Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Palliser, Fanny Bury

941000Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 43 — Palliser, Fanny Bury1895Thompson Cooper

PALLISER, FANNY BURY (1805–1878), writer on art, born on 23 Sept. 1805, was daughter of Joseph Marryat, M.P., of Wimbledon, by his wife Charlotte, daughter of Frederic Geyer of Boston, New England. She was a sister of Captain Frederick Marryat [q. v.] the novelist. In 1832 she married Captain Richard Bury Palliser, who died in 1852, and by whom she had issue four sons and two daughters. She took a leading part in the organisation of the international lace exhibition held at South Kensington in 1874. She died at her residence, 33 Russell Road, Kensington, on 16 Jan. 1878, and was buried in Brompton cemetery.

She was a frequent contributor to the ‘Art Journal’ and the ‘Academy,’ and was the author of: 1. ‘The Modern Poetical Speaker, or a Collection of Pieces adapted for Recitation … from the Poets of the Nineteenth Century,’ London, 1845, 8vo. 2. ‘History of Lace,’ with numerous illustrations, London, 1865, 8vo; 3rd edit. 1875. This was translated into French by the Comtesse de Clermont Tonnerre. 3. ‘Brittany and its Byways: some Account of its Inhabitants and its Antiquities,’ London, 1869, 8vo. 4. ‘Historic Devices, Badges, and War Cries,’ London, 1870, 8vo; enlarged and extended from a series of papers on the subject in the ‘Art Journal.’ 5. ‘A Descriptive Catalogue of the Lace and Embroidery in the South Kensington Museum,’ 1871; 2nd edit. 1873; 3rd edit. 1881. 6. ‘Mottoes for Monuments; or Epitaphs selected for Study or Application. Illustrated with Designs by Flaxman and others,’ London, 1872, 8vo. 7. ‘The China Collector's Pocket Companion,’ London, 1874, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1875. 8. ‘A Brief History of Germany to the Battle of Königgratz,’ on the plan of Mrs. Markham's well-known histories.

She translated from the French ‘Handbook of the Arts of the Middle Ages,’ 1855, by J. Labarte, and ‘History of the Ceramic Art’ and ‘History of Furniture,’ 1878, both by A. Jacquemart. She also assisted her eldest brother, Joseph Marryat, in revising the second edition (1857) of his elaborate ‘History of Pottery and Porcelain.’

[Academy, 26 Jan. 1878, p. 73; Art Journal, 1878, p. 108; Preface to Florence Marryat's Life of Captain Marryat; Reliquary, xviii. 227.]

T. C.