Lady Ellenor Fenn
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Lady Ellenor Fenn was an accomplished educator and a prolific author. She wrote charming books for children of various ages, fitted to their reading level. Fables in Monosyllables and Cobwebs to Catch Flies (both 1783) are her best known works, both graduated readers which were very popular in their time. Her books for mothers on how to educate their children were also extremely popular The Mother’s Grammar, which came with an associated game (1798?), went through many editions. A copy of Cobwebs was sent to the royal nursery and printed into the 1870s (Stoker, ODNB online). She was dedicated to education for all, and especially an expanded education for girls.
Fenn knew first-hand the value of education for obtaining and maintaining a comfortable middle class status. Her husband was a well-known antiquarian who was knighted in 1787 after presenting an edition of the medieval Paston Letters to King George III, (after which she became Lady Fenn). He had collected, edited and published these letters of medieval political intrigue, which established his reputation. He was appointed High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1791. The Fenns lived a solidly upper middle class life, and this is reflected in her books. Indeed, she argues for mothers to teach their children in ways that would maintain that lifestyle and that class, establishing an authority for the educational responsibility many women already had. In her prefaces, dedication and advertisements as well as her books of teaching methods for mothers, Fenn was advocating for mothers, specifically, making those all-important first impressions on their offspring’s blank minds. In these class distinctions, she was following Locke’s ideas, and taking part in the clash of cultures Wroth outlined in "To Root the Old Woman out of Our Minds" (Eighteenth-Century Life 2006). Maids, who may pass on the superstitions or values of a lower class or even a Governess who may impart the values of a different culture, would simply not do.
The settings in Fenn’s books are comfortable English country houses complete with surrounding horse stables, lambs frolicking on lawns, and little gardens kept by and for the children in her stories. Her books take place within what we might call the new “mythic norm” of upper middle class life. “The Happy Family” (Cobwebs, vii ) is a case in point. The story paints a picture of a family with both property and leisure, where the children are taught to “do as they were bid in all things” (13-14). They liked to learn, to help each other and “in short, were a family of perfect love” (16). The idealized setting and polite behavior of the child characters belie the depth of her knowledge of what amuses children and they learn. Inspired by Barbauld’s earlier Lessons for Children (1779), she wrote books that would catch a child’s fleeting attention and incite their imagination. She knew how to tell a good, simple story for even her youngest readers and encouraged mothers and fathers to take advantage of every instance of a child’s curiosity to teach. She was one of the earliest proponents in writing for what we would call the “teachable moment."
Fenn had the personal authority as an author and educator to decide what ideas she would use and what she would change, even from authorities like Locke and Rousseau. She was one of the first children’s authors to mention and criticize Rousseau (Bator 49). In her preface to Fables in Monosyllables she decided that while some of his ideas were “detestable” she could “separate the wheat from the chaff” (1783, x). She similarly made her own way with regard to the general consensus about what could and should be done. In her books on spelling and grammar she was an innovator, breaking everything down into easily digestible bits. She used the same methods to develop educational games with cards (what we would call flash cards or concentration games) which we now take for granted. And, as a way of providing a more comprehensive education for women and girls, Fenn wrote books teaching mothers how to teach grammar, at a time when it was considered far too difficult for them.
Ellenor Fenn was an author and educator of singular ability. She made her own observations and decisions about education, stressing its importance for both girls and boys. Her books developed a message of authority and agency to mothers as teachers, and reflect her knowledge and love of children. Though she did not have children of her own, she wrote for the benefit of her adoptive children and her many nieces and nephews, learning what they liked and how they learned. While devoted to a middle class life, she never lost sight of the needs of those less fortunate than herself. In her later life she opened and ran a Sunday School in Dereham, Norfolk. She is remembered there not only as an author but for her teaching and her philanthropy. David Stoker, who wrote her biographical entry for the Oxford National Dictionary of Biography, characterized her rare ability to write for the little ones this way: “Above all she had the gift of communicating with children on their own level” (ODNB online).
Fenn knew first-hand the value of education for obtaining and maintaining a comfortable middle class status. Her husband was a well-known antiquarian who was knighted in 1787 after presenting an edition of the medieval Paston Letters to King George III, (after which she became Lady Fenn). He had collected, edited and published these letters of medieval political intrigue, which established his reputation. He was appointed High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1791. The Fenns lived a solidly upper middle class life, and this is reflected in her books. Indeed, she argues for mothers to teach their children in ways that would maintain that lifestyle and that class, establishing an authority for the educational responsibility many women already had. In her prefaces, dedication and advertisements as well as her books of teaching methods for mothers, Fenn was advocating for mothers, specifically, making those all-important first impressions on their offspring’s blank minds. In these class distinctions, she was following Locke’s ideas, and taking part in the clash of cultures Wroth outlined in "To Root the Old Woman out of Our Minds" (Eighteenth-Century Life 2006). Maids, who may pass on the superstitions or values of a lower class or even a Governess who may impart the values of a different culture, would simply not do.
The settings in Fenn’s books are comfortable English country houses complete with surrounding horse stables, lambs frolicking on lawns, and little gardens kept by and for the children in her stories. Her books take place within what we might call the new “mythic norm” of upper middle class life. “The Happy Family” (Cobwebs, vii ) is a case in point. The story paints a picture of a family with both property and leisure, where the children are taught to “do as they were bid in all things” (13-14). They liked to learn, to help each other and “in short, were a family of perfect love” (16). The idealized setting and polite behavior of the child characters belie the depth of her knowledge of what amuses children and they learn. Inspired by Barbauld’s earlier Lessons for Children (1779), she wrote books that would catch a child’s fleeting attention and incite their imagination. She knew how to tell a good, simple story for even her youngest readers and encouraged mothers and fathers to take advantage of every instance of a child’s curiosity to teach. She was one of the earliest proponents in writing for what we would call the “teachable moment."
Fenn had the personal authority as an author and educator to decide what ideas she would use and what she would change, even from authorities like Locke and Rousseau. She was one of the first children’s authors to mention and criticize Rousseau (Bator 49). In her preface to Fables in Monosyllables she decided that while some of his ideas were “detestable” she could “separate the wheat from the chaff” (1783, x). She similarly made her own way with regard to the general consensus about what could and should be done. In her books on spelling and grammar she was an innovator, breaking everything down into easily digestible bits. She used the same methods to develop educational games with cards (what we would call flash cards or concentration games) which we now take for granted. And, as a way of providing a more comprehensive education for women and girls, Fenn wrote books teaching mothers how to teach grammar, at a time when it was considered far too difficult for them.
Ellenor Fenn was an author and educator of singular ability. She made her own observations and decisions about education, stressing its importance for both girls and boys. Her books developed a message of authority and agency to mothers as teachers, and reflect her knowledge and love of children. Though she did not have children of her own, she wrote for the benefit of her adoptive children and her many nieces and nephews, learning what they liked and how they learned. While devoted to a middle class life, she never lost sight of the needs of those less fortunate than herself. In her later life she opened and ran a Sunday School in Dereham, Norfolk. She is remembered there not only as an author but for her teaching and her philanthropy. David Stoker, who wrote her biographical entry for the Oxford National Dictionary of Biography, characterized her rare ability to write for the little ones this way: “Above all she had the gift of communicating with children on their own level” (ODNB online).