Writer and artist Hannah Mary Rathbone (1798–1878) is best known for her book of fiction 'The Diary of Lady Willoughby' (1844-7). This unusual book, set in the reign of Charles I, gained her wide celebrity. First published anonymously in 1844, it was taken by some as an original 17th-century work of autobiography; others speculated as to the author, with Robert Southey, Lord John Manners, and Mr John Murray all in turn suggested. Rathbone also published books of poetry, an illustrated volume called The Poetry of Birds (1832), and a selection of pen-and-ink drawings from Pinelli's etchings of Italian peasantry.
Hannah Mary (née Reynolds) married her half-cousin Richard Rathbone, a commission merchant and committed opponent of the slave trade. In doing so, she married into the celebrated Liverpool Rathbone family of non-conformist merchants and ship-owners, philanthropists and social reformers. She spent long stays at her husband’s family home, the Liverpool mansion Greenbank House (now part of the University of Liverpool). The Rathbone family famously hosted and supported the great American wildlife artist John James Audubon (1785–1851) when he spent time in England in the 1820s and 30s, and Hannah Mary was likely influenced by his work.
