Author. She was a prolific 19th-century English author of 19 novels and two children's books, whose birthname was Ada Ellen Bayly. Born the youngest of four children of Robert Bayly, a barrister and his wife Mary Winter, she was an orphan by age 14, and her uncle, T.B. Winter, provided her with an education. An ardent liberal, she championed political and religious tolerance in her novels, which were passionately written without being preachy. Liberal British politician William Gladstone greatly admired her work. She adopted her pen name for the publication of her first novel, "Won by Waiting" in 1879 and gained recognition with "Donovan" in 1882 and "We Two" in 1884. A malicious rumor that the pseudonymous Edna Lyall was an inmate of an insane asylum led the author to publicly announce her identity, an episode she fictionalized as "The Autobiography of a Slander" in 1887. In 1889, she was stricken with pericarditis and spent the rest of her life as a semi-invalid, though she continued to produce a novel a year. With "Doreen" in 1894, she made a case for Irish Home Rule; "The Autobiography of a Truth" in 1896 lamented international indifference to the plight of Armenians under the Turkish government; in "The Hinderers" in 1902, she expressed her opposition to the Boer War. Throughout her career, Lyall alternated these weighty works with such popular romances as "In the Golden Days" in 1885, "Wayfaring Men" in 1897, and "In Spite of It All" in 1901, but she made no distinction between the two, saying "Each book must have its particular motive." Besides her heart condition, she died from the complications of malaria, which was acquired a few years earlier on a trip to Italy. She never married.
Author. She was a prolific 19th-century English author of 19 novels and two children's books, whose birthname was Ada Ellen Bayly. Born the youngest of four children of Robert Bayly, a barrister and his wife Mary Winter, she was an orphan by age 14, and her uncle, T.B. Winter, provided her with an education. An ardent liberal, she championed political and religious tolerance in her novels, which were passionately written without being preachy. Liberal British politician William Gladstone greatly admired her work. She adopted her pen name for the publication of her first novel, "Won by Waiting" in 1879 and gained recognition with "Donovan" in 1882 and "We Two" in 1884. A malicious rumor that the pseudonymous Edna Lyall was an inmate of an insane asylum led the author to publicly announce her identity, an episode she fictionalized as "The Autobiography of a Slander" in 1887. In 1889, she was stricken with pericarditis and spent the rest of her life as a semi-invalid, though she continued to produce a novel a year. With "Doreen" in 1894, she made a case for Irish Home Rule; "The Autobiography of a Truth" in 1896 lamented international indifference to the plight of Armenians under the Turkish government; in "The Hinderers" in 1902, she expressed her opposition to the Boer War. Throughout her career, Lyall alternated these weighty works with such popular romances as "In the Golden Days" in 1885, "Wayfaring Men" in 1897, and "In Spite of It All" in 1901, but she made no distinction between the two, saying "Each book must have its particular motive." Besides her heart condition, she died from the complications of malaria, which was acquired a few years earlier on a trip to Italy. She never married.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
Inscription
Ada Ellen Bayly
(Edna Lyall)
February 8th 1903
My trust is in the tender mercy of
God for ever and ever.
Gravesite Details
Her ashes were placed at the foot of the old cross in Bosbury Churchyard. Her brother, Rev. Robert Burges Bayly, was vicar at Bosbury Holy Trinity church from 1897 to 1906.
Family Members
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