Son of John Godwin, the Minister of Wisbech Independent Chapel.
In 1773 William went to the dissenting college at Hoxton where
he studied until 1778. Then he became Minister in Ware, Hertfordshire,
but in 1779 he left for London and in 1780 for suffolk. He became
a deist and in 1782 a socianianist (originally a doctrine held
by an Antitrinitarian sect that had sprung from the Reformation).
In
1783 he was Minister at Beaconsfield for half a year and in
the same year he published his Life of Chatham. In 1783 he settled
in London to become a writer. He wrote reviews for English Review
and wrote letters for the Political Herald. In 1786 he met the
playwright Thomas Holcroft, who became a close friend. Godwin
turned into a convinced atheist and during the time of the French
Revolution in 1789 he already held very radical views.
Godwin
started a diary in 1788 and would continue this for the rest
of his life. On 13 Apr 1791 he first met Mary Wollstonecraft
during a diner at which Thomas Paine was also present. On 14
Feb 1793 his famous "An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice"
was published and on 26 May 1794 his novel "Things as They
Are, or The Adventures of Caleb Williams". Also in 1794 he first
met Coleridge and the year after Wordsworth. "Political Justice"
had made him famous in radical as well as literary circles.
In
1796 he and Mary Wollstonecraft met again and soon afterwards
Mary broke all conventions by visiting him alone. In his diary
he kept the score: they became lovers on 21 Aug 1796. Mary,
who already had a daughter by the American Gilbert Imlay, became
pregnant and he married her on 29 Mar 1793. Sadly, she died
after giving birth to a daughter (Mary Shelley). In 1798 he
published "Memoirs of the Author of the Vindication of the Rights
of Woman" (1798), but he was attacked fiercely because he had
written objectively about Mary's unconventional sexual habits.
The political climate soon left little room for radicals and
Godwin had to concentrate on literature and history instead
of radical views to make a living.
In 1800 he proposed
to Maria Gisborne, but she turned hm down. Also in 1800 his
play D'Antonio was staged. In May 1801 he met Mary Jane Clairmont
(who already had two children) and he married her on 21 Dec
of that year. In 1803 their son William junior was born. In
1805 they started The Juvenile Library, a small publishing house.
Godwin had many literary friends and on 24 Aug 1806 he was visited
by Coleridge, who read his The Ancient Mariner to him and the
hardly nine years old Mary. Mary would never forget this experience.
In
1812 the young poet Percy Bysshe Shelley discovered that the
author of "Political Justice" was not dead and buried in the
past but alive and living in London, so he wrote to his hero.
In October they met and in the same year Mary Jane Clairmont's
daughter Claire saw Lord Byron in the public during a lecture
by Coleridge on Shakespeare. Trouble started, because Shelley
eloped with Mary in July 1814 and Claire started an affair with
Lord Byron in 1816. After Shelley's first wife Harriet died
he and Godwin were reconciled and Shelley married Mary.
In
1817 Godwin read Mary's Frankenstein and he was impressed (which
he hardly ever was after reading a book). In 1825 The Juvenile
Library went bankrupt and in 1831 he published his "Thoughts
on Man". In 1832 William junior died from cholera and this was
a terrible blow for Godwin. Apart from this, he was in financial
trouble all the time, but from 1833 onwards the old radical
received a state pension.
In 1836 Godwin died and
was buried next to Mary Wollstonecraft at Old Saint Pancras
Churchyard. In later years their bodies were moved to Bournemouth,
where Mary Shelley was buried.
Family
• Daughter: Shelley, Mary
• Wife: Wollstonecraft, Mary
Related persons
• met Byron, George Noel Gordon
• met Curran, Amelia
• was a friend of Curran, John Philpot
• has a connection with Gisborne, Maria
• was a friend of Hays, Mary
• influenced Shelley, Percy Bysshe
• was visited by Turner, Thomas
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Events
1806/8/24: Coleridge recites "The Ancient Mariner" to William Godwin and his daughter Mary
Coleridge frequently visited Godwin and this Sunday he recited his own poem "The Ancient Mariner". It was an experience that the nine year old Mary Godwin would never forget.
1812/6/7: Mary Godwin leaves for Scotland to have a holiday
There was tension between her and her stepmother Mary Jane and Godwin arranged a long stay for her with an acquaintance in Dundee, the radical Dissenter Mr. William Baxter.
1814/5/5: Percy Bysshe Shelley meets Mary Godwin
Shelley dined with William Godwin at Skinner Street. After this meeting Shelley and Mary soon started to spend days together.
1814/7/6: Shelley asks William Godwin for the hand of his daughter Mary
Shelley wanted to end his marriage to Harriet Westbrook and wanted to go abroad with Mary Godwin. William Godwin didn't approve at all.
1816/12/29: Reconciliation between William Godwin and Mary Godwin
It was now clear that Percy Bysshe Shelley would marry Mary Godwin and Godwin no longer objected to their relationship.
1817/11/24: William Godwin finishes reading "Frankenstein"
The book was written by his daughter Maty and he was, against his habit, enthousiastic. One day later he wrote an introduction for his own book "Mandeville".
1819/8/0: Mary Shelley starts writing "Mathilda"
She finished in in February, 1820 and sent the story to her father William Godwin in 1821. Godwin made no attempts to publish it amd it finally appeared in print in 1959.
1823/7/27: William Godwin attends the theatre premiere of Frankenstein
The book "Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus" was written by his daughter Mary Shelley.
1823/8/29: Mary Shelley attends a theatre performance of "Frankenstein"
Her father william Godwin was also there. He had already witnessed the premiere on 27 Jul 1823. Jane Williams and William Godwin jr. also attended. The venue was the English Opera House Royal and the adaption was by Richard Brinsley Peake.
1824/1/26: Mary shelley and William Godwin see Edmund Kean in Richard III
Mary was impressed by Kean's part and planned to write a tragedy herself. The venue was the New Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London.
1824/1/31: Mary shelley and William Godwin sea Edmund Kean as Shylock
1825/2/26: Mary Shelley, Willam Godwin and Pietro Gamba see Edmund Kean as Othello
Jane Williams was also there. Gamba was in England to discuss the publication of his book "A Narrative of Lord Byron's Last Journey to Greece" with publisher Murray.
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Sources
• St Clair, William, The Godwins and the Shelleys, Faber and Faber, London, 1990
• Godwin Chronology
• Mellor, Anne K., Mary Shelley, her Life, her Fiction, her Monsters, Routledge, New York, 1989
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