Biography
information taken from: The Orlando Project online (Cambridge University), The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online (entry by J. W. McCormack 2004), The Chawton House Library online (entry by Susan Manly ), click on the webpage name to go there - most require a subscription but your library may subscribe. Chawton house is free. Note: Richard Lovell Edgeworth is referred to as RLE, Maria Edgeworth is referred to either as Maria or simply "Edgeworth."
information taken from: The Orlando Project online (Cambridge University), The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online (entry by J. W. McCormack 2004), The Chawton House Library online (entry by Susan Manly ), click on the webpage name to go there - most require a subscription but your library may subscribe. Chawton house is free. Note: Richard Lovell Edgeworth is referred to as RLE, Maria Edgeworth is referred to either as Maria or simply "Edgeworth."
1768 Maria is born January 1 to Richard Lovell Edgeworth (RLE) and his first wife, Anna Elers at Black Bourton, Oxfordshire, the eldest daughter in a family that would eventually encompass four wives and and include 21 children.
1773 Anna Elers Edgeworth dies and RLE remarries Honora Sneyd in July of the same year. Maria is five, estranged from her often-absent father, and reacts badly, engaging in troubled and troubling tantrums. 1775 Edgeworth is sent to Mrs. Lattafiere's school in Derby upon the collapse of her stepmother's health. At home, her stepmother Honora keeps records of how her children respond to her educational efforts, an idea Maria will later revive when teaching her young siblings. 1780 Honora Edgeworth dies of tuberculosis in April, having encouraged her husband to marry her sister Elizabeth, which he does in December, to general family disapproval. Maria is moved to Mrs. Devis' s school in London. The marriage results in nine children and was considered happy. Elizabeth was an attentive step-mother and RLE became a more attentive father to the daughter who would become his writing partner. Maria is already writing stories for her friends and siblings. 1781 RLE's best friend Thomas Day, the eccentric author of The History of Sandford and Merton (1783) endangers Maria's eyesight in an attempt to cure an eye disease. He and RLE share an interest in education and respect for Rousseau's methods and he often spends time with the family. 1782 The Edgeworth family (with the exception of eldest son Richard) settle at Edgesworthtown, Ireland, where they own an estate as part of the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy. Edgeworth takes an active part in managing the estate, including collecting rents. She works on a translation of de Genlis' Adele et Theodore (1782) which is not published. 1787 Edgeworth begins drafting Letters for Literary Ladies as a response to Thomas Day's restrictive ideas of women's authorship. 1790 The first version of what would become Edgeworth's novel Patronage (1814) is completed, based on stories told by RLE to entertain his large family. |
1791 The Edgeworth family lives in Clifton until 1793. A family friend (who eventually marries Maria's sister Anna), contributes ideas about "rational toys" (Manly) which are evetually described in Practical Education, though not made.
1795 Letters for Literary Ladies is published. 1796 The Parent's Assistant, or Stories for Children is published, reflecting Edgeworth's involvement with the younger children's upbringing. 1798 Practical Education, is published, a joint effort by Edgeworth and her father. It receives some hostile criticism for its secularism. The Edgeworth's are endgangered in violence between Catholics and Protestants after the Frency victory at Castlebar, County Mayo. RLE's progressive views toware the Catholics almost result in his being lynched by a Protestant mob (Manly). 1800 Edgeworth publishes Castle Rackrent in London by family friend and radical, Joseph Johnson. It includes Irish dialect which some readers take as satire. 1801 Belinda, Essay on Irish Bulls, Early Lessons (which include the Rosamond stories) and Moral Tales for Young People are all published. All reflect Edgeworth's attention to voice (she was an excellent mimic)- in Irish Bulls the narrator is "successively English, Irish, singular plural and so on" (McCormack). 1802 While in Paris, Edgeworth refuses an offer of marriage from Swedish courtier Abraham Edelcrantz. Neither ever marry. 1804 Popular Tales is published. Edgeworth begins to be extensively reviewed, mostly favorably, except for some criticism as too didactic. She and Anna Barbauld consider a joint project which never materializes. 1805 Edgeworth publishes The Modern Griselda, one of many novels focused on women's lives. She begins an on-going correspondence with Etienne Dumont, who is active in intellectual circles in London. 1806 Edgeworth publishes Leonora. She begins corresponding with Sir Walter Scott, who credits her with inspiring his Scottish novels. |
1809-12 Edgeworth is in ill health but publishes Tales of Fashionable Life, (a subscription series which includes "The Absentee", very influential and later published separately) This nets her 1050 pounds - she is "the most comercially successful novelist of her age" (McCormack). She is often reviewed, and sometimes favorably compared to Jane Austen.
1813-14 Edgeworth finishes and publishes Patronage, followed by Continuation of Early Lessons and Comic Dramas, while caring for her father, whose health declines. Patronage earns triple what Scott's Waverly does. 1817 RLE dies. At his urging, Edgeworth finishes and publishes two novels: Harrington, a Tale, and Ormond, a Tale. She also completes his memoirs, adding a second volume of her own. 1820 Edgeworth publishes RLE's memoirs. These draw a storm of negative criticism based on the revelation of his secular views. After this, the volume of her work declines. She travels, and corresponds extensively during her last years. 1821 Edgeworth publishes Rosamond, a Sequel. She begins to be more conservative regarding Irish politics in the wake of vast changes and deteriorating social and economic conditions. 1825 Edgeworth publishes Harry and Lucy Concluded, following two of the Early Lessons characters into adolescence followed in 1827 by Little Plays for Children. 1832-3 A collection of her works, Tales and Novels is published. 1834 Edgeworth publishes Helen, revisitng earlier themes around the marriage market, women's frienships, and public lives. 1837 Sir William Hamilton, president of the Royal Irish Academy, corresponds with Edgeworth about Irish literature. She becomes an honorary member. 1848 Edgeworth, at 80, publishes the novel Orlandino, to earn money for the poor during the famine. 1849 Maria Edgeworth dies suddenly at home in Edgesworthstown on May 22. |