Anne Beale (1816 – 17 April 1900) was a popular novelist and poet, based in Llandeilo. Her poetry, novels, and short stories appeared in print for more than fifty years during her lifetime.

Born at Langport, Somerset, Anne was educated Bath and her older sister Elizabeth Compton Beale was a singer. Anne lived near Llandeilo from 1841, where she initially worked as a governess for the family of an Anglican clergyman. The 1841 census lists her as living at Llwyn Helyg with three children (Elizabeth, Clare and Caroline) in her care.

Anne was eventually able to support herself wholly on the income from her writing and it became her full-time profession. Her depictions of West Wales were described at the time as having ‘so much warmth and character as to captivate every person’. In ‘Vale of the Towey’ she herself wrote: ‘I was struck by the loveliness of the country…In the small compass of this beautiful valley I had a world completely closed in from the outer world’.*

As well as writing books, Anne contributed articles on Welsh life to periodicals and her diaries were published in Girl’s Own Newspaper and offered insights into the daily life of the area during the mid-Victorian period. In 1850 she mentions an outbreak of rabies in Carmarthenshire. She also published a volume of poetry and contributed Welsh- interest articles to English and Scottish publications.

Anne spent her later years in London, where she died at 68 Belsize Road, South Hampstead, aged 84.

Roedd Anne Beale (1816 – 17 Ebrill 1900) yn nofelydd ac yn fardd poblogaidd, a oedd yn byw yn Llandeilo. Cyhoeddwyd ei barddoniaeth, ei nofelau a’i straeon byrion am fwy na hanner can mlynedd, yn ystod ei hoes.

Ganed Anne yn Langport, Gwlad yr Haf, ac addysgwyd hi yng Nghaerfaddon ac roedd ei chwaer hŷn, Elizabeth Compton Beale, yn gantores. Roedd Anne yn byw ger Llandeilo o 1841, a bu’n gweithio yma fel athrawes gartref i deulu offeiriad Anglicanaidd i gychwyn. Yng nghyfrifiad 1841, nodir ei bod yn byw yn Llwyn Helyg gyda thri o blant (Elizabeth, Clare a Caroline) yn ei gofal.

Yn y pendraw, gallai Anne ei chynnal ei hun yn gyfan gwbl o’r incwm o’i gwaith ysgrifennu, a daeth yn waith llawn amser iddi. Disgrifiwyd ei darluniau o Orllewin Cymru ar y pryd fel rhai yr oedd yn perthyn iddynt ‘gymaint o gynhesrwydd a chymeriad fel eu bod yn cyfareddu pob un. Yn ‘Vale of the Towey’ ysgrifennodd hi ei hun y geiriau: ‘I was struck by the loveliness of the country…In the small compass of this beautiful valley I had a world completely closed in from the outer world’.

Yn ogystal ag ysgrifennu llyfrau, ysgrifennodd Anne erthyglau ar fywyd Cymreig i gyfnodolion a chyhoeddwyd ei dyddiaduron ym Mhapur Newydd Girl’s Own ac roeddent yn rhoi cipolwg ar fywyd beunyddiol yr ardal yng nghanol oes Fictoria. Yn 1850 sonia am achosion o’r gynddaredd yn Sir Gaerfyrddin. Cyhoeddodd gyfrol o gerddi hefyd a chyfrannodd erthyglau o ddiddordeb Cymreig ar gyfer cyhoeddiadau yn Lloegr a’r Alban.

Treuliodd Anne ei blynyddoedd hwyrach yn Llundain, lle bu farw yn 68 oed yn Belsize Road, South Hampstead, yn 84 oed.