[Frances Eliza]. Anglo-American novelist, whose maiden name was Hodgson, born in Manchester, England, on the 24th of November 1849; she went to America with her parents, who settled in Knoxville, TN, in 1865. Miss Hodgson soon began to write stories for magazines. In 1873 she married Dr. L. M. Burnett of Washington, whom she afterwards (1898) divorced. Her reputation as a novelist was made by her remarkable tale of Lancashire life, That Lass o’ Lowrie’s (1877), and a number of other volumes followed, of which the best were Through one Administration (1883) and A Lady of Quality (1896). In 1886 she attained a new popularity by her charming story of Little Lord Fauntleroy, and this led to other stories of child-life. Little Lord Fauntleroy was dramatized and had a great success on the stage; and other dramas by her were also produced. In 1900 she married a second time, her husband being Mr. Stephen Townesend, a surgeon, who (as Will Dennis) had taken to the stage and had collaborated with her in some of her plays. She published in 1911 The Little Princess, a Play for Children and Grown-Up Children, in Three Acts. Her other later writings include My Robin (1912); T. Tembarom (1913); A Lady of Quality (1913); The Lost Prince (1915); The One I Know the Best of All (1915); The Little Hunchback Zia (1916); The Way to the House of Santa Claus (1916), and The White People (1917). See also A Fair Barbarian, The Making of a Marchioness and The Shuttle.
