Caddell, Cecilia Mary (Maria) (1814–1877), novelist, was born at Harbourstown, Co. Meath, the second daughter of Richard O'Ferral Caddell (1780–1856) and Paulina (d. 1856), daughter of Thomas Arthur, second Viscount Southwell.
Despite being a lifelong invalid, Caddell managed to become a prolific writer of religious and historical fiction, often set in Ireland. Among her earliest writings, published when she was in her early forties, were A history of the missions in Japan and Paraguay (1856), which ran to many editions, and the popular Blind Agnes, or, Little spouse of the blessed sacrament (1856). The latter work was by far her best known; it was translated into French and Italian, and ran to several editions. In the same year that these two works were published, both Caddell's parents died. Though the strain of nursing them in their last years weakened her own fragile health, she continued to write for another twenty years. She published a three-volume novel entitled Wild times, a tale of the days of Queen Elizabeth (1865) and, two years later, Nellie Netterville, or, One of the transplanted (1867) which she describes as ‘a tale of Ireland in the time of Cromwell’. In addition to such historical fiction, she also published a series of religious biographies, including works on Soeur Marie, the workwoman of Liège (1869), and Marie Bonneau de Miramion (1870). She contributed regularly to catholic periodicals, including The Irish Monthly Magazine, The Lamp, and The Monthly.
Despite her chronic illness it seems probable that Caddell travelled abroad; several of her articles describe in detail catholic practices and festivals in Lourdes, France. According to her obituary in The Irish Monthly Magazine, her last paper described a visit she had made to ‘Aix and the falls of Grézy’. She never married, and died 11 September 1877 at Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire), Co. Dublin. She was buried in the family vault in Stamullen churchyard.