Lifespan: 1802-1880
Nationality: English
Types of Work: novels, poetry
Other Names: Lady Wood
Style: most novels set in Cornwall
Bio:
Lady Emma Carolina Michell Wood was the youngest daughter of Admiral Sampson Michell, of the Portugese division of the English Royal Navy and Anne Shears. She was born in Portugal on 15 January 1802. She married Rev. Sir John Page Wood on 16 February 1820. Her husband had been the private chaplain to Queen Caroline and the Duke of Sussex, and was the son of alderman Sir Matthew Wood who was lord mayor of London from 1815-1817. Emma herself was appointed a woman of the bed-chamber to Queen Caroline, with whom she was said to be a great favorite.
The couple retired into the country after her husband acceded to the baronetcy of his father in the 1830s, where Emma helped to raise her children. She was said to be a talented artist in water-colors, a good musician, and an expert "lace conjurer". Pretty, witty, benevolent, and good natured, she soon gained the admiration of some of the best men of the day.
The couple had four sons and four daughters. Two of the couple's daughters also earned some literary fame: Lady Emma Barrett- Lennard, who wrote plays, and Mrs. Anna Caroline Steel who authored a book of poetry with her mother, along with several novels. Two of her surviving sons were distinguished by their military service, and one of her sons, Sir Evelyn Wood, earned the Victoria Cross.
Emma died at Belhus, Essex, on 15 December 1879.
(Sources:
Lady's Realm, Volume 2
The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Review, Volume 190
Publications of the Index Society, Volume 7
Novels:
Rosewarn (1866)
Sabina (1867)
Sorrow on the Sea (1868)
On Credit (1870)
Seadrift (1871)
Cloth of Frieze (1872)
Wild Weather (1872)
Up Hill (1873)
Youth on the Prow (1873)
Ruling the Roast (1874)
Sheen's Foreman (1877)