Julia Sophia H. Pardoe

Pardoe, Julia Sophia H., c.1804—1862

by Benjamin Colbert

Julia Pardoe was born in Beverley, Yorkshire, daughter of Thomas Pardoe (1777/8-1849), army officer, and Elizabeth Pardoe (c.1782-1860). She had published a 'poetical romance' while still in her teens and a novel in 1829, but ventured into travel writing to record her experiences in Portugal in search of health, Traits and Traditions. Two more novels followed and then, from 1837 to 1840, her other travel writings, which met with success, particularly her explorations of the Ottoman world.

In 1842, she returned to fiction writing with a novel, The Hungarian Castle, but found herself in increasing financial difficulties as sole support for her aging parents. A period of prolonged illness from November 1843 to October 1844 put her into debt and she appealed to the Literary Fund for assistance (she was voted £50 in November 1844). There followed a prolific period from 1846 in which she published further novels, as well as miscellaneous essays, translations, and histories. Two collections of tales in 1857, Abroad and At Home: Tales Here and There and Pilgrimages in Paris, brought together her interest in travel and fiction.

Pardoe died of liver disease at the age of 58.

Sources:

Gorman, Anita G. 'Julia Pardoe'. British Travel Writers, 1837-1875. Ed. Barbara Brothers and Julia Gergits. Dictionary of Literary Biography. Vol. 166. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 1996. 294-98. Print.

Lee, Elizabeth, and Joanne Wilkes. 'Pardoe, Julia (bap. 1804, d. 1862), writer'. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 23 Sept. 2004. Oxford University Press. Web. 20 Nov. 2017. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/21259

Royal Literary Fund. Registered Case No. 1102, Vol. 35, Miss Julia Sophia Pardoe. 1844. Loan 96 RLF 1/1102. British Lib., London.

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