Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bonhote, Elizabeth
BONHOTE, ELIZABETH (1744–1818), authoress, was the wife of Daniel Bonhote, solicitor of Bungay, and captain of the 2nd company of Bungay volunteers. Her first work was published, in 1773 anonymously. It was the 'Rambles of Mr. Frankley, by his Sister,' a work describing the characters seen in a ramble in Hyde Park, and was immediately translated into German at Leipzig, 1773. About 1787 Mrs. Bonhote wrote, while in delicate health, for her children’s guidance, a series of moral essays, called the ‘Parental Monitor,’ which was published in 1788 by subscription. In 1789 two novels by Mrs. Bonhote were issued: ‘Olivia,’ 3 vols., and ‘Darnley Vale, or Emelia Fitzroy,’ 3 vols., the last reviewed in the ‘Monthly Review’ (i. 223). In 1790 Mrs. Bonhote wrote ‘Ellen Woodley,’ 2 vols. (Monthly Review, ii. 351). In 1796 there were two reprints of her ‘Parental Monitor,' one in London and one in Dublin. In 1797 appeared, at the Minerva Press, ‘Bungay Castle,’ 2 vols., a novel which Mrs. Bonhote was permitted to dedicate to the Duke of Norfolk. In 1804, during a residence at Bury, her husband died (Gent. Mag. vol. lxxiv. part ii. p. 1246). In 1810 she published ‘Feeling, or Sketches from Life; a Desultory Poem,’ Edinburgh. This was anonymous, and was Mrs. Bonhote’s last production. She died at Bungay in July 1818, aged 74 (Gent. Mag. vol. lxxxviii. part ii. p. 88).
[Watt’s Bibl. Brit.; Gent. Mag. vol. lxxiv. part ii. p. 1246,vol. imviii. part ii. p. 88.]