Born in London in 1861, Mary Elizabeth Coleridge was descended from one of nineteenth-century Britain's most famous literary families with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the major Romantic poet and critic, as her great-great uncle, and Sara Coleridge, the acclaimed translator, editor and novelist, as her great-aunt. Her father, Arthur Duke Coleridge, worked in law all his life as a Clerk of the Assize on the Midland Circuit, but he was also a talented singer and who helped found the London Bach Choir in 1875. Her mother, Anna Jameson, was also an accomplished amateur singer and between them, Coleridge's parents established the family home on Cromwell Road, South Kensington, as a regular meeting place for many of the key literary and artistic figures of the day.Although Mary Coleridge is now remembered principally as a poet, during her lifetime it was her prose writings upon which her professional career was based. From 1880 onwards, she produced many reviews and articles for major journals, and between 1893 and 1906, she published five novels, three of which are historical and politically-driven works.

Simon Avery has taught at the University of Westminster since 2007, where he is currently Reader in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture.