Lifespan: 1821-1899
Nationality: Scottish
Types of Work: Novels, poetry, religious works, biographies, essays, editorial work
Other Names: Erskine Moir
Bio:
Felicia Mary Frances Skene was born at Aix-en-Provence on 23 May 1821 to James Skene and Jane Forbes. As a child, her family moved to Edinburgh where she played with the children of the exiled King Charles X of France. Her father was a close friend of Sir Walter Scott, and Felicia early became acquainted with the poet.
As an adult, Frances was an active benevolent. She helped to organize a band of nurses to assist in a cholera outbreak at Oxford in 1854. Many of these same nurses were afterwards sent to the Crimea to work with the famous Florence Nightingale, with whom Felicia had a close relationship.
Felicia also too an interest in rescue work with prostitutes in Oxford, and was one of the first "lady visitors" permitted to visit these women in prison. She published stories of her experiences in Blackwood's Magazine, and in book form in 1889, entitled Scenes from a Silent World.
Her earliest published work was Isles of Greece and other Poems, which came out in 1843. One of her best known fiction works was Hidden Depths, published in 1866. Although the work had all the appearances of the classic novel, the story was taken from many real-life instances of the scenes described in it.
Felicia was a constant contributor to magazines, and editor of the Churchman's Companion, and continued to publish both fiction and works that pertained to her active benevolent interests. She died at 34 St. Michael's Street, Oxford on 6 October 1899. A blue plaque has since been erected on the house to commemorate her.
A more detailed biography is available on Wikipedia.
Novels:
The Lesters (1847)
The Inheritance of Evil; or, The Consequences of Marrying a Deceased Wife's Sister (1849)
The Tutor's Ward (1851)
Hidden Depths (1866)