Frances Cashel Hoey

Frances Cashel Hoey (née Frances Sarah Johnston; 14 February 1830 – 8 July 1908), pseudonym Cashel Hoey, was an Irish novelist, journalist and translator.

Life Frances Sarah Johnston was born in Bushy Park, Dublin on 14 February 1830. She was one of eight children. Her parents were Charlotte Jane Shaw and Charles Bolton Johnston. He was secretary and registrar at Mount Jerome Cemetery and Crematorium.

In 1853 she began to contribute reviews and articles on fine art to Freeman's Journal, The Nation, and other Dublin papers and periodicals.

On her sixteenth birthday, 14 February 1846, she married Adam Murray "A.M." Stewart, by whom she had two daughters. A.M. Stewart died on 6 November 1856. As a widow, she moved to London and met William Makepeace Thackeray. She soon wrote reviews for the Morning Post, to whose editor William Carleton introduced her, and for The Spectator. A frequent visitor to Paris, on Easter Day 1871 she was the only passenger from London to Paris, and returned next day with the news of the Paris Commune.

Hoey was a reader for publishers at various times, and was the first to send a Lady's Letter to an Australian paper, which she did for 20 years. She also translated 27 works from the French and Italian, seven in collaboration with John Lillie. They include memoirs, travels, and novels.