Mary Russell Mitford

16 December 1787 - 10 January 1855

Standard Name: Mitford, Mary Russell

Birth Name: Mary Russell Mitford

MRM , poet, playwright, editor, letter-writer, memoirist, and—in just one work—novelist, is best known for her sketches of rural life, especially those in the successive volumes of Our Village (whose first appeared in 1824). Her greatest success came when, under the pressure of her father's inexhaustible capacity for running up debt, she turned from the respected genres of poetry and plays to work at something more popular and remunerative.

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Connections

Connections Sort descending	Author name	Excerpt
Family and Intimate relationships	Caroline Norton	Under Victorian law she was not allowed to participate in the trial. Both her reputation and Melbourne's political career were at stake. In the event the jury found Melbourne innocent without calling one witness for...
Friends, Associates	Caroline Clive	CC remained a close friend of her early passion Catherine Gore . qtd. in Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford, 1990. She was also acquainted with Mary Russell Mitford , whom she described as priggy, Clive, Caroline. Caroline Clive. Editor Clive, Mary, Bodley Head, 1949. 266 Elizabeth Barrett Browning , Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford, 1990. and Harriet Martineau
Friends, Associates	Anna Jane Vardill	While she lived in London AJV moved in culturally active circles. She later described the poet Eleanor Anne Porden (who lived not far away) as her dear friend, and was one of those who...
Friends, Associates	Catherine Gore	CG was acquainted with a number of important literary figures. Before leaving London for the Continent she attended an assembly given by Rosina Bulwer-Lytton to which Disraeli , Lady Morgan , and Letitia Landon also...
Friends, Associates	Eleanor Anne Porden	EAP met Mary Russell Mitford in summer 1822 at the London house of Mrs Vardill: presumably the mother of the Romantic poet Anna Jane Vardill . L’Estrange, Alfred Guy Kingham, editor. The Friendships of Mary Russell Mitford as Recorded in Letters from Her Literary Correspondents. Hurst and Blackett, 1882, 2 vols. 1: 121 Vardill was a friend and associate from...
Friends, Associates	Frances Trollope	Frances's earliest friendships were forged with intelligent young women like herself, such as Marianne Gabell , a headmaster's daughter. She also socialized with older women, including Mrs George Mitford , the mother of Mary Russell Mitford
Friends, Associates	Maria Jane Jewsbury	Although they had been corresponding by letter for some time, this holiday was the first time the two writers met in person. MJJ was soon accepted into Hemans ' social circle and become friends with...
Friends, Associates	Frances Trollope	It took several years for the Trollopes' financial difficulties to turn into a financial catastrophe, and during those years, FT entertained many friends and acquaintances, including Lady Milman , whose husband had been Queen Charlotte
Friends, Associates	Camilla Crosland	CC 's friends and acquaintances were varying and numerous. In her youth the radical politician John Cartwright was a neighbour. Her literary work as an adult led to the formation of a number of lasting...
Friends, Associates	Hester Lynch Piozzi	Mary Russell Mitford (who did not know HLP ) later praised her. HLP had met Mitford's teacher the future writer Frances Arabella Rowden , in Wales while Rowden struggled as a neglected, uncared for Mitford, Mary Russell. The Life of Mary Russell Mitford: Told by Herself in Letters To Her Friends. Editor L’Estrange, Alfred Guy Kingham, Harper and Brothers, 1870, 2 vols. 2: 244
Friends, Associates	Elizabeth Montagu	The term bluestocking very quickly came to imply dismissiveness, if not actual disapproval and contempt. The first to use it pejoratively may well have been, as Gary Kelly has suggested, those who felt threatened or...
Friends, Associates	Barbarina Brand Baroness Dacre	Her many literary friendships, maintained in part by correspondence, included those with Joanna Baillie and Mary Russell Mitford (who first met each other in her drawing-room), Catherine Fanshawe , and Mary Tighe (with whom she...
Friends, Associates	Felicia Hemans	FH introduced herself to Mary Russell Mitford through a letter praising Our Village for the sense of communion qtd. in Hughes, Harriet Browne Owen, and Felicia Hemans. “Memoir of Mrs. Hemans”. The Works of Mrs. Hemans, W. Blackwood, 1839, pp. 1-315. 123 with its author that she felt in reading it. Hughes, Harriet Browne Owen, and Felicia Hemans. “Memoir of Mrs. Hemans”. The Works of Mrs. Hemans, W. Blackwood, 1839, pp. 1-315. 122-4
Friends, Associates	Fanny Kemble	Mary Russell Mitford was another who knew FK well even apart from their connection through the theatre. Mitford, Mary Russell. The Life of Mary Russell Mitford: Told by Herself in Letters To Her Friends. Editor L’Estrange, Alfred Guy Kingham, Harper and Brothers, 1870, 2 vols. 2: 119-20 Other friends from this period or soon afterwards included the future poet and novelist Caroline Norton
Friends, Associates	Mary Ann Browne	MAB had already met L. E. L. and Mary Russell Mitford . Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/. She now met the Chorley family, Shelton Mackenzie of the Dublin University Magazine, and other figures in Liverpool literary society. She presumably...

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Texts

Mitford, Mary Russell. The Works of Mary Russell Mitford, Prose and Verse. James Crissy, 1841.

Mitford, Mary Russell. Watlington Hill. A. J. Valpy, 1812.