Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Mary Russell Mitford
-
Standard Name: Mitford, Mary Russell
Birth Name: Mary Russell Mitford
MRM
, poet, playwright, editor, letter-writer, memoirist, and—in just one work—novelist, is best known for her sketches of rural life, especially those in the successive volumes of Our Village (whose first appeared in 1824). Her greatest success came when, under the pressure of her father's inexhaustible capacity for running up debt, she turned from the respected genres of poetry and plays to work at something more popular and remunerative.
Under Victorian law she was not allowed to participate in the trial. Both her reputation and Melbourne's political career were at stake. In the event the jury found Melbourne innocent without calling one witness for...
Friends, Associates
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Elizabeth Barrett
was introduced to Mary Russell Mitford
, who became a lifelong friend, by her cousin John Kenyon
; she met Wordsworth
the following day.
Forster, Margaret. Elizabeth Barrett Browning: A Biography. Grafton.
80-2
Browning, Robert, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The Brownings’ Correspondence. Editors Kelley, Philip et al., Wedgestone Press.
3: 320
Friends, Associates
Frances Trollope
It took several years for the Trollopes' financial difficulties to turn into a financial catastrophe, and during those years, FT
entertained many friends and acquaintances, including Lady Milman
, whose husband had been Queen Charlotte
Although they had been corresponding by letter for some time, this holiday was the first time the two writers met in person. MJJ
was soon accepted into Hemans
' social circle and become friends with...
Friends, Associates
Caroline Clive
CC
remained a close friend of her early passion Catherine Gore
.
Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford.
She was also acquainted with Mary Russell Mitford
, whom she described as priggy,
Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford.
The term bluestocking very quickly came to imply dismissiveness, if not actual disapproval and contempt. The first to use it pejoratively may well have been, as Gary Kelly
has suggested, those who felt threatened or...
Friends, Associates
Fanny Kemble
Mary Russell Mitford
was another who knew FK
well even apart from their connection through the theatre.
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.
2: 119-20
Other friends from this period or soon afterwards included the future poet and novelist Caroline Norton
Friends, Associates
Felicia Hemans
FH
introduced herself to Mary Russell Mitford
through a letter praising Our Village for the sense of communion
Hughes, Harriet Browne Owen, and Felicia Hemans. “Memoir of Mrs. Hemans”. The Works of Mrs. Hemans, W. Blackwood, pp. 1-315.
123
with its author that she felt in reading it.
Hughes, Harriet Browne Owen, and Felicia Hemans. “Memoir of Mrs. Hemans”. The Works of Mrs. Hemans, W. Blackwood, pp. 1-315.
122-4
Friends, Associates
Anna Jane Vardill
While she lived in London AJV
moved in culturally active circles. She later described the poet Eleanor Anne Porden
(who lived not far away) as her dear friend, and was one of those who...
Friends, Associates
Camilla Crosland
CC
's friends and acquaintances were varying and numerous. In her youth the radical politician John Cartwright
was a neighbour. Her literary work as an adult led to the formation of a number of lasting...
Friends, Associates
Mary Howitt
In Nottingham MH
met L. E. L.
and perhaps Elizabeth Fry
. She was visited by Mary
and Dora Wordsworth
(wife and daughter of the poet), and later she and her husband stayed with the...
Friends, Associates
Henrietta Euphemia Tindal
Friends with whom she maintained contact by correspondence included her neighbour Mary Russell Mitford
, who commented to Elizabeth Barrett Browning
that HET
had been wrong in her theory about the authorship of Jane Eyre...
Friends, Associates
Barbarina Brand, Baroness Dacre
Her many literary friendships, maintained in part by correspondence, included those with Joanna Baillie
and Mary Russell Mitford
(who first met each other in her drawing-room), Catherine Fanshawe
, and Mary Tighe
(with whom she...
Timeline
No timeline events available.
Texts
Mitford, Mary Russell. The Works of Mary Russell Mitford, Prose and Verse. James Crissy, 1841.
Mitford, Mary Russell. Watlington Hill. A. J. Valpy, 1812.