Amelia Gillespie Smyth

Amelia Gillespie Smyth (1788–1876) was a Scottish writer who published numerous works in the mid-nineteenth century, including a series of books on Christian scriptures for children and a biography of sixteenth-century Italian classical scholar Olympia Morata.

Literary career Smyth's novel Selwyn in Search of a Daughter was initially published in serial form in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine from January to June 1827. The story "Marriage Impromptu" by Smyth was published in Fraser's Magazine in 1832. Both works were included in the three-volume collection Selwyn in Search of a Daughter and Other Tales, which was published by Saunders and Otley in 1835.

Mornings with Mama, is a series of dialogues about Christian scripture between a mother and daughter. Of these dialogues, Marion Ann Taylor and Heather Weir write, "Smyth adopted the genre of catechetical writing, casting her interpretive work as a series of conversations between Mama and her child, Mary. Smyth's lessons were not confined to a study of Jesus' life and ministry. Other related lessons on ancient customs and the nature of Scripture, including a discussion of the nature of prophecy and gospel harmonies, were included as sidebars." Probation and Other Tales (1832) She was an illegitimate child, first known as Amelia Gordon. Her father was Sir Robert Murray Keith (died 1795), was a diplomat in the city; her mother was Marianne Mullin, who later married a surgeon in Moelke.

Amelia was a member of the Scottish Episcopal Church Smyth moved to England following her husband's death in 1855. She died in 1876.