on the book's title page.
