Mary Rolls
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Short description|English poet (1775–1835)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Mary Rolls
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| birth_name = Mary Hillary
| birth_date = {{birth date|1775|9|13|df=y}}
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| death_date = {{death date and age|1835|4|8|1775|9|13|df=y}}
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| nationality = British
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| occupation = Poet
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| mother = Hannah Wynne
| father = Richard Hillary
| relatives = William Hillary (brother)
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Mary Rolls née Hillary (also known as Mrs Henry Rolls;{{efn|Mrs Henry Rolls was the name she published under, and was referred to in the press.}} 13 September 1775{{efn|name=dob}} – 8 April 1835) was an English poet.{{cite ODNB|id=63271|first=Emma|last=Plaskitt|title=Rolls, Mary}}{{cite web | title=Rolls, Mary | website=Jackson Bibliography of Romantic Poetry | publisher=University of Toronto |url=https://jacksonbibliography.library.utoronto.ca/author/details/rolls-mary/12232 | access-date=19 September 2022 }}
Life
Born on 13 September 1775{{efn|name=dob|Rolls' obituary in The Gentleman's Magazine incorrectly gave her age as 54, leading many later sources to state her year of birth as 1781/1782.}} to Hannah (née Wynne; 1738–1806) and Richard Hillary (1703–1789) in Westmorland. She was raised as a Quaker along with her older brothers Richard (1768–1803) and William (1771–1847).
She married Henry Rolls (bapt. 1782–1838) on 16 July 1810, at St Anne's Church, Liverpool. He entered Christ's College, Cambridge in December 1810, was ordained in 1813, served a curacy at Boxworth, Cambridgeshire (1813–1816) before becoming rector first of Barnwell St Andrew (1818), then Barnwell All Saints (1819), and finally All Saints Aldwincle (from 1820), all in Northamptonshire. They had at least four daughters and two sons, though only two survived to adulthood.{{Efn|Two of their daughters, Marianna Hillary (1811) and Maria Gulielma (1813), survived less than a year.}}
She died at Aldwincle rectory on 8 April 1835. Her remains lie under the altar of Aldwinckle All Saints.
Poetry
Rolls published a number of books of poetry from 1815 to 1828. From 1817 she contributed to several periodicals, including The Literary Gazette,{{cite web | title=Mary Rolls [née Hillary] [Mrs Henry Rolls] | website=Lord Byron and His Times | publisher=Virginia Tech |url=https://lordbyron.org/persRec.php?choose=PubRefs&selectPerson=MaRolls1835 | access-date=19 September 2022 }} and The Literary Magnet.{{cite wikisource | plainchapter='The Literary Magnet' | plaintitle=Notes and Queries | first=George Clement | last=Boase | authorlink=George Clement Boase | date=3 May 1879 | series = 5 | volume=11 | issue=279 | pages=350–351 | wslink=Notes and Queries/Series 5/Volume 11/Number 279 }} From 1828 until her death she also contributed to annuals, such as Forget-Me-Not.{{cite web | title=Rolls, Mary (Mrs. Henry Rolls) (F) | website=Digital Victorian Periodical Poetry | publisher=University of Victoria | url=https://dvpp.uvic.ca/prs_4364.html | access-date=19 September 2022 }}{{cite web | first=Katherine D. | last=Harris | title=Rolls, Mrs. Henry | date=19 January 2005 | url=http://www.orgs.muohio.edu/anthologies/FMN/Authors_GenD.htm#Rolls | website=Index of Authors' Contributions to British Literary Annuals | publisher=Miami University | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613044353/http://www.orgs.muohio.edu/anthologies/FMN/Authors_GenD.htm#Rolls | archive-date=2010-06-13 }}
Bibliography
- Sacred Sketches from Scripture History (1815)
- Moscow. A Poem (1816)
- A Poetical Address to Lord Byron (1816)
- The Home of Love, a Poem (1817)
- Legends of the North, or, the Feudal Christmas; a Poem (1825)
- Choice Selections, and Original Effusions; or, Pen and Ink Well Employed (1828)
Notes
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