Maria Trinidad Howard Sturgis Middlemore (also wrote as Mrs. S. C. G. Middlemore and M. H. Sturgis; July 26, 1846, Manila – February 11, 1890, Malvern, England) was an American author, based in England. She was notable for her collection and translation of Spanish-language folktales into English.
Writing
Her first work Round a Posada Fire: Spanish Legends appeared in 1881.[1] In the preface, she declares that her intention is to introduce her readers to an overlooked element of Spanish culture: that of peasant folktales.[1] "There is hardly a more superstitious creature on the face of the globe than the Spaniard. He delights in everything ghostly and supernatural ..." she wrote.[1] She noted that most of the stories have already been published in American journals, but added the new Lovers of Teruel, about a pair of star-crossed lovers who die from thwarted love.[1]
In 1885, her Spanish Legendary Tales was published. It contained thirty folktales from northern Spain.[2] She wrote in the preface: “Friends have remarked to me on the weird and tragic air of many of these tales. The answer is simply that such, as a fact, is the general character of the Spanish legend.”[2][3][4] The tales speak of ghosts, witches, religious miracles and werewolves.[3]The Serpent Woman and The Were-Wolf were both noted as early examples of speculative fiction in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database.[5]
Personal life
She was born in Manila, the daughter of United States Consul to the Philippines Henry Parkman Sturgis.[6][7] The family made its fortune in trade between Canton and Manila through the firm Russell & Sturgis,[6][8] co-founded by her father in 1828 as an offshoot of Russell & Co.
She was the cousin of British politician Henry Parkman Sturgis, who was named after her father. She was raised as Roman Catholic.[7] She spoke Spanish, French, Italian, German, and English fluently.[7]
She married English translator and journalist Samuel George Chetwynd Middlemore (1848-1890) on April 18, 1881 at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, where their wedding was attended by Henry James.[9][6][10]
She died in 1890, only two weeks after her husband's death and was interred at Malvern.[7][10] Her brother, Frederick Russell Sturgis, was her heir.[10]
List of works
Written works
Songs of the Pyrenees with Spanish, French, and English Words (1877), with W. P. Blake. Reissued 1918.
Round a Posada Fire: Spanish Legends (London: W. Satchell and Co., 1881).[1]
Spanish Legendary Tales (London: Chatto and Windus, 1885).[4]
^ abMiddlemore, Maria Trinidad Howard Sturgis (1885). Spanish Legendary Tales. University of California Libraries. London : Chatto and Windus. OCLC1157456264.
