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Maria Abdy, née Smith, also known as Mrs Adby, (25 February 1797 – 19 July 1867) was an English poet.

Life

Maria Abdy was born in London. She was an only child. She was the daughter of Richard Smith, a solicitor, and Maria Smith, sister to James and Horace Smith, authors of the book of parodies Rejected Addresses (1812).

Although her mother was from a dissenting family, in 1821 she married John Channing Abdy, a clergyman who succeeded his father as rector of St John's, Southwark. John Channing Abdy and Maria Abdy had at least one boy, Albert Channing Abdy (born 1829), who attended Oxford and became a clergyman. Maria Abdy was widowed in 1845. She died on 19 July 1867 in Margate, and was buried at St Peter's, Kent.

Poems

Abdy's husband appears to have encouraged her to publish poetry. One poem in her first collection was written to celebrate the centenary of his church, and several of her religious poems were intended to be sung as hymns. Yet she also published poetry in periodicals, such as (under the signature M.A.) the New Monthly Magazine and The Metropolitan Magazine, and annuals such as The Keepsake, Forget-Me-Not, Friendship's Offering and the Book of Beauty. Her poems occasionally offered serious social comment, and sometimes addressed social themes with a lighter satirical touch.

Works

• (as Mrs Abdy) Poetry, privately printed, 1834
• Poetry, 2nd series, privately printed, 1838
• Poetry, 3rd series, privately printed, 1842
• Poetry, 4th series, privately printed, 1846
• Poetry, 5th series, privately printed, 1850
• Poetry, 6th series, privately printed, 1854
• Poetry, 7th series, privately printed, 1858
• Poetry, 8th series, privately printed, 1862

References

1. ^ Susan Brown, Patricia Clements & Isobel Grundy, Maria Abdy, Orlando: Women's Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present, 2006-2011. Accessed 13 February 2011.
2. ^ Andrew Ashfield, ed. (1998). Romantic Women Poets, 1788–1848. Manchester University Press. pp. 178–193. ISBN 978-0-7190-5293-4. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
3. Cushing, William (1886). Initials and Pseudonyms: A Dictionary of Literary Disguises. T. Y. Crowell & Company. p. 825.
4. ^ Virginia H. Blain, ‘Abdy , Maria (c.1800–1867)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Oct 2007, accessed 5 Feb 2008
5. ^ "Maria Smith Abdy". Poem Hunter. 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2015.

Further reading

• Feldman, Paula R. British Women Poets of the Romantic Era: An Anthology. JHU Press, 1997,pp. 1–5.
• Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1885). "Abdy, Maria" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 1. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
• Blain, Virginia H. "Abdy , Maria". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/25. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• "ABDY, MRS." A cyclopaedia of female biography, 1857

External links

• Index of Maria Abdy's Contributions to British Literary Annuals

• 1797 births
• 1867 deaths
• English women poets
• Christian poets
• 19th-century English poets
• 19th-century English women writers
• Writers from London