Mary Ann Kilner

Mary Ann Kilner
An early edition of Adventures of a pincushion
Born	14 December 1753 London
Died	1 December 1831 Maryland Point
Occupation	writer
Nationality	British
Subjects	education
Notable work(s)	The Adventures of a Pincushion
Influences Dorothy Kilner

Mary Ann Kilner (née Maze) (1753–1831) was a prolific writer of children's books during the late eighteenth century. Her most famous book was The Adventures of a Pincushion c.(1783). Together, she and her sister-in-law, Dorothy Kilner, published over thirty books. Mary Ann published under the name "S.S." which stood for her home in Spital Square London.

Early life

Mary Ann was born on 14 December 1753 at Spittal Square, London, the youngest child of James Maze (d. 1794), a prosperous Huguenot silk throwster and merchant. She was bilingual and said to be very intelligent.^[1] Her childhood friends were Dorothy Kilner (1755–1836) and her elder brother Thomas Kilner (1750–1812). The two girls wrote to one another constantly during their childhood and teenage years. On 18 September 1774 Mary Ann married Thomas and moved to her husband's home at 33 Spittal Square. They had five children, of whom Eliza (b. 1776), Frances (b. 1783) and George (born 1791) survived.

Writing career

Following the appearance of her sister-in-law's The first principles of religion in 1780, Mary Ann approached Dorothy's publisher, John Marshall, with her own Familiar dialogues for the instruction and amusement of children of four and five years old which Marshall published during the following year. Some works of fiction followed: Memoirs of a peg top and Jemima Placid in March 1782,^[2] and The adventures of a whipping top and William Sedley the following year. She also published A course of lectures, for Sunday evenings: containing religious advice to young persons in 1783. Her most famous title The adventures of a pincushion, was published late 1783 or early 1784. All of these works were popular and reprinted several times, and the latter was reprinted at regular intervals until the 1830s.

Her works were originally published anonymously, but after Dorothy adopted the initials M.P. (representing her home at Maryland Point) Mary Ann used S.S. (for Spittal Square).

References

1. ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (under Dorothy Kilner)^{[Full citation needed]}
2. ^ Stationers' Registers^{[Full citation needed]}

Persondata
Name	Kilner, Mary Ann
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	14 December 1753
Place of birth	London
Date of death	1 December 1831
Place of death	Maryland Point

External Links

• Works by Mary Ann Kilner at Project Gutenberg