Batson, Henrietta M. (1859–1943)

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Batson, Henrietta M. (1859–1943)

British novelist. Name variations: H.M. Batson; Mrs. Stephen Batson. Born May 30, 1859, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; died Nov 30, 1943, in Dorset, England; dau. of Thomas John Mark Willoughby Blackman and Anne Gunn; m. Alfred Stephen Batson, 1879.

Spent childhood in Canada and moved to Foxfield, Wilshire, England (1869); like Thomas Hardy, set novels in fictional English counties; works include Dark: A Tale of the Down County (1892), Such a Lord is Love: A Woman's Heart Tragedy (1893), Adam the Gardener (1894), The Earth Children (1897) and A Splendid Heritage (1910); also wrote books on gardening including The Book of the Country and the Garden (1903) and A Concise Handbook of Garden Flowers (1903).