Anna Letitia Barbauld

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Standard Name: Barbauld, Anna Letitia
Birth Name: Anna Letitia Aikin
Nickname: Nancy
Married Name: Anna Letitia Barbauld
Pseudonym: A Dissenter
Pseudonym: A Volunteer
Pseudonym: Bob Short
Used Form: Mrs Barbauld
Used Form: Anna Laetitia Barbauld
ALB , writing and publishing in the late eighteenth and the early nineteenth century, was a true woman of letters, an important poet, revered as mouthpiece or laureate for Rational Dissent. Her ground-breaking work on literary, political, social, and other intellectual topics balances her still better-known pedagogical works and writings for the very young. During her lifetime an extraordinary revolution in public opinion made her vilified as markedly as she had been revered.
Coloured stipple engraving by John Chapman of Anna Letitia Barbauld, published in the Lady's Monthly Museum, 1 September 1798 (probably unauthorized and not from life). She is in profile, facing left, wearing a straw hat with pale pink ribbon, a white gauzy outer dress typical of the 1790's, and a dark cloak worn off her shoulders.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Family and Intimate relationships Bessie Rayner Parkes
BRP 's great-grandfather, her mother's grandfather, was the famous Radical and Unitarian scientist Joseph Priestley , sometimes referred to as the father of modern chemistry.
Lowndes, Marie Belloc. I, Too, Have Lived in Arcadia. Macmillan.
36
Markel, Michael H. Hilaire Belloc. Twayne.
1
He and his wife, Mary Wilkinson Priestley
Family and Intimate relationships Lucy Aikin
LA was Anna Letitia Barbauld 's niece. She regarded the literary careers of her aunt and her father with great admiration.
Gentleman’s Magazine. Various publishers.
(1864) 1: 396
Family and Intimate relationships Hester Mulso Chapone
The shock was terrible to her; her long-continued grief and mourning would be thought by many people exaggerated. There were rumours that she had not been happy in her marriage. These were vigorously denied by...
Family and Intimate relationships Elizabeth Heyrick
EH 's father, John Coltman , had been taught by John Aikin (father of Anna Letitia Barbauld ). He was an industrialist engaged in the manufacture of worsteds (material from which stockings were made), with...
Family and Intimate relationships Catharine Macaulay
The celebrations also included ringing the church bells and presenting CM with a gold medal. One of the odes (published at Bath the same year) depicts her as triumphing over other, more conservative women writers:...
Friends, Associates Joanna Baillie
Over the course of her long life JB made dozens of well-loved friends, many of them either professional writers like herself or else writing amateurs. They included Lucy Aikin , Mary Berry , Eliza Fletcher
Friends, Associates Amelia Opie
AO 's friendship with Anne and Annabella Plumptre (daughters of Robert Plumptre , Prebend of Norwich, both of whom grew up to be writers) dated from their shared childhood.
Plumptre, Anne. “Introduction”. Something New, edited by Deborah McLeod, Broadview, p. vii - xxix.
xxvi, ix-x
Her friendship with the...
Friends, Associates Joanna Baillie
Scott was in London in February this year. She corresponded with him for years, discussing their own and others' literary works along with family news. Baillie tried tactfully to explain to him the right way...
Friends, Associates Amelia Opie
In London she met many artists, writers, and politically active reformists: as well as Godwin , she met Elizabeth Inchbald , Mary Wollstonecraft (who impressed her deeply, and trusted her enough to confide her plans...
Friends, Associates Eliza Fletcher
On her first visit to London, EF met Joanna Baillie (with whom her friendship endured for years) and Anna Letitia Barbauld .
Fletcher, Eliza. Autobiography of Mrs. Fletcher, of Edinburgh. Editor Mary, Lady Richardson, Printed at the offices of C. Thurman for private circulation.
71
Friends, Associates Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck
The first visit which Mary Anne Galton (later MAS ) made away from home was a month at Hampstead with Anna Letitia Barbauld .
Schimmelpenninck, Mary Anne. Life of Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck. Editor Hankin, Christiana C., Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts.
2: 7
Friends, Associates Maria Edgeworth
In London on this visit ME found comparatively little to interest her. She did, however, visit her publisher Joseph Johnson , whose support for radical writings had put him in the King's Bench Prison...
Friends, Associates Ann Taylor Gilbert
Ann was sorry that Joanna Baillie had left Colchester before theTaylors arrived there; but her intense, but humble, yearnings to encounter a live author
Gilbert, Ann Taylor. Autobiography and Other Memorials of Mrs. Gilbert. Editor Gilbert, Josiah, H. S. King, http://U of A, HSS Ruth N .
1: 182
were gratified by meeting Anna Laetitia Barbauld in London...
Friends, Associates Lucy Aikin
LA , dining with Walter Scott , was pleased that though she herself went unnoticed, Scott devoted considerable attention to her aunt Barbauld .
Aikin, Lucy. Memoirs, Miscellanies and Letters. Editor Le Breton, Philip Hemery, Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green.
98-9
Friends, Associates Elizabeth Ogilvy Benger
Having already praised many contemporary women writers in print, EOB was now able to meet them. The move to London was accomplished principally through the zealous friendship of Miss Sarah Wesley , who had already...

Timeline

1793: The liberal Dissenter Benjamin Flowers launched...

Writing climate item

1793

The liberal Dissenter Benjamin Flowers launched a periodical, the Cambridge Intelligencer; it ran until December 1800.

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).

February 1796: The Monthly Magazine: or British Register,...

Writing climate item

February 1796

The Monthly Magazine: or British Register, edited by Anna Letitia Barbauld 's brother John Aikin , began publication.

By 22 July 1797: William Beckford published a second and more...

Women writers item

By 22 July 1797

William Beckford published a second and more marked burlesque attack on women's writing: Azemia: A Descriptive and Sentimental Novel. Interspersed with Pieces of Poetry.

1801: The Quaker Joseph Lancaster opened his non-sectarian...

Building item

1801

The QuakerJoseph Lancaster opened his non-sectarian Free School in Borough Road in south-east London; he soon had a thousand pupils.

December 1802: The Critical Review extolled the quality...

Women writers item

December 1802

The Critical Review extolled the quality of contemporary women's poetry: Miss Seward , Mrs Barbauld , Charlotte Smith , will take their place among the English poets for centuries to come.

9 September 1803: The first number appeared of the Annual Review,...

Writing climate item

9 September 1803

The first number appeared of the Annual Review, a Dissenting periodical run by Lucy Aikin 's brother Arthur Aikin , which had been planned in 1802.

January 1806: The Monthly Repository, a Dissenting magazine,...

Writing climate item

January 1806

The Monthly Repository, a Dissenting magazine, began publication in London, edited by Robert Aspland .

January 1807-June 1809: John Aikin (Anna Letitia Barbauld's brother)...

Writing climate item

January 1807-June 1809

John Aikin (Anna Letitia Barbauld 's brother) ran a Dissenting periodical, The Athenæum: A Magazine of Literary and Miscellaneous Information.

6 November 1817: Princess Charlotte died at 2.30 a.m. after...

National or international item

6 November 1817

Princess Charlotte died at 2.30 a.m. after delivering a stillborn son. Poor clinical judgement was to blame; intense national mourning and controversy followed.

Early 1818: William Hazlitt opened On the Living Poets,...

Writing climate item

Early 1818

William Hazlitt opened On the Living Poets, the last of his Lectures on the English Poets, with a statement on gender issues.

By January 1821: Ballantyne's Novelists Library began publication;...

Writing climate item

By January 1821

Ballantyne's Novelists Library began publication; it was completed in 1824.

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...

By Christmas 1869: Francis Galton, mathematician, scientist,...

Writing climate item

By Christmas 1869

Francis Galton , mathematician, scientist, and eugenicist, published Hereditary Genius: An Enquiry into its Laws and Consequences,

Texts

Barbauld, Anna Letitia. The Religion of Nature. Printed for the Benefit of the Distressed Spital-Field Weavers, 1793.
Barbauld, Anna Letitia. The Works of Anna Letitia Barbauld. Editor Aikin, Lucy, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1825.