# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Hector, Annie French

​HECTOR, Mrs. ANNIE FRENCH, writing as Mrs. Alexander (1825–1902), novelist, born in Dublin on 23 June 1825, was only daughter of Robert French, a younger member of the family of French of Frenchpark, Roscommon, a Dublin solicitor, by his wife Anne, daughter of Edmund Malone of Cartrons. A son died in infancy. On her father's side Miss French was a direct descendant of Jeremy Taylor, and was connected with the poet Charles Wolfe (1791–1823) [q. v.]. On her mother's side she was related to Edmund Malone (1741–1812) [q. v.]. Educated under governesses at home, she read much for herself. In 1844 her parents, owing to pecuniary losses, left Dublin for Liverpool, and after sojourning at Chester, Jersey, and other places, settled in London. Miss French only once again visited Ireland. In London she made many literary acquaintances, including Mrs. Basil Montagu and Mrs. S. C. Hall. In 1856 she began lifelong friendships with Eliza Lynn (afterwards Mrs. Lynn Linton) [q. v. Suppl. I], and W. H. Wills [q. v.], editor of 'Household Words,' and his wife. She first attracted public attention by a little paper in 'Household Words' called 'Billeted in Boulogne,' in 1856. Her novels, 'Agnes Waring' and 'Kate Vernon,' ​published in 1854 and 1855, were entirely neglected.
On 15 April 1858 she married, in London, Alexander Hector (1810-1875), a man of enterprise and ability. Beginning life in the East India Company's navy, he joined Richard Lemon Lander [q. v.] in his exploration of the Niger, in 1832, and General Francis Rawdon Chesney [q. v.] in the exploration of the Euphrates and Tigris (1835-7). When Chesney's expedition broke up Hector settled at Bagdad, and was the first merchant in recent times to open up trade between Great Britain and the Persian Gulf. He assisted Sir Henry Layard [q. v.] in his Assyrian excavations, and excavated on his own account, the British Museum purchasing some of his finds. He returned to England with a large fortune in 1857, but after his marriage his health broke, and he died, having long been partially paralysed, in 1875.
During her husband's lifetime Mrs. Hector wrote little, owing to his dislike of the vocation for a woman. Nevertheless 'Which shall it be ?' came out in 1866, and before Hector's death she published her best known novel, the 'The Wooing o't.' It appeared as a serial in 'Temple Bar' during 1873, being re-issued in three volumes at the end of that year. She adopted as a pseudonym her husband's Christian name.
After Hector's death his widow, left with one son and three daughters, and with smaller means than she had anticipated, began to write in good earnest. Spending six years with her family in Germany and France and then three years at St. Andrews, she settled in London in 1885, and thenceforth rarely left it, busily occupied with novel-writing till her death.
In 1875 came out 'Ralph Wilton's Ward,' and 'Her Dearest Foe' in 1876. There followed forty-one novels, which enjoyed popularity among habitual readers of fiction both here and in America. Eleven passed into a second edition ; 'The Freres' (1882) was translated into Spanish, 'By Woman's Wit' (1886) into Danish, and 'Mona's Choice' (1887) into Pohsh. The fresh and vivacious style reflects the Irish temperament, and the tone is always wholesome. 'Kitty Costello' (1904), a novel which presents an Irish girl's introduction to English life, and has autobiographic touches, was written when Mrs. Hector was seventy-seven and was barely completed at her death. A witty, clever talker, of quick sympathies and social instincts, Mrs. Hector was in many ways abler and broader-minded than her writings show. She died in London, after ten years' suffering from neuritis, on 10 July 1902, and was buried in Kensal Green cemetery.
A portrait painted at the time of her marriage by an artist named Fitzgerald, living at Versailles, and another painted just before her death by her youngest daughter. Miss May Hector (reproduced in 'To-day,' 23 July 1902), belong to her daughters.
[Who's Who, 1901; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Helen C. Black, Notable Women Authors of the Day, 1895; private information.]
E. L.