Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Kelty, Mary Ann
KELTY, MARY ANN (1789–1873), authoress, daughter of an Irish surgeon resident in Cambridge, was born in that town in 1789. Her brother, Sterling Kelty, graduated from King's College, B.A. in 1804, M.A. 1807, and was a senior fellow of his college until 1826. Her first book, a novel entitled ‘The Favourite of Nature,’ appeared anonymously in 1821. It gained the approbation of Joanna Baillie, and was in 1823 translated into French under the title of ‘Eliza Rivers.’ Her literary reputation, combined with her strong musical tastes, won Miss Kelty many friends in Cambridge; but upon the death of her father and mother, who both died in 1822, she adopted severely evangelical views, under the influence of Charles Simeon's preaching, and abandoned society. She left Cambridge in 1832, and spent the rest of her life at 5 Hanover Street, Peckham, London, where she wrote many rambling books, chiefly of a pious character. She was much attracted by the lives of the early quakers, and frequently attended the Friends' meeting-house at Peckham, though she did not become a member of the society. She died at Peckham 8 Jan. 1873.
Her chief works are: 1. ‘The Favourite of Nature,’ 1821, 8vo. 2. ‘The Catacombs. An Allegory. Taken from a work of the last century (by B. de Mandeville), entitled “The World Unmasked,”’ 1822, 8vo. 3. ‘Time of Trial; being a Brief Narrative of the Progress of the Reformation,’ 1830, 8vo. 4. ‘Spiritual Fragments, selected from the Works of William Law.’ 5. ‘Early Days in the Society of Friends,’ 1840, 12mo. 6. ‘Mamma and Mary, discoursing upon Good and Evil, in six Dialogues,’ 1840, 12mo. 7. ‘Fireside Philosophy, or Glimpses of Truth,’ 1842, 8vo. 8. ‘Memoirs of the Lives and Persecutions of Primitive Quakers,’ 1844, 12mo. 9. ‘Visiting my Relations,’ 1851, 8vo. 10. ‘Reminiscences of Thought and Feeling,’ 1852, 8vo. 11. ‘Waters of Comfort,’ 1856, 8vo. 12. ‘The Real and the Beau Ideal,’ 1860, 8vo. 13. ‘Eventide, a Devotional Diary for the Close of the Day,’ 1860, 8vo. 14. ‘Loneliness and Leisure,’ 1867, 8vo. 15. ‘The Solace of a Solitaire,’ 1869, 8vo.
[Smith's Catalogue of Friends' Books, ii. 51, Halkett and Laing's Anon. and Pseudon. Lit. Mrs. Douglas's Life of Whewell, pp. 84–5, 101, 110; Notes and Queries, 4th ser. i. 481; Miss Kelty's Works, especially the autobiographical fragments in Reminiscences of Thought and Feeling and Solace of a Solitaire; information from Robert Bowes, esq., Cambridge.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.171
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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| 360 | ii | 17 | Kelty, Mary A.: after Literature; insert Mrs. Douglas's Life of Whewell, pp. 84-85, 101,110; |