Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hemphill, Barbara
HEMPHILL, BARBARA (d. 1858), novelist, was youngest daughter of Patrick Hare, rector of Golden in the county of Tipperary, and representative of the Irish family of Clare of the sept of the O'Heir. She married John Hemphill (d. 1833) of Cashel, whose family had long been settled at Rathkeany. She died 5 May 1858, leaving one son, Charles Hare Hemphill, Q.C.
Mrs. Hemphill wrote much for amusement, and began to publish by the advice of Thomas Crofton Croker [q. v.], a connection by marriage. Her first published work was a story in the ‘Dublin University Magazine’ for 1838, called ‘The Royal Confession.’ She also wrote: 1. ‘Lionel Deerhurst, or Fashionable Life under the Regency,’ London, 1846, 8vo. This was edited by the Countess of Blessington. 2. ‘The Priest's Niece,’ a novel, London, 1855, 8vo. 3. ‘Freida the Jongleur,’ London, 1857, 8vo, an historical novel.
[Information from C. H. Hemphill, Q.C.; Burke's Landed Gentry, p. 680; Gent. Mag. cciv. 685.]