Margaret Wolfe Hamilton^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]}

1855 - 1897  (41 years)

• Name	Margaret Wolfe Hamilton  [3]
  Birth	27 Apr 1855	Rosscarbery, Co Cork, Ireland   [2, 6]
  Gender	Female
  Death	24 Jan 1897	Bandon, Co Cork, Ireland   [6]
  Person ID	I18112	DBH Twigs
  Last Modified	22 Jun 2026

  
  

  Family 1	Thomas Henry Hungerford,   b. 8 Dec 1858, Rosscarbery, Co Cork, Ireland d. 11 Nov 1906, Reno, Nevada, USA (Age 47 years)  [3, 5]
  Marriage	1887	Rosscarbery, Co Cork, Ireland   [2, 7]
  Children	1. Henry Hungerford,   b. Est 1884, Rosscarbery, Co Cork, Ireland d. Canada   2. Thomas Hungerford,   b. Est 1886, Ireland d. 1967 (Age 81 years)   3. Vera Inez Stannus Hungerford,   b. 21 Apr 1888, Milleen, Rosscarbery, Co Cork, Ireland d. 8 Sep 1985, Cattaraugus, New York, USA (Age 97 years)
  Family ID	F5727	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	4 Jun 2026

  
  

  Family 2	Edward Argles,   b. Est 1855   d. America?   [5]
  Notes	Marriage Status: Divorced
  Children	1. Argles,   b. Est 1880   2. Argles,   b. Est 1882   3. Argles,   b. Est 1884
  Family ID	F4709	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	15 Nov 2025

  
  

• Photos » Slide Show		Margaret Wolfe Hungerford Margaret Wolfe Hamilton (right) with her sister. Keywords: Picture
  		Margaret Wolfe Hungerford Margaret Wolfe Hamilton (right) with her sister. Keywords: Picture
  		Margaret Wolfe Hamilton Keywords: Picture
  		Margaret Wolfe Hungerford Keywords: Picture
  		Margaret Wolfe Hungerford's Collective Works Keywords: Picture
  		Margaret Wolfe Hamilton Keywords: Picture
  		Margaret Wolfe Hungerford - probate Media Date: 1897 Keywords: Picture
  		Margaret Wolfe Hamilton Keywords: Picture
  		Molly Bawn Media Date: 1878 Keywords: Picture
  		Margaret Wolfe Hungerford's Collective Works Keywords: Picture
  		Rosscarbery Memorials Keywords: Picture
  		Margaret Wolfe Hungerford - probate Media Date: 1897 Keywords: Picture
  		Molly Bawn Media Date: 1878 Keywords: Picture
  		A Little Rebel Media Date: 1890 Keywords: Occupation
  		Rosscarbery Memorials Keywords: Picture
  		Margaret Wolfe Hungerford Margaret Wolfe Hamilton (right) with her sister. Keywords: Picture
  		Margaret Wolfe Hamilton Keywords: Picture
  		Margaret Wolfe Hamilton Keywords: Picture
  		At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.

  
  

  Histories

  A Little Rebel Media Date: 1890 Keywords: Occupation

  
  

• Notes

  Margaret Wolfe Hungerford, (1855-1897). Daughter of Canon Hamilton, Rector of Rosscarbery, she married Edward Argles, a Dublin Solicitor, with whom she had three daughters. He left and went to America and she then remarried Thomas Henry Hungerford (1858-1906) of Cahirmore House. Due to the disaproval of the marriage by her Hungerford father in law, the family lived at Bandon where she took up writing to support the new family of two sons and one daughter. She is officially credited with the saying "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". She died of typhoid 1897. (c.1880) Cited Source: [S158] Wikipedia Margaret Wolfe Hungerford, née Hamilton, (27 April 1855 - 24 January 1897), was an Irish novelist whose light romantic fiction was popular throughout the English-speaking world in the late 19th century. She was born in County Cork, Ireland on April 27th, 1855. Her father was Canon Fitzjohn Stannus Hamilton, rector and vicar-choral at St. Faughnan's cathedral in Ross Carberry. As a child she enjoyed making up stories, and won prizes for her writing at school. She was educated at Portarlington College. In 1872 she married Edward Argles, a Dublin solicitor, who died less than 6 years later. They had three daughters. She wrote her first novel, Phyliss, when she was 18 years old. Soon after its favourable reception, she wrote Molly Bawn, which became her most well-known book. In 1882 she married Thomas Henry Hungerford, of Cahirmore, with whom she had two sons and one daughter. They lived at St. Brenda's, Bandon, County Cork. By contemporary accounts, she enjoyed country life and was an avid gardener. She rarely travelled far from home. She was one of the few women in Victorian times who was both a prolific author and mother of a sizeable family. She approached her writing methodically, setting aside three hours every morning for it. The room where she did her writing had neatly organized manuscripts at her desk, surrounded by many reference works, novels, and other books. Mrs. Hungerford died of typhoid fever. Her books were first published anonymously, and later as by "Mrs. Hungerford". In the United States, her books were mostly published under the pen name "The Duchess". Some of her early books were published by William Tinsley, a major publisher at the time. Often writing on commission, she wrote many novels, short stories, and newspaper articles. Her books continued selling as fast as she could write them. Her plots follow the usual conventions of romantic novels of the day. They contain delicate love scenes that were never offensive to the ideals of Victorian morals. Her works are characterized as entertaining and charming, though usually not of great depth. She tends to have little in the way of character development, tending more towards flirtatious dialogue. She was adept at capturing the tone of her contemporary fashionable society, and sometimes used Irish settings. Hungerford's best-known novel is Molly Bawn, the story of a frivolous, petulant Irish girl, a flirt, who arouses her lover's jealousy and naively ignores social conventions. Mrs. Hungerford and her book Molly Bawn are mentioned in chapter 18 of James Joyce's Ulysses: "...Molly bawn she gave me by Mrs Hungerford on account of the name I don't like books with a Molly in them like that one he brought me about the one from Flanders..." The novel Molly Bawn, 1878, contains Hungerford's most famous idiom.. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder".

  
  

• Sources

  [S22] Ancestry.com, England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations),1861-1941. [S31] IGI. [S76] Stanley Hungerford. [S271] Memorial in Rosscarberry Cathedral (St Fachtna). [S797] DBHT (exported from Ancestry).ged. Record originated in... [S158] Wikipedia. [S7] Find My Past.