Mary Sewell

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MS wrote during the nineteenth century, predominantly in verse, often in ballad form, to instruct and improve children and members of the working classes. Her poems combine simplicity of language and structure with clear moral and religious instruction. Much of her work was first published in pamphlet or tract form and found wide distribution through middle-class philanthropic work with the poor.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder.
Sewell, Mary. Homely Ballads for the Working Man’s Fireside. Jarrold and Sons.
preface

Milestones

6 April 1797

Mary Wright, later MS , was born at Sutton in Suffolk, the third among seven children.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

After 1820

MS wrote her first book, Walks With Mama.
Solo: Search Oxford University Libraries Online. http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=OXVU1&fromLogin=true&reset_config=true.
OCLC WorldCat. http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.

November 1860

MS published Mother's Last Words: A Ballad.
Bayly, Mary. The Life and Letters of Mrs. Sewell. James Nisbet.
146
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder.
British Library Catalogue. http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1489778087340&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&fromLo.

10 June 1884

MS died of congestion of the lungs at the White House, Old Catton in Norfolk.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

1889

Mrs Mary Bayly (whose daughter had already printed a memoir of MS ) published The Life and Letters of Mrs. Sewell; it went into a sixth edition in 1892.
Mary Bayly was the author of Workmen and their Difficulties, The Christian Aspect of Temperance, Ragged Homes and How to Mend Them, and The Story of the English Bible.
Bayly, Mary. The Life and Letters of Mrs. Sewell. James Nisbet.
title-page
British Library Catalogue. http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1489778087340&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&fromLo.
British Library Catalogue. http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1489778087340&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&fromLo.

Biography

Birth and Family

6 April 1797

Mary Wright, later MS , was born at Sutton in Suffolk, the third among seven children.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.