Lifespan: c 1800- 1854
Nationality: English
Types of Work: Novels, historical work
Other Names: Mrs. H.M. Lowndes; Anna Maria Jones, Mrs. H.M. Jones
Bio:
Hannah Maria Jones Lowndes was an English novelist about whom little is known. She wrote an excess of 20 novels and works published between 1820 and 1854. Her works seemed to have been, for the most part, well received and read.
By her notation, in the preface of The Gipsey Chief, she began writing in 1820. The preface of this novel betrays a sense of discouragement in her achievements, and she makes the statement that "twenty years of life and talents… have been frittered away with no end or view but the inglorious one of procuring daily bread." Though she was a prolific writer, she seems to have been unable to garner much financial success from her works. Her obituary states that she died "in the most abject poverty".
Though she later authored her books as "Mrs. H. M. Lowndes", there is no mention of her marriage in her obituary. Her book, The Forged Note, is authored under the name, "Mrs. H.M. Jones". This may have been a pen name. No contemporary biographical information is available, and she was not included in the Modern English Biography, as so many of her contemporary authoresses were.
Her novel, Horatio in Search of a Wife, is said to be authored by "Anna Maria Morgan" and "Hannah Maria Jones".
She died on March 24, 1854.
An old saying "It's all Hannah Maria Jones" (used when something marvelous was said) may have been referring to her works.
Novels:
Emily Moreland (1829)
Gretna Green, or the Elopements of Miss D with a Gallant Son of Mars (1823)
The Wedding Ring, or Married and Single
Scottish Chieftains (1831)
Gipsey Girl, or the Heir of Hazel Dell (1836)
The Gipsey Chief, or The Haunted Oak (1840)
Village Scandal, or the Gossip's Tale (1835)
The British Officer
The Love Token, or The Mistress and Her Guardian (1844)
Gipsey Mother, or the Miseries of Enforced Marriage (1835)
Child of Mystery, or the Cottager's Daughter (1837)
Trials of Love, or Woman's Reward (1853)
Family Faults (1854)
The Outlaw's Bride
The Pride of the Village (1837)
Strangers of the Glen (1827)
The Forged Note: or, Julian and Marianne (1824)
Rosaline Woodbridge, or the Midnight Visit (1854)
Horatio in Search of a Wife (written with/as Anna Maria Morgan)
The Victim of Fashion, or A Treacherous Friend
Katharine Bereford, or The Shade and Sunshine of Woman (1854)