Francesca Maria Steele (21 April 184810 August 1931) was an English novelist, historian, and biographer, who began writing to support her family. She began her writing career with juvenile fiction; she later moved into adult fiction, using the pseudonym Darley Dale for her fiction writing. Intensely religious, she converted to Roman Catholicism in 1887 and later wrote several books on religious topics.

Early life Steele was born in London on 21 April 1848.The index of births shows that Steele was born in the second quarter of 1848. However, she was baptised in St Peter's Church, West Hackney on 26 May 1848 Her parents were Robert Peter Steele (181610 May 1884), the secretary of the Royal Assurance Company and Frances Mary Francis (8 February 18183 October 1902).

Steele was educated at Bedford College, London, the first higher education college for women in the United Kingdom. Steele lived in Jersey from 1874 to 1884. She began writing in Jersey, with The Jersey Boys in 1878. Her father died on 10 May 1884, and his pension died with him. He had lost everything else in a bank collapse, so Steele's mother was now dependent on what Steele could earn from her writing.

Steele moved to Gloucestershire with her mother and sisters. Steele and her sister Alice Mary (1856c. 1935) converted to Roman Catholicism in 1877. Alice went on to become a nun and was the sister in charge at Tyburn Convent at 6 Hyde Park Place, in London at the time of the 1911 census. Alice was still in charge there twenty years later when Steele died.

Steele had already moved to Loretto House at Stroud in Gloucestershire when her mother died there on 3 October 1902. She was still there nearly thirty years later when she died. Even after her mother died, Steele was still supporting her youngest sister, Emma Caroline, when she applied to the Royal Literary Fund in 1914.

Name variants Steele was registered at birth and baptised as Fanny Maria Steele, and she used this name up until the 1891 census. By the 1901 census she was using the name Florence Steel, but soon changed to Francesca Maria Steele. She used this name for the publication of The Convents of Great Britain in 1902. In the 1911 Census, she used that form of her name also, and continued to do so. For her writing, she used the pseudonym Darley Dale for all of her fiction, but used her real name for her writing on religious topics.

Works Steele's work can be divided into three types: Juvenile fiction. Indicated by juv. in the table below. Steele wrote about 20 books for children.It is not always clear what category Steele's books fit into, and the list in Who Was Who does not indicate the category for all of her books, and it is possible that there are volumes that are not listed here. Children's books were usually illustrated and printed in a single volume. Adult fiction. Indicated by adt. in the table below. Steele wrote over a dozen adult novels. The earlier adult novels were published in as three-volume novels volumes. This was the norm at the time, as such a format had an appeal to circulating libraries. Religious topics. Indicated by rel. in the table below. Steele wrote biographies of saints and of important figures in church history, as well as her survey of convents and monasteries. She contributed 21 articles to the Catholic Encyclopedia.

The sources for the table are: The Jisc Library Hub Discover Database, that collates catalogues from 161 academic and specialist libraries across the UK and Ireland. The list in the Who Was Who article for Steele. The author page for Steele on the At the Circulating Library: A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837-1901

There seem to be no works by Steele at Project Gutenberg, so the table indicated those cases where online versions of the texts are available.

+Books by Steele No Year Title Illustrator Type Publisher Pages Notes 1 1878 The Jersey Boys juv. RTS, London Title from Who Was Who. 2 1879 Helen Leslie; or, "A Little Leaven" juv. Frederick Warne & Co, London 192 pages, (8º) A book in Warne's Home Circle Library. 3 1880 A Tearful Victory. A story for children juv. SPCK, London 128 pages, (8º) 4 1881 The black donkey; or, The Guernsey boys juv. SPCK, London cm.16 5 1882 Little Bricks juv. James Nisbet & Co, London 231 pages, (8º) On-line at the Internet Archive. 6 1882 The Family Failing juv. Blackie & Son, London 221 pages, (8º) Year of publication from Who Was Who. On-line at the Internet Archive and at The British Library. 7 1882 Cissy's Troubles juv. James Nisbet & Co, London 233 pages, (8º) Year of publication from Who Was Who. 8 1883 Spoilt Guy juv. James Nisbet & Co, London cm.18 9 1884 Seven sons; or, The story of Malcolm and his brothers juv. James Nisbet & Co, London cm.18 10 1885 Fanny's king: and other stories juv. Blackie & Son, London 64 p., leaf of plates, ill., 15.2 cm. 11 1885 The wild marsh-marigolds juv. London cm.15 12 1885 The great auk's eggs Charles Whymper juv. RTS, London 158,p., leaf of plates, ill., 18 cm. 13 1886 Oughts and Crosses: or, Mr. Holland's conquest juv. J. Nisbet & Co, London 269 pages, (8º) 14 1886 Fair Katherine adt. Hurst & Blackett, London 3 volumes, (8º) 15 1886 Swallow-tails and skippers Lucy Francis juv. RTS, London 158 p., 1 col. ill., 19 cm. Year of publication from Who Was Who. On-line at the Internet Archive. 16 1887 The glory of the sea juv. RTS, London cm.18 17 1887 The Shepherd's Fairy: a pastorale juv. RTS, London 208 pages, (8º) 18 1889 Mr. Mygale's Hobby: a story about spiders Charles Whymper juv. RTS, London 192 pages, (8º) 19 1890 Noah's ark: a tale of the Norfolk Broads Paul Hardy juv. Frederick Warne and Co, London 280, p., ill., 20 cm. 20 1892 The little doctor: or, The magic of nature Alexander Monro juv. Wells Gardner, Darton & Co, London 209, p., ill., 20 cm. 21 1892 The Village Blacksmith adt. Hutchinson & Co, London 3 volumes, (8º) On-line at The British Library. 22 1893 Lottie's wooing, by Darley Dale adt. Hutchinson & Co, London 3 vols. cm.19 23 1894 The Game of Life. A novel adt. Hutchinson & Co, London 3 volumes, (8º) 24 1896 Willy's Flower. juv. Blackie & Son, London 16 pages, (16º) Extracted from Fanny's King, and other stories. 25 1896 A Modern Comedy of Errors adt. Title from Who Was Who, Serialised in London Society. 26 1897 Stella's story: a Venetian tale Paul Woodroffe juv. J. S. Virtue and Co, London 248 p., 8 ill., 20 cm. 27 1897 Chloe adt. Bliss, Sands & Co, London 352 pages, (8º) 28 1898 Cupid's Crooked Ways adt. Title from Who Was Who, Ran as a serial in the Glasgow Weekly Herald. 29 1899 Justice Meadows: or the Golden Tree of Knowledge adt. Title from Who Was Who, ran as a serial in The Englishwoman. 30 1902 The convents of Great Britain rel. Sands & Co, London xxv, 320 pages, 25 leaves of plates, portraits (black and white), 19 cm 31 1902 The Daughters of Job adt. R. A. Everett & Co, London 390 pages, (8º) 32 1902 Monasteries and Religious House of Great Britain and Ireland. With an appendix on the religious houses in America rel. R. & T. Washbourne, London xv, 267 pages, (8º) 33 1903 The House that Jack built adt. R. A. Everett & Co, London 313 pages, (8º) 34 1903 Anchoresses of the West rel. Sands & Co, London xxii, 261 pages, (8º) 35 1903 The Flighty Duchess adt. Title from Who Was Who. No other information found on this title. 36 1904 Brother Francis. A novel adt. R. A. Everett & Co, London 316 pages, (8º) 37 1905 The Mirror of St. Edmund. Done into modern English. rel. Burns & Oates, London x, 80 pages, (16º) 38 1907 Naomi's transgression adt. Frederick Warne and Co, London vi, 306, p., l. of plates, ill., 20 cm. Who Was Who lists this as an adult novel, but the presence of six illustrations may suggest that it is juvenile fiction. 39 1908 The story of the English Pope rel. Macdonald and Evans, London 177 p, col. ill, 17 cm. Part of the publisher's St. Nicholas series. 40 1909 St. Bridget of Sweden rel. R. & T. Washbourne, London xxviii, 140 p., frontis., 8º. 41 1910 The story of the Bridgettines rel. R. & T. Washbourne, London 19 cm. 42 1910 The Beautiful Queen, Joanna I. of Naples rel. Hutchinson & Co, London vii, 347 pages, (8º) 43 1914 The life and visions of St. Hildegarde rel. Heath Cranton, London xiv, 246 p., frontis., 19 cm. 44 1921 The Life of Saint Walburga rel. Heath Cranton, London 189 pages, (8º) 45 1922 Old Mrs. Graham adt. Hutchinson & Co, London 286 p., 8º. 46 1923 The Master of the House adt. Heath Cranton, London 290 p., C 47 1925 The convents of Great Britain and Ireland rel. London 8º. 48 1928 The Little Widow, 2nd edition adt.

Example of illustration of one of Steele's books The following four illustrations by AFB were produced for The Family Failing (1883) by Steele (courtesy of The British Library) Typically, at the time, when it came to novels, only juvenile fiction was illustrated, although serial stories were often illustrated, even if they were for adults.

Later life At the time of the 1911 Census, Steele was living with her sister Emma Caroline at Loretto House in Stroud. Whatever income she had from her writing, it was obviously not enough as she applied for assistance from the Royal Literary Fund in 1914. In her later years, Steele was an invalid. She died on 16 August 1931, leaving a relatively modest estate of less than £400. Her sister Emma Caroline was her executor, and only survived her sister by four years, dying on 9 December 1935.

Notes

References

External links

Books by Steele in the Jisc database of collated library catalogues. Books by Steele on the Internet Archive.