Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards, also known as Amelia B. Edwards, was an English novelist, journalist, traveler and Egyptologist. Her literary successes included tonight’s ghost story, "The Phantom Coach," the novels Barbara's History and Lord Brackenbury, and the travelogue of Egypt, A Thousand Miles up the Nile (1877).

In 1882, she co-founded the Egypt Exploration Fund. She gained the nickname "Godmother of Egyptology" for her contribution.  You might remember our discussion of the late 19th century popularity of all things Egypt in the conclusion of “Hand in Glove,” an Elizabeth Bowen story also found here on All Things Eerie.

Amelia Edwards formed emotional attachments almost exclusively with women. From the early 1860s onwards, she lived with Ellen Drew Braysher, a widow 27 years her senior who had lost her husband and daughter not long after Edwards' parents had died and who was to become her companion until both women died in early 1892. Another significant person in Edwards' life was Ellen Byrne, the wife of a pastor and school inspector, with whom Edwards apparently entered a love relationship during the second half of the 1860s. The relationship ended when the husband, John Rice Byrne, was assigned a different school district and the couple moved away, which left Edwards deeply distraught.

After catching influenza, Edwards died on 15 April 1892. In September 2016, Historic England designated the grave Grade II listed, as a landmark in English LGBTQ history.

Tonight’s story is chilling – both literally and figuratively.  I will bring you now to the grim, snowy moors of northern England, where a hapless hunter must find his way home – but oh, what a journey awaits him – and what company!

And now, turn down the lights and join us for “The Phantom Coach” by Amelia B. Edwards….