Eliza Haywood

Eliza Haywood (1693–1756) was an English writer, actress, and publisher. She wrote and published more than seventy works in her lifetime, including fiction, drama, translations, poetry, conduct literature, and periodicals. Haywood described herself as a “widow,” noting in 1719 that her marriage was “unfortunate,” but no record of her marriage has been found and the identity of her husband remains unknown. Haywood’s long writing career began with the first installment of Love in Excess and ended in the year she died with the conduct books The Wife and The Husband and contributions to the biweekly periodical The Young Lady. Haywood is buried in Saint Margaret’s Church near Westminster Abbey in an unmarked grave in the churchyard.