John Strange Winter was the pseudonym of Henrietta Eliza Vaughan Stannard, a prolific Victorian writer who seems to be all but forgotten now. She was born in York on 13 January 1856, the only daughter of Rev. Henry Vaughan Palmer (1818-1877) and his wife Emily Catherine Cowling (1816-1890). Her family lived within spitting distance of York Cavalry Barracks at Fulford, and a number of her numerous novels were about military life, the most successful being Bootle's Baby, which was published in 1885. She died on 13 December 1911, at the young age of fifty-five. A Seventh Child: A Novel was first published in serialised form in Winter’s Weekly (Henrietta's own paper) in May 1894. It was published in book form by F. V. White & Co. in 1894.
Nancy Reynard is the youngest of seven children. She is the seventh child of a seventh child. In fact, as both of her parents are seventh children, she is a seventh child twice over. She is the daughter of Colonel Septimus Reynard and his wife Blanche, and she lives happily with her family at the Warren in Minchester. That is, she does so until, at the age of ten, she discovers that she has the gift of second sight. I say 'gift', but she would definitely say it's more of a nuisance and inconvenience.
Anyway, at ten years of age she starts 'seeing' things, specifically things about her sister Blanche's new fiancé, Oscar Devereux, and then blurting them out for all to hear, much to his annoyance; as far as he's concerned, she has the evil eye, and he can't stand to be in her presence! And so begins Nancy's career as a reluctant psychic detective. Whether you are a thief, a murderer, a liar or all three, she will know it, as much as she wishes she did not.
Given the date of publication (1894), Nancy is one of the earliest fictional psychic detectives, and she's unusual in being female and, when her gift makes its first appearance at least, just a child. By the time we reach the end of the novel, she is eighteen years old, so still young.
Nancy's story is definitely a ripping yarn, and I got rather worked up by the end of it (according to my husband, my enthusiasm was very evident). My only complaint would be that Henrietta didn't go on to write more books about Nancy and her exploits; she would have been an interesting character to follow as she advanced in years.
Above: 'John Strange Winter' by Herbert R. Barraud.
Update ~ 6 September 2023:
A new hardback edition of A Seventh Child is now available from Nezu Press, and it includes a long biographical essay by me entitled 'John Strange Winter: Author, Wife, Mother & Purveyor of Toilet Preparations’.
Published: 29 September 2023.
ISBN-13: 978-1-7393921-4-7.
Hardback with dust jacket.
22.86mm x 15.24cm (6" x 9").
246 pages.
Price: £25.00
