Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Worboise, Emma Jane
WORBOISE, EMMA JANE, afterwards Mrs. Guyton (1825–1887), author, the eldest child of George Baddeley Worboise and his wife, Maria Lane (her father property in Birmingham), was born in Birmingham on 20 April 1825. She early developed a strong turn for story writing, and by the time she was twenty had amassed a large quantity of manuscripts both prose and poetry. Her first book, ‘Alice Cunningham,’ appeared in 1846. Between that date and the year of her death she issued about fifty volumes, chiefly stories and novels of a religious and domestic character with commonplace plots and personages. Nevertheless the books won for their author a large circle of admirers, went through many editions, and are wholesome and readable. Of many popular novels by her no fewer than three appeared in 1873, viz. ‘Husbands and Wives,’ ‘The House of Bondage,’ and ‘Our New House, or Keeping up Appearances’ (7th edit. 1891). Among work of a more ambitious kind is her ‘Life of Thomas Arnold, D.D.,’ 1859 (2nd edit. 1865), and ‘Hymns and Songs for the Christian Church,’ 1867. She edited for some years the ‘Christian World Magazine,’ and was a constant contributor to the ‘Christian World.’
Miss Worboise married Etherington Guyton, of French descent, who predeceased her. She died at Clevedon, Somerset, on 24 Aug. 1887, and is buried in the cemetery there.
[Allibone's Dict. iii. 2837, Suppl. i. 734 (under 'Guyton'); Athenæum, 10 Sept. 1887; private information.]