ABSTRACT
The little that is known of Margaret Harvey, the melodramatist of Northumberland, is derived from her published works and correspondence. The date and place of her birth are unknown but, by 1814, when her epic poem, The Lay of the Minstrel’s Daughter , was published, she was living at 12 Newgate Street in Newcastle, not far from her mother and sisters who resided at Strawberry Place. 1 The fact that she was living away from home implies that she was on her own, working perhaps as a teacher. 2 Since no father is mentioned in the subscription list for her poem, it is assumed that he was either dead or absent from the household. Furthermore, the officers’ names on the subscription list imply that Mr. Harvey may have had military connections, or served in the foreign service. 3
