Amelia Opie

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Standard Name: Opie, Amelia
Birth Name: Amelia Alderson
Married Name: Amelia Opie
Pseudonym: N.
AO , who was publishing at the end of the eighteenth century and during the earlier nineteenth century, is best known as a novelist, but was also a dramatist, poet, and short-story writer. The opinions expressed in her writings are often reactionary in gender terms, though she was brought up a Unitarian and later became a Quaker and an active Abolitionist.
Photograph of a painting of Amelia Opie by her husband, John Opie, 1798. She is depicted from the waist up, against a background that is mainly dark with a landscape scene visible in the distance. She wears a simple white dress with a V-shaped neckline that is trimmed with white ruffles. Her brown hair is pulled back, with bangs, and a braid across the top, acting as a headband. She holds a straw hat wrapped in gauzy black fabric in her lap. National Portrait Gallery.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Education Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon
Her aunt Julia was a great influence on BLSB , who through her met Harriet Martineau , Mary Somerville , and Amelia Opie .
Education Elizabeth Barrett Browning
EBB 's early immersion in fairy stories and popular tales was followed by a more ambitious course of reading that began around the age of seven with history, classical poetry, and some of Shakespeare 's...
Education Annabella Plumptre
As an adult AP was reported by Amelia Opie to be a homebody laudably attentive to her studies, in contrast with her flightier sister Anne.
qtd. in
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
Friends, Associates Mary Russell Mitford
She knew most of the literary women of her day, including Felicia Hemans (who wrote to ask her for an autograph),
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: 173-4
Jane Porter , Amelia Opie (that warm-hearted person),
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: 213
Friends, Associates Lucy Aikin
In her memoirs LA claims to have been acquainted with all the notable literary women of her time. She was a close friend of Joanna Baillie and Elizabeth Ogilvy Benger . Another important friend and...
Friends, Associates Eliza Fletcher
Hamilton, herself a conservative, set about de-demonizing EF 's political reputation. She had good success in persuading her friends that Mrs Fletcher was not the ferocious Democrat she had been represented, and that she neither...
Friends, Associates Annabella Plumptre
On that November date Annabella made an attempt, by letter, to bring together their friend Amelia Alderson (later Opie) with Mary Hays . (Anne had already written to the same purpose in March, but not...
Friends, Associates Helen Maria Williams
On her return to Paris after Robespierre's death, HMW and Stone lived in a house (where she held her salon) on the Quai Malaquais. After peace was announced between England and France in 1801...
Friends, Associates Anna Eliza Bray
This brief marriage brought Anna Eliza a number of literary friendships: with Sir Walter Scott , Amelia Opie , Letitia Elizabeth Landon , John Murray , Robert Southey , and later with Southey's second wife,...
Friends, Associates Matilda Charlotte Houstoun
In later years MCH continued to maintain relations with several significant literary figures. She was once visited by Frances Trollope , whom she described as A genial, natural woman, not especially refined, but far too...
Friends, Associates Henry Peter Baron Brougham
Brougham had a number of friends among women writers. He was at primary school in Edinburgh with Susan Ferrier (who, however, declined to acknowledge him later, probably for political reasons). His political work brought him...
Friends, Associates Anne Plumptre
The earliest friend associated with AP and her sister Bell in literature and politics was Amelia Alderson (later Opie) .
Plumptre, Anne. “Introduction”. Something New, edited by Deborah McLeod, Broadview, 1996, p. vii - xxix.
ix-x
Friends, Associates Lady Caroline Lamb
LCL 's friendships with women writers (besides Morgan) would surprise anyone not taking her seriously as a writer. When Germaine de Staël visited England, Lady Caroline was delighted to find her wearing a hat with...
Friends, Associates Anne Plumptre
Their friends included Eliza Fenwick , Helen Maria Williams , Susannah Taylor , Mary Hays , Amelia Opie , Thomas Holcroft , John Thelwall , and other radicals. AP supported Thelwall's local electioneering, and Ann Jebb
Friends, Associates Annabella Plumptre
The earliest friend associated with AP and her elder sister in literature and politics was Amelia Alderson (later Opie) .
Plumptre, Anne. “Introduction”. Something New, edited by Deborah McLeod, Broadview, 1996, p. vii - xxix.
ix-x

Timeline

4 April 1788: At about the time that he lost his religious...

Writing climate item

4 April 1788

At about the time that he lost his religious faith, William Godwin began keeping a diary, which he continued almost daily until 26 March 1836, only two weeks before he died.
Clemit, Patricia. “William Godwin’s Papers in the Abinger Deposit: An Unmapped Country”. Bodleian Library Record, Vol.
xviii
, No. 3, Apr. 2004, pp. 253-63.
254-6, 258-9

After 1 February 1793: An organisation calling itself the Friends...

National or international item

After 1 February 1793

An organisation calling itself the Friends of Peace began campaigning in tracts and pamphlets against the war with France (declared on this day).
Mahon, Penny. “In Sermon and Story: contrasting anti-war rhetoric in the work of Anna Barbauld and Amelia Opie”. Women’s Writing, Vol.
7
, No. 1, 2000, pp. 23-38.
23-4, 37

June 1793: An enterprising printer and freemason, John...

Writing climate item

June 1793

An enterprising printer and freemason, John Wharlton Bunney , put out the first number of The Free-Mason's Magazine, or General and Complete Library.
Snell, Susan. “Enlightenment Females and Freemasonry”. Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism, Vol.
4
, No. 1-2, 2013.

1 April 1819: The Peace Society (founded in 1816) began...

National or international item

1 April 1819

The Peace Society (founded in 1816) began publishing a periodical, The Herald of Peace.
Mahon, Penny. “In Sermon and Story: contrasting anti-war rhetoric in the work of Anna Barbauld and Amelia Opie”. Women’s Writing, Vol.
7
, No. 1, 2000, pp. 23-38.
23 and n1, 31, 35n5

1868: Emily Taylor (1795-18), who is remembered...

Writing climate item

1868

Emily Taylor (1795-18), who is remembered for books connected with her school-teaching career, published Memories of some Contemporary Poets, with Selections from their Writings, with a good representation of women among her subjects (from...

February 1895: Grant Allen published his best-selling novel...

Writing climate item

February 1895

Grant Allen published his best-selling novel entitled The Woman Who Did; it was Keynotes Series no. 8.
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 1985.
Sutherland, John, b. 1938. The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford University Press, 1989.
Cox, Michael, editor. The Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press, 2002, 2 vols.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
under Annie Sophie Cory
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
under Annie Sophie Cory

May 1992: The Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century British...

Women writers item

May 1992

The Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century British Women Writers Association held its first annual conference. Thereafter the conference was held at a different American location each year.
Parker, Pamela Corpron. “A Conference of Our Own: on the 20th Anniversary of the BWWA”. The Female Spectator, Vol.
16
, No. 1, 1 Dec.–28 Feb. 2012, p. 6.
6

Texts

Opie, Amelia. Adeline Mowbray. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1805, 3 vols.
Opie, Amelia. Adeline Mowbray. Editors King, Shelley and John B. Pierce, Oxford University Press, 1999.
Opie, Amelia. Dangers of Coquetry. William Lane, 1790, 2 vols.
Opie, Amelia. Detraction Displayed. Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green; S. Wilkin, 1828.
Opie, Amelia. Elegy to the Memory of the late Duke of Bedford. T. N. Longman, 1802.
Opie, Amelia. Illustrations of Lying, in all its Branches. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, 1825, 2 vols.
Winterson, Jeanette, and Amelia Opie. “Introduction”. Adeline Mowbray, Pandora Press, 1986, p. v - viii.
Opie, Amelia. “Introduction”. Adeline Mowbray, edited by Shelley King and John B. Pierce, Oxford University Press, 1999, p. i - xxix.
Opie, Amelia. “Introduction”. The Collected Poems of Amelia Alderson Opie, edited by Shelley King and John B. Pierce, Oxford University Press, 2009, p. xxxvii - lxx.
Opie, Amelia. Lays for the Dead. Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman, 1834.
Opie, Amelia, and Elizabeth Fry. Letter to Elizabeth Fry. 1823.
Opie, Amelia. Madeline. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1822, 2 vols.
Opie, Amelia, and John Opie. “Memoir”. Lectures on Painting, edited by Prince Hoare and Prince Hoare, Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1809.
Opie, Amelia, and Cecilia Brightwell. Memorials of the Life of Amelia Opie. Fletcher and Alexander, 1854.
Opie, Amelia. New Tales. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1818, 4 vols.
Opie, Amelia. Poems. T. N. Longman and O. Rees, 1802.
Opie, Amelia. Simple Tales. Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1806, 4 vols.
Opie, Amelia. Tales of Real Life. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1813, 3 vols.
Opie, Amelia. Tales of the Heart. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1820, 4 vols.
Opie, Amelia. Tales of the Pemberton Family. Harvey and Darton; S. Wilkin, 1825.
Opie, Amelia. Temper; or, Domestic Scenes. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1812, 3 vols.
Opie, Amelia. The Black Man’s Lament. Harvey and Darton, 1826.
Opie, Amelia. The Collected Poems of Amelia Alderson Opie. Editors King, Shelley and John B. Pierce, Oxford University Press, 2009.
Opie, Amelia. The Father and Daughter. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1801.
Wilkinson, Sarah Scudgell, and Amelia Opie. The Ruffian Boy. J. Bailey, 1800.