Elizabeth Bentley

26 November 1767 - 13 April 1839

EB was a labouring-class poet of the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, who provided with her poems an account of her life designed to raise patrons. Her work was sufficiently religious and submissive in tone to go down well with her social superiors, though she lauded independence and favoured abolition of the slave trade.

Milestones

Shortly before 26 November 1767

EB was born in Norwich, her parents' only child; this was the date of her christening.

“FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service”. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

1785

The teenage, working-class EB , whose father had died two years previously, discovered in myself an inclination for writing verses; from this year come the earliest on which she placed a date.

Bentley, Elizabeth. Genuine Poetical Compositions on Various Subjects. Crouse and Stevenson.

prelims

23 July 1790

EB dated the account of her life which was published both in the prospectus for her Genuine Poetical Compositions, which appeared this year, and in the volume itself.

Bentley, Elizabeth. Genuine Poetical Compositions on Various Subjects. Crouse and Stevenson.

prelims

By August 1791

EB published by subscription, with her name, Genuine Poetical Compositions on Various Subjects, dedicated to William Drake , MP.

Gentleman’s Magazine. Various publishers.

61 (1791): 747

English Short Title Catalogue. http://estc.bl.uk/.

13 April 1839

EB died at an almshouse for the elderly poor called Doughty's Hospital, in Norwich, in her early seventies.

Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

Biography

Birth and Family

Shortly before 26 November 1767

EB was born in Norwich, her parents' only child; this was the date of her christening.

“FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service”. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.