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Martha Harley

British Gothic novelist

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 26, 2026
Entity authorityQ109410824
Source-derived summary

Martha Harley (later Hugill; fl. 1786—1798) was the successful author of six Gothic novels.

Life

Little is known of Harley's life other than that she published half a dozen popular novels and lived at least part of her life in London. Judging by her publishing history, she was born "Harley" and changed her name to "Hugill" at some point between 1794 and 1797, presumably through marriage.

Work

Harley's first novel, St. Bernard's priory (1786), was printed privately, published anonymously, and sold by subscription. Her five subsequent novels were all handled by professional publishers and garnered her a degree of commercial success. Her second and third novels were also published anonymously, "by the author of &". Her fourth and fifth novels, Juliana Ormeston and The prince of Leon, were published under the name "Mrs. Harley," and her final novel, Isidora of Gallicia, as "Mrs.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Martha Harley” as british Gothic novelist. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1786, 1798, 1794, 1797—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Martha, Harley and British can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as british Gothic novelist. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q109410824. VIAF identifies the subject as 11485073. The Library of Congress control number is n91061422. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1786, 1798, 1794 and 1797.

Critical limits

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Martha Harley” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.