Sarah Trimmer

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ST 's writing arose out of her work for two causes, religion and education, brought most closely together in her interest in Sunday schools. She edited magazines and was a pioneer both in animal stories for children and in the reviewing of children's books. Her pedagogical concerns place her in the tradition of Barbauld and Genlis , but her sense of religion is narrower, and her writing more pedestrian. She was a populariser and an activist for better training for the poor. From the opening of her publishing career in the 1780s, her output was phenomenally high; its continuance after her death suggests a kind of production line or at least a family business.
Painting of Sarah Trimmer by Henry Howard, exhibited 1798. She sits at a table bearing books (including a bible), inkwell and spare quill pens, holding one pen and some sheets of paper (as well as her spectacles). Her grey hair is mostly covered by a white mob cap with grey ribbon round it; she wears a checked dress and a black shawl with white neckerchief and black neckband. She is smiling slightly. National Portrait Gallery.

Milestones

6 January 1741

Sarah Kirby (later ST ) was born in Ipswich, Suffolk, the elder of two children.
Clara Lucas Balfour gives the date as 17 January, which suggests that she translated an Old Style date into New Style.
Balfour, Clara. A Sketch of Mrs. Trimmer. W. and F. G. Cash.
Shattock, Joanne. The Oxford Guide to British Women Writers. Oxford University Press.

1787

ST published, with her name, The Œconomy of Charity, a practical guide to setting up and running Sunday schools, specifically addressed to women.
Trimmer, Sarah. The Œconomy of Charity. T. Longman.
title-page

January 1788-June 1789

ST published The Family Magazine; or, A Repository of Religious Instruction, and Rational Amusement . . ., which was collected in three volumes during the same years.
Avery, Gillian et al. “Selected Bibliography: Sarah Trimmer”. Fabulous Histories; and, The Dairyman’s Daughter, edited by Justin G. Schiller et al., Garland Publishing, p. xiv - xvi.
xv

February 1789

ST 's Family Magazine printed anecdotes of negroes.
Feminist Companion Archive.

15 December 1810

ST died at Brentford near London.
Trimmer, Sarah. Some Account of the Life and Writings of Mrs. Trimmer. F.C and J. Rivington and J. Johnson, and J. Hatchard.
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Biography

Birth and Family

6 January 1741

Sarah Kirby (later ST ) was born in Ipswich, Suffolk, the elder of two children.
Clara Lucas Balfour gives the date as 17 January, which suggests that she translated an Old Style date into New Style.
Balfour, Clara. A Sketch of Mrs. Trimmer. W. and F. G. Cash.
Shattock, Joanne. The Oxford Guide to British Women Writers. Oxford University Press.

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