About the artist
Charlotte Mary Yonge (1823–1901) was an English novelist of the Victorian era, closely associated with the Oxford Movement within the Church of England. Rather than a musician, she was a prolific author whose fiction, largely aimed at family and young readers, carried strong moral and religious themes reflecting her High Church convictions.
Her novels frequently addressed domestic life, duty and faith, and she used her writing to advance causes she cared about deeply, including public health and sanitation reform, alongside the doctrinal concerns of the Oxford Movement. She was an immensely productive writer across a long career spanning much of the 19th century.
Her connection to music today rests on the enduring carol «We Wish You a Merry Christmas», a traditional English piece long associated with her name within popular memory, even though her broader legacy lies chiefly in her novels and her influence on Victorian religious and moral literature rather than in songwriting.