Дочь протестантского священника. С детства хотела стать писательницей.
Отправилась в Лондон, где проводя много времени в читальном зале
Британского музея
, самостоятельно подготовила себя к писательской карьере. Дебютировала в 1861 году. Её первые произведения появились когда Элизабет было 17 лет.
Наиболее известны её романы для девочек и женщин, которые сразу стали пользоваться огромной популярностью (некоторые из них выходили в серии «Маленькие женщины» — «Девичий мирок», «Школьная королева», «Чудесный замок» и др.).
Писательница пробовала свои силы и в других жанрах, создав целый ряд сентиментальных, религиозных, исторических, приключенческих и детективных романов и повестей. Её литературное наследие состоит из 300 произведений, включая короткие рассказы и статьи в журналах. В первые несколько лет после её смерти появилось не менее одиннадцати новых книг под её именем.
Редактировала популярный женский журнал «Аталанта».
В сентябре 1879 года вышла замуж за Альфреда Тулмина Смита.
Избранные произведения для детей и юношества
Scamp and I: A Story/Study of City Byways
(1872)
Lettie’s Last Home
(1876)
David’s Little Lad
(1877)
Water Lilies and Other Tales
(1878)
The Children’s Kingdom: The Story of a Great Endeavor
(1878)
Outcast Robin, or Your Brother and Mine: A Cry from the Great City
(1878)
Great St. Benedict’s: A Tale
(1879, aka
Dorothy’s Story, or Great St. Benedict’s
)
Water Gipsies: A Story of Canal Life in England
(1879, as …or [
The Adventures of] Tag, Rag and Bobtail
1893)
Dot and Her Treasures
(1879)
Andrew Harvey’s Wife
(1880)
A Dweller in Tents
(1880)
Mou-Setse, a Negro Hero, with The Orphan’s Pilgrimage
(1880)
Mother Herring’s Chicken
(1881)
The Children’s Pilgrimage
(1883)
Scarlet Anemones
(1884, repr 1897 as …
& Ellie and Esther
)
The Autocrat of the Nursery
(1884)
The Angel of Love
(1885)
A Little Silver Trumpet
(1885)
A World of Girls: The Story of a School
(1886)
The Palace Beautiful: A Story for Girls
(1887)
Sweet Nancy
(1887, aka …& Two Lilies)
Deb and the Duchess: A Story for Girls
(1888, as …
for Boys and Girls
192-)
Nobody’s Neighbors
(1888)
A Band of Three
(1888)
The Golden Lady
(1889)
Polly: A New-Fashioned Girl
(1889, 1910)
The Little Princess of Tower Hill
(1889)
Those Boys, a Story for All Little Fellows
(189-?, 1912)
The Honorable Miss: The Story of an Old-Fashioned Town
(2v., 1890)
Frances Kane’s Fortune, [or] What Gold Cannot Buy
(1890)
A Girl of the People
(1890)
Little Trouble-the-House
(1890)
Engaged to Be Married: A Tale of Today
(1890, repr 1917 as
Daughters of Today
)
The Heart of Gold
(1890)
Dickory Dock
(1890)
Just a Love Story
(1890, repr 1900 as
The Beauforts
)
The Beresford Prize
(1890)
Marigold
(1890)
Hepsy Gipsy
(1891)
A Sweet Girl Graduate
(1891, updated c. 1910 as Priscilla’s Promise)
The Children of Wilton Chase
(1891)
Little Mary and Other Stories
(1891)
Bashful Fifteen
(1892)
Jill, A Flower Girl
(1892)
Four on an Island: A Story of Adventure
(1892, aka:
A Book for the Little Folks
)
The Lady of the Forest: A Story for Girls
(1892)
Out of the Fashion
(1892)
Beyond the Blue Mountains
(1893)
Betty, A School Girl
(1894)
Red Rose and Tiger Lily; or, In a Wider World
(1894)
Girls, New And Old
(1895)
The House of Surprises: A Story for Girls
(1896)
Good Luck: A Story for Girls
(1896)
A Girl in Ten Thousand
(1896, repr [date?] as …,
& My Sister Kate
)
Playmates: A Story for Boys and Girls
(1896)
The Merry Girls of England
(1896)
A Little Mother to the Others
(1896)
Wild Kitty: A School Story
(1897, aka
A Story of Middleton School
)
Bad Little Hannah: A Story for Girls
(1897)
Catalina: Art Student
(1897)
A Handful of Silver
(1897)
A Bunch of Cherries: A Story of Cherry Court School
(1898)
Cave Perilous
(1898)
The Rebellion of Lil Carrington
(1898)
Mary Gifford, M.B./S.(1898)
Me and My Dolls: The Story of the Joys and Troubles of Miss Bo-Peep and Her Doll Family…[&] The Strange Adventures of Mopsy and Hans
(1898)
A Public School Boy: A Memoir of H. S. Wristbridge
(1899)
The Desire of Men: An Impossibility
(1899)
The Odds and the Evens
(c. 1899)
A Brave Poor Thing
(1899)
The Temptation of Olive Latimer
(1899)
Light o' the Morning: The Story of an Irish Girl
(1899)
How Nora Crena Saved Her Own
(19--)
The Time of Roses: A Story for Girls
(1900)
A Lonely Puppy, & The Tambourine Girl
(1890)
Daddy’s Girl
(1900, repr 1911 as …
& Consuelo’s Quest of Happiness
)
A Big Temptation and Other Stories
(1900)
Miss Nonentity: A Story for Girls
(1900)
Girls of the True Blue: A School Story
(1901)
The New Mrs. Lascelles
(1901, repr 1916 as
Mother Mary: A Story/Study for Girls
)
The Cosey Corner, Or How They Kept A Farm
(1901)
A Sister of the Red Cross: A Tale of the South African War
(1901, aka
A Story of Ladysmith
)
A Very Naughty Girl
(1901)
The Rebel of the School
(1902)
The Girls of the Forest
(1902)
The Squire’s Little Girl
(1902)
Drift
(1902)
The Princess Who Gave Away All, & The Naughty One of the Family
(1902)
Margaret
(1902)
Queen Rose: A Girl’s Story
(1902)
The Manor School
(1903)
Peter the Pilgrim: The Story of a Boy and His Pet Rabbit
(1903)
The Witch Maid
(1903)
A Gay Charmer: A Story for Girls
(1903)
Stories from the Old, Old Bible
(1903)
That Brilliant Peggy
(1903)
Tic-Tac-Too, & Butterfly Valley
(1903)
Petronella, & The Coming of Polly
(1904)
The Girls of Mrs. Pritchard’s School
(1904)
A Madcap
(1904)
Nurse Charlotte
(1904)
A Modern Tomboy: A Story for Girls
(1904)
A Bevy of Girls
(1905)
A Young Mutineer: A Story for Girls
(1905)
The Colonel and the Boy
(1906)
A Golden Shadow
(1906)
The Hill-Top Girl
(1906)
Turquoise and Ruby
(1906)
Sue: The Story of a Little Heroine and Her Friend
(1906; aka
[A] Young Heroine: A Story of Sue and Her Friend?
)
Queen of the Day
(1906)
A Girl from America
(1907)
The Red Cap of Liberty
(1907)
The Little School-Mothers: A Story for Girls
(1907)
The Scamp Family: A Story for Girls
(1907)
Three Girls from School
(1907)
The Lady of Jerry Boy’s Dreams: A Story for Girls
(1907)
The Court Harman Girls
(1908)
Betty of the Rectory
(1908)
Sarah’s Mother
(1908, repr 1914 as
Colonel Tracy’s Wife
)
The School Queens: A Story for Girls
(1908/10)
Blue of the Sea
(1909)
Blue Shoes and Black
(1909)
Daddy’s Boy
(1909)
Betty Vivian: A Story of Haddo Court School
(1910)
Rosa Regina: A Story for Girls
(1910)
Nance Kennedy
(1910)
Pretty-Girl and the Others
(1910)
Their Little Mother: A Story for Girls
(1910)
The Girls of Merton College
(1911)
For Dear Dad: A Story for Girls
(1911)
Corporal Violet
(1912)
How It All Came Round
(1912)
Kitty O’Donovan: A School Story
(1912)
The Chesterton Girl Graduates: A Story for Girls
(1913)
The Girls of King’s Royal: A Story for Girls
(1913)
The School Favorite: A School Girls Story
(1913)
Golden Hours Story Book
(1913)
A Band of Mirth
(1914)
The Wooing of Monica
(1914)
The Queen of Joy
(1914)
The Girls of Castle Rocco: A Home Story for Girls
(1914)
Greater Than Gold
(1915)
The Daughter of a Soldier: A Colleen of South Ireland
(1915)