Effie Adelaide Maria Henderson (later Rowlands and Albanesi; c.1859 – 16 October 1936) was a British novelist, better known under the pen names Effie Adelaide Rowlands, E. Maria Albanesi and Madame Albanesi. She was the author of more than 250 romance novels and short-stories for magazines and newspapers.

Personal life and family

Effie Adelaide Maria Henderson was born about 1858 or 1859 in New South Wales, Australia. She was the illegitimate daughter of the English Alexander Henderson (1828–1886) and Maria Nelson (her parents' marriage wasn't legal, because her father was already married). Her sister Caroline Sidney Henderson (alias Carrie Hope) and her niece Maria Effie Hallatt (alias May Hallatt), were actresses. In 1882 she married Cecil Rowlands, a playwright who used the stage name Cecil Raleigh, and she started to write before they divorced in 1893. In 1896, she married Carlo Albanesi (1859-1926), an Italian concert pianist, teacher and composer who from 1893 settled in London and taught at the Royal Academy of Music. They had two daughters, Eva Olimpia Maria Albanesi (b. 1897), and Margherita Cecilia Brigida Lucia Maria Albanesi (better known as the actress Meggie Albanesi) (1899–1923). She died on 16 October 1936 at her home in London. She was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium.

Works