{{short description|British writer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox writer | image = Clara Mulholland (A ROUND TABLE, 1897).png | caption = Photo in '' A Round table of the representative Irish and English Catholic novelists'', 1897 | pseudonym = | birth_name = | birth_date = 1849 | birth_place = Belfast | death_date = {{death year and age|1934|1849}} | death_place = South Terrace, Littlehampton, Sussex | resting_place = | occupation = Writer | language = English | nationality = | alma_mater = | genre = {{hlist|novels|children's literature|playwright|translations}} | relatives = Rosa Mulholland (sister)<br> Charles Russell, Baron Russell of Killowen (brother-in-law)<br>Sir John Thomas Gilbert (brother-in-law) | signature = Clara Mulholland signature (A ROUND TABLE, 1897).png }} '''Clara Mulholland''' (1849–1934){{efn|Atkinson (2016) records Clara's years of birth and death as: ca. 1850-1934.<ref name="Atkinson-2016">{{cite book |last1=Atkinson |first1=Damian |title=The Selected Letters of Katharine Tynan: Poet and Novelist |date=26 April 2016 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |isbn=978-1-4438-9301-5 |page=80 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aTn5DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA80 |access-date=11 February 2022 |language=en}}</ref> Mitchell & Rentschler (2016) record Clara's years of birth and death as: ca. 1856 - ca. 1934.<ref name="MitchellRentschler-2016">{{cite book |last1=Mitchell |first1=Claudia |last2=Rentschler |first2=Carrie |title=Girlhood and the Politics of Place |year=2016 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=978-1-78533-017-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mq-tCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA224 |access-date=11 February 2022 |language=en}}</ref>}} was a writer who was born in Belfast but moved to England at an early age. In addition to being a prolific novelist since the 1880s, she wrote children's literature, plays, and was a translator from French into English.
==Early life and education== Clara Mulholland was born in Belfast in 1849.<ref name="newulsterbiography">{{cite web |title=Clara Mulholland (1849-1934): Writer |url=http://www.newulsterbiography.co.uk/index.php/home/viewPerson/1213 |website=www.newulsterbiography.co.uk |publisher=The Dictionary of Ulster Biography |access-date=10 February 2022}}</ref> Her father was Joseph Stevenson Mulholland, a medical doctor. Her siblings included older sisters Rosa, Lady Gilbert (wife of Sir John Thomas Gilbert)<ref name="roundtableIrishEnglish-1897">{{cite book |last1=Dobrée |first1=Louisa Emily |last2=Francis |first2=M. E. |last3=Kerr |first3=Lady Amabel |last4=Hügel) |first4=Pauline von |last5=Knowles |first5=Richard Brinsley Sheridan |last6=Maitland |first6=Frances Mary |last7=Maude |first7=Sophie Dora Spicer |last8=Mulholland |first8=Clara |title=A Round Table of the Representative Irish and English Catholic Novelists: At which is Served a Feast of Excellent Stories; with Portraits, Biographical Sketches, and Bibliography |year=1897 |location=New York |publisher=Benziger Brothers |pages=223–24 |url=https://archive.org/details/roundtableofrepr00newy |language=en }} {{PD-notice}}</ref> and Ellen, Lady Russell (wife of Charles Russell, Baron Russell of Killowen, Lord Chief Justice of England),<ref name="Burnand-1908">{{cite book |last1=Burnand |first1=Sir Francis Cowley |title=The Catholic Who's who and Yearbook |year=1908 |publisher=Burns & Oates |page=347 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K8sYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA347 |access-date=10 February 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>Pilz, Anna, and Whitney Standlee, editors. ''IRISH WOMEN'S WRITING, 1878-1922: Advancing the Cause of Liberty''. MANCHESTER UNIV PRESS, 2018.</ref> as well as a brother, William Mulholland.
The siblings belonged to a County Antrim family which had many representatives in the U.S. bearing the names of Mulholland, Mullholland, Milholland, and Millholland. Members of the most prominent branch of the family were for a century leading cotton spinners of Belfast, the eldest line of which was elevated to the British peerage as Barons of Dunleath.<ref name="TheBaltimoreSun-11aug1900">{{cite news |title=FAMOUS JUDGE DEAD |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/365321768/?terms=Clara%20Mulholland&match=1 |access-date=11 February 2022 |work=The Baltimore Sun |via=Newspapers.com |date=11 August 1900 |page=2 |language=en}} {{PD-notice}}</ref>
Clara left Belfast at a very early age. She was educated in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England, at a convent of the Sisters of Providence of the Institute of Charity, and afterwards at a convent of the Dames de Marie, Coloma, Belgium.<ref name="roundtableIrishEnglish-1897" /><ref name="Murphy-1997">{{cite book |last1=Murphy |first1=James H. |title=Catholic Fiction and Social Reality in Ireland, 1873-1922 |year=1997 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-30188-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BJsGNNHv9CYC&pg=PA15 |access-date=10 February 2022 |language=en}}</ref>
==Career== thumb|''Percy's revenge'' thumb|''The strange adventures of little Snowdrop and other tales'' thumb|''Kathleen Mavourneen'' thumb|''Bunt and Bill'' thumb|''The Senior lieutenant's wager - and other stories'' Her first story for young children, was published by Messrs. Marcus, Ward & Co., of Belfast, and by John Murphy, of Baltimore. Then followed - ''Naughty Miss Bunny'', ''The Strange Adventures of Little Snowdrop'', and ''Little Merry Face and His Crown of Content''. Later, Mulholland wrote stories for various London magazines and papers, and for Messrs. Tillotson & Sons, of Bolton, and the National Press Agency, London. Her other books were, ''A Striking Contrast'', ''Kathleen Mavourneen'' and ''Linda's Misfortunes and Little Brian's trip to Dublin''.<ref name="roundtableIrishEnglish-1897" />
Her translation of ''The Little Hunchback, by the Comtesse de Segur'', was published in London, 1876, with a new edition in 1883. The translation for ''Mystical Flora of St. Francis de Sales'' was published in London, 1880. Another translation included ''The Power of St. Joseph - A Book of Meditations and Devotions in honour of the Foster-Father of Our Lord,'' by the Rev. Father Huguet, S.M.; translated from the French by Clara Mulholland (Dublin : McGlashan and Gill, 1876).<ref name="Kirk-1899" /><ref name="TheFreemansJ-27jun1876">{{cite news |title=LITERATURE |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/390987419/?terms=Clara%20Mulholland&match=1 |access-date=11 February 2022 |work=The Freeman's Journal |via=Newspapers.com |date=27 June 1876 |page=2 |language=en}}</ref>
''Bound Together - Six Short Plays for Home and School'' (Baltimore : John Murphy & Co., 1897) was co-authored by Clara and Rosa.<ref name="GlasgowHerald-19aug1897">{{cite news |title=POETRY, VERSE, AND DRAMA. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/409257176/?terms=Clara%20Mulholland&match=1 |access-date=11 February 2022 |work=Glasgow Herald |via=Newspapers.com |date=19 August 1897 |page=7 |language=en}}</ref>
Other works followed including, ''The Little Bogtrotters; or, A Few Weeks at Conmore'' (London, 1878), ''Little Brian's Trip to Dublin'' (London, 1885), ''The Miser of King's Court'' (London, 1887), ''Percy's Revenge'' (Dublin, 1887),<ref name="Kirk-1899">{{cite book |last1=Kirk |first1=John Foster |title=A Supplement to Allibone's Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors: Containing Over Thirty-seven Thousand Articles (authors), and Enumerating Over Ninety Three Thousand Titles |year=1899 |publisher=J. B. Lippincott Company |page=1154 |volume=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dlhTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1154 |access-date=10 February 2022 |language=en}}</ref> ''In A Roundabout Way'' (1908), and ''Sweet Doreen'' (1915).<ref name="newulsterbiography" />
==Death== Clara Mulholland died at her home in South Terrace, Littlehampton, Sussex, in 1934.<ref name="newulsterbiography" />
==Selected works== ===Books=== {{div col|colwidth=30em}} * ''Mystical flora of St. Francis de Sales : or, the Christian life under the emblem of plants '', 1877 * ''The Little Bogtrotters; or, A Few Weeks at Conmore'', 1878 * ''Naughty Miss Bunny : a story for little children'', 1882 * ''Linda's Misfortunes and Little Brian's trip to Dublin'', 1885 * ''The Miser of King's Court'', 1887 * ''Percy's Revenge - a story for boys'', 1887 * ''The Strange Adventures of Little Snowdrop'', 1889 * ''Kathleen Mavourneen'', 1890 * ''Little Merry Face and his crown of content : and other tales'', 1891 * ''Ella's sacrifice'', 1891 * ''Little Larry'', 1891 * ''The O'Briens' Christmas'', 1892 * ''A Striking Contrast'', 1895 * ''Bunt and Bill'', 1902 * ''The Senior lieutenant's wager - and other stories'', 1905 * ''The lost chord'', 1905 * ''In A Roundabout Way'', 1908 * ''Through mist and shadow'', 1909 * ''Sweet Doreen'', 1915 * ''Skenet bedrager : Roman'', 1920 * ''Her last message'', 1926 * ''Little Merry Face and His Crown of Content'' * ''The little house under the hill'' * ''Sheila's Presentiment'' * "The Lost Chord" (Collins' Clear-Type Press)
===Plays=== * ''Miss Carnduff's Next-of-Kin a Comedietta in Two Acts. Act II'', 1884 * ''Bound Together - Six Short Plays for Home and School'' (Baltimore : John Murphy & Co., 1897); co-authored by Clara and Rosa Mulholland.
===Articles=== * "Dave's Repentance" * "Terence O'Neill's heiress", 1907 * "Mistress Mary", 1912
===Translations=== * ''The Little Hunchback, by the Comtesse de Segur'', 1876 * ''The Power of St. Joseph - A Book of Meditations and Devotions in honour of the Foster-Father of Our Lord.'' (By the Rev. Father Huguet, S.M. Translated from the French by Clara Mulholland. Dublin : McGlashan and Gill, 1876) * '' For little children. Advice on Piety.'' (By Louis-Gaston de Ségur. Translated by Clara Mulholland. 1895) {{div col end}}
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mulholland, Clara}} Category:1849 births Category:1934 deaths Category:Writers from Belfast Category:20th-century novelists from Northern Ireland Category:Women novelists from Northern Ireland Category:Children's writers from Northern Ireland Category:Translators from Northern Ireland Category:19th-century Irish women writers Category:20th-century Irish women writers Category:French–English translators Category:British women children's writers Category:Irish women children's writers Category:19th-century Irish dramatists and playwrights Category:British women dramatists and playwrights Category:Irish women dramatists and playwrights