Background
Matilda Anne Mackarness, born 23 November 1826, was the younger daughter of James Robinson Planché and of Elizabeth Saint George.
Matilda Anne Mackarness, born 23 November 1826, was the younger daughter of James Robinson Planché and of Elizabeth Saint George.
From an early age Mission Planché wrote novels and moral tales for children. As a novelist she took Dickens for her model and in 1845 she published Old Joliffe which was thought to be a satire of Dickens" 1844 Christmas story The Chimes. The following year she published A Sequel to Old Joliffe.
In 1849 she published A Trap to Catch a Sunbeam, a brightly written little tale with a moral, and it is on this production that her reputation chiefly rests.
lieutenant was composed some three years before the date of publication, had gone through forty-two editions, by 1882, and has been translated into many foreign languages, including Hindustani. They afterwards went to Ash-next-Sandwich, Kent, where Mackarness was vicar, until his death on 26 December 1868.
Mistress Mackarness lived then with her father first at Chelsea, and afterwards at Clapham.
In spite of ill-health she continued writing till her death on 6 May 1881 at Margate. She possessed considerable musical talent.