Clara de Chatelain (1807–1876)

Clara de Chatelain, née du Mazet de Pontigny, was born in London, the daughter of a French gentleman and his English wife. At the beginning of her career, she wrote numerous articles, using the pseudonym Leopold Wray and others, for periodicals, including Reynolds's Miscellany, London Society, The Queen, Chambers's Journal and Le Courrier de l'Europe. In 1843, she married J.B.F. (Jean-Baptiste François) Ernest De Chatelain, also a writer, with whom she befriended Victor Hugo and his family while staying in Jersey and Guernsey. Madame de Chatelain became a prolific author, composer, and translator. writer: she translated more than 400 songs for musical houses; her books of fairy-tales included 140 original tales and 50 retellings of classic fairy tales; and she wrote novels and handbooks. One of her last works was the translation into English of the Italian libretto of "Lucia di Lammermoor" for the English stage.