Elizabeth Hamilton was born in Belfast and, when her parents died, went to live with an aunt in Scotland. There is no doubt that her brother, Charles Hamilton, influenced her book Letters of a Hindu Rajah. She wrote many essays under the pseudonym 'Almeria', in one of which she warned women that they could expect 'an inexhaustable source of delight' in learning, but that they would not thereby attract men. Her second novel, Memoirs of Modern Philosophers, was a parody of the Godwin circle. She was very radical in what she wrote about education and she spent much of her life in philanthropic work. Her The Cottagers of Glenburnie was her most popular novel. When she died in Harrogate her writings received praise in the Edinburgh Review, and she was mentioned by Jane Austen and Maria Edgeworth.

Born:	1758
Died:	1816