Lillian Spender (usually known as Mrs. John Kent Spender; 22 February 1835 – 4 May 1895) was an English writer. She contributed to major English reviews and turned later to novel-writing.

Early years and education

Lillian (known informally as Lily) Headland was born on 22 February 1835 as the daughter of Edward Headland, a well-known physician of Portland Place, London. Her mother was the daughter of Ferdinand de Medina, a Spaniard. Spender was educated at Queen's College, Harley Street.[1]

Career

In 1858, she married John Kent Spender, physician to the Mineral Water Hospital, Bath.[1]

After her marriage, Spender turned her attention to literature. She contributed to the London Quarterly Review, the English Woman's Journal, the Dublin University Review, the British Quarterly Review, and a magazine called Meliora, but after 1869, she mainly wrote novels. She was active in education and social work in Bath until her health failed.[1]

Lillian Spender died at Bath on 4 May 1895. Seven of Spender's eight children survived her. Two of her sons, J. A. Spender and Harold Spender, became London journalists.[1]

Selected works

• Brothers-in-Law (1869)
• Her Own Fault (1871)
• Parted Lives (1873)
• Jocelyn's Mistake (1875)
• Mark Eylmer's Revenge (1876)
• Both in the Wrong (1878)
• Godwyn's Ordeal (1879)
• Till Death Us Do Part (1881)
• Gabrielle de Bourdaine (1882)
• Mr. Nobody (1884)
• The Recollections of a Country Doctor (1885)
• Trust Me: A Novel (1886)
• Her Brother's Keeper: A Novel (1887)
• Kept Secret (1888)
• Lady Hazelton's Confession (1890)
• A Waking (1892)
• A Strange Temptation (1893)
• A Modern Quixote (1894)

References

Sources

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Carlyle, Edward Irving (1898). "Spender, Lily". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 53. London: Smith, Elder & Co.