Mary Cecil Hay

Life

Hay was born in Shrewsbury and this is where her father, a watch maker, died before her mother moved the family to Chiswick. Hay was the youngest of six children and her mother too died early.

Hay's novels usually had a common structure. They were often set in Cornwall where Hay used to visit, but they also had locations near Birmingham and Liverpool. The story is usually set at an upper class residence and also includes urban locations. The lower class heroine finally gets to marry the higher class and elder hero, but there are usually some legal problem over maybe a will and another secondary character comes to an early and unusual death. Hay was from a Protestant background and her novel's support the role of the upper classes and they frequently have a moral sub-plot. Foreigners and members of the nouveaux riche are thought, at best, to be suspicious and are usually bad characters. The novels are noted for their witty and punny dialogue which have been compared to that of the Welsh writer Rhoda Broughton.

Hay's writing were initially published as serials in magazines like the Family Herald. and they were eventually published as a collection of short stories or as a three volume novel. Novels like The Squires Legacy were published in sixty different issues of the Family Herald in 1875 and this was followed by a three volume novel the same year. The following year the novel was published in one volume, but by another different publisher. Her most popular story was Old Myddelton's Money which was first published in 1875 and it was still in print in 1914.

Hay died in East Preston in 1886 after a fifteen-year career followed by a long illness. She was buried in Highgate Cemetery.

Works

1. Kate's Engagement 1873
2. Hidden Perils 3 vols. 1873 (1 vol. 1875).
3. Old Myddelton's Money 3 vols., 1874 (1 vol. 1875).
4. Victor and Vanquished 3 vols. 1874 (1 vol. 1875), (appeared originally as Rendered a Recompense.)
5. The Squire's Legacy 3 vols. 1875 (1 vol. 1876)
6. Brenda Yorke [previously entitled Known by its Fruit and other Tales,’ 3 vols. 1875.
7. Nora's Love Test 3 vols. 1876 (1 vol. 1878).
8. The Arundel Motto 1877.
9. Under the Will, and other Tales 3 vols. 1878.
10. For her dear Sake 3 vols. 1880.
11. Missing! and other Tales 3 vols. 1881.
12. Dorothy's Venture 3 vols. 1882.
13. Bid me Discourse, and other Tales 3 vols. 1883.
14. . Lester's Secret 3 vols. 1885.
15. A Wicked Girl 1886

Several of Hay's books have been scanned and may be viewed on the Internet Archive.