Charlotte Brooke

Brooke, Charlotte, c.1740—1793

by Benjamin Colbert

Charlotte Brooke was born at Rantavan, Co. Cavan, Ireland, daughter of Henry Brooke (c.1703-83) and his wife Catherine, née Meares (1712/13-73), both of protestant Anglo-Irish stock. Educated by her father, she studied history and literature, with a predilection for the Irish language and Gaelic lore. She turned her early interests to account with her Reliques of Irish Poetry (1789), published partly to allay financial distress after the death of her father in 1783 and subsequent bankruptcy. Before her own death following a fever in 1792, Brooke continued to publish, although several of her works including A Dialogue (1796) and a novel, Emma, or, The Foundling of the Wood (1803), appeared posthumously.

Sources:

Leerssen, Joep. 'Brooke, Charlotte (c. 1740–1793), writer'. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 23 Sept. 2004. Oxford University Press. Web. 28 Jan. 2016. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/3537

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