Blacker, Mrs. Not identified. According to her H.W. articles, the contributor was a lady of good family, wife of a Church of England clergyman (non-Puseyite) who served for some time in an English country parish inhabitated largely by the poor and labouring class. (Several clergymen named Blacker flourished at the time.) Helped her husband in his parish work. Was some fifty years old at the time of contributing to H.W. 

     Sending the first of her articles ["The Clergyman's Wife: Poor Cottages" (lead) XIX, 169-72. Jan. 22, 1859] to Wills, Dickens wrote of the new contributor (Jan. 8,1859): "She has an excellent knowledge of a poor country parish, some very pretty womanly humour, some very good womanly observation, and a decided faculty for writing." He stated that he had read several of Mrs. Blacker's papers and had "generally advised her how to make them better." He had "rather a strong hope" that she would prove to be "a very useful contributor." 
     Mrs. Blacker contributed at least one paper to A.Y.R. Dickens wrote to Wills, May 3, 1859, that it was "so very good – the Nurse's story so exceedingly well done," that he had at once sent the MS to the printer's. Dickens's comment and the date of his letter make it clear that the story referred to is "Eleven O'clock, among the Fir-Trees." A.Y.R., May 28, 1859. 

Author: Anne Lohrli; © University of Toronto Press, 1971.