Shelley, Percy Bysshe

POET (ENGLAND)
BORN 4 Aug 1792, Field Place, Sussex (near Broadbridge Heath) - DIED 8 Jul 1822, Lerici, Liguria: at sea
CAUSE OF DEATH drowned (presumably after shipwreck)
GRAVE LOCATION Roma, Lazio: Cimitero Acattolico, Via Caio Cestio 6 (Zona Vecchia, 16.2 (104))

Percy Bysshe Shelley was the son of a country gentleman, Sir Timothy Shelley (1753-1844). He was educated at Eton College and at Oxford University, where he was expelled in 1811 after refusing to confess that he was the author of the pamflet "The Necessity of Atheism". It was written by Shelley. By that time he had already published "Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire" and two novels, "Zastrozzi" and "St. Irvyne, or the Rosicrucian".

He 1811 he eloped with the sixteen-year-old girl Harriet Westbrook and they married on 28 Aug 1811 in Scotland, against the wishes of his and her father. In 1812 Shelley first met the philosopher William Godwin, whose work he admired. Shelley was under the impression that Godwin was no longer alive and was thrilled to meet his hero. Dearing that their Scottish marriage was not lawful, he married Harriet once more in England, in 1814. Unfortunately, soon afterwards they became estranged and in May of that year Shelley declared his love to the young Mary Godwin, daughter of 'illustrious parents' William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft. On 28 Jul 1814 Shelley ran away with Mary to Europe and they took Mary's stepsister Claire with them. In September 1814 they went back to England. In 1815 Shelley's grandfather Sir Bysshe died and he agreed on a yearly allowance with Sir Timothy, who still did not want to have anything to do with his son.

In 1816 Shelley, Mary and Claire went abroad again, this time to Geneva. Claire was carrying Lord Byron's child and Byron was in Switzerland too after his disastrous marriage had ended in scandal. Byron and Shelley soon became friends and their conversations were very stimulating according to Mary who was a 'devote but silent listener'. In 1816 Shelley and Mary returned to England. After a reconciliation with William Godwin they married on 30 Dec 1816.

In 1817 Shelley's "The Revolt of Islam" was published and in 1818 he went to Italy with Mary, their children and Claire. They lived in Rome and Florence and Shelley continued to write poetry: "Cenci" and "Prometheus Unbound" we both published in 1820. In 1821 the Shelleys lived in Pisa, where they befriended Jane and Edward Williams. Shelley wrote "Epipsychidion" for Emilia Viviani, a girl he was infatuated with.

Although Shelley couldn't swim, he and Williams had built a boat they called "Ariel" and on 8 Jul 1822 they didn't return from a sailing trip. Ten days later their bodies were found and buried on the beach. Afterwards the bodies were cremated and Shelley's ashes were eventually transferred to the Protestant Cemetery in Rome in 1823.

In 1824 Mary edited and published "Shelley's Posthumous Poems", but after Sir Timothy threatened to stop the allowance for her son Percy Florence (1819-1889) the volume had to be withdrawn. Lord Byron, who died only two years after Shelley, was a very famous man during his life. Shelley, in sharp contradiction to Byron, was hardly known to the public. After his death, however, Shelley's works were soon pirated and when all hope of obscurity had faded Sir Timothy's lawyers finally gave Mary permission to prepare a proper edition of the works of her husband. In "The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley" Mary's brilliant notes explained Shelley's ideas to the world. It was published in four volumes in 1839 and finally established his literary reputation.

For many more years Percy Florence's wife Jane St. John (1821-1899) tried to hide Shelley's unconventional life from the public, but many books on Shelley were published and interest in the poet as well as the person Shelley had become enormous towards the end of the nineteenth century.

Family
• Son: Shelley, Percy Florence, 3rd Baronet
• Wife: Shelley, Mary (1816-1822, London: St. Mildred's Church, Bread Street)
• Wife: Westbrook, Harriet (1811-1816, Edinburgh)

Related persons
• was a friend of Boinville, Cornelia
• was a friend of Byron, George Noel Gordon
• was a friend of Clairmont, Claire
• was admired by Corso, Gregory
• was a friend of Curran, Amelia
• was painted by Curran, Amelia
• visited Curran, John Philpot
• was influenced by Godwin, William
• is cousin of Grove, Harriet
• has a connection with Haydon, Benjamin
• was sculpted by Hill, Amelia Robertson
• was a friend of Hitchener, Elizabeth
• was a friend of Hogg, Thomas Jefferson
• was a friend of Hunt, Leigh
• was a friend of Imlay, Fanny
• knew Keats, John
• was pupil of Lind, James
• was written about by Maurois, André
• is cousin of Medwin, Thomas
• knew Reveley, Henry Willey
• was painted by Severn, Joseph
• was written about by Symonds, John Addington
• was a friend of Trelawny, Edward John
• knew Turner, Thomas
• had as physician Vaccà Berlinghieri, Andrea
• was a friend of Williams, Edward Ellerker
• was a friend of Williams, Jane

Events
5/6/1810Shelley's novel "Zastrozzi" is published. Publishers were Messrs. Wilkie and Robinson. 
17/9/1810Shelley's "Original Poetry, by Victor and Cazire" is published.. Possible Cazire was an alias for Elizabeth Shelley or for Harriet Grove. The edition was withdrawn after it became known that some of the verses were written by M.G. Lewis. At that time about a 100 copies were already in circulation. 
0/12/1810Shelley's second novel "St. Irvyne, or the Rosicrucian" is published [Godwin, William]
13/2/1811Shelley's pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism is distributed 
26/3/1811Shelley and Hogg leave Oxford. In the morning, by coach. After they arrived in London they took lodgings at 15 Poland Street. Shelley liked the name of the street because if reminded him of Thaddeus of Warsaw and of freedom. [Hogg, Thomas Jefferson]
25/8/1811Percy Bysshe Shelley elopes with Harriet Westbrook [Westbrook, Harriet]
28/8/1811Perct Bysshe Shelley marries Harriet Westbrook in Edinburgh. They had met in December 1810. Harriet was a pupil at the same boarding school as Shelley's sisters. Their romance was encouraged by Harriet's sister Eliza. On 25 August 1811 Shelley left for Edinburgh with sixteen-year old Harriet and they were married three days later. They had no permission from their fathers and their allowances were cut. [Westbrook, Harriet]
0/10/1811Thomas Jefferson tries to seduce Harriet Shelley. Harriet had married Percy Bysshe Shelley in August. Hogg visited her in York at the time Shelley was in Sussex. Harriet rejected Hogg. [Hogg, Thomas Jefferson][Westbrook, Harriet]
0/11/1811Percy Bysshe Shelley meets Robert Southey 
1/12/1811Shelley arrives at Greystoke, the home of the Duke of Norfolk. The Duke of Norfolk attempted a reconciliation between Shelley and his father Timothy. Shelley wrote an apology, but stated that he wouldn't hide his religious and political opinions. His father gave in and restored his allowance. 
3/1/1812Percy Bysshe Shelley starts his correspondence with William Godwin [Godwin, William]
0/2/1812Percy Bysshe Shelley visits Ireland for the first time 
14/10/1812First meeting between Percy Bysshe Shelley and William Godwin [Godwin, William]
11/11/1812Mary Godwin is in the same house as Shelley and Harriet. Shelley, his wife Harriet and Harriet's sister Eliza dined with the Godwins that night. But Mary was tired and she probably remained upstairs. [Shelley, Mary][Westbrook, Harriet]
0/5/1813Shelley's "Queen Mab" is published. It contained nine canto's and seventeen notes. 250 copies were printed. 70 were bound and distributed by Shelley himself. The other copies were stored at William Clark's bookshop in London where they were rediscovered in 1821 and distributed. 
28/6/1813Percy Bysshe Shelley's daughter Eliza Ianthe is born 
22/3/1814Shelley marries Harriet Westbrook again. They had first married in Edinburgh and at the time Harriet was a minor and she hadn't received permission from her father. But their relations were already strained at the time. [Westbrook, Harriet]
5/5/1814Percy 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. [Godwin, William][Shelley, Mary]
18/6/1814Shelley arrives in London from Bracknell. Het had to negotiate a loan for William Godwin and visited Godwin frequently. [Godwin, William]
26/6/1814Mary Godwin and Percy Bysshe Shelley declare each other their love. They did so at the tomb of Mary's mother Mary Wollstonecraft. When Mary's father William Godwin heard the news he strongly disagreed. [Shelley, Mary][Wollstonecraft, Mary]
0/7/1814Shelley takes laudanum after Mary refuses to see him. Shelley had written to his wife Harriet that he loved Mary Godwin. Harriet came to London and visited Godwin. Under pressure Mary promised to meet Shelley no more. But Shelley turned hysteric and he appeared with guns, laudanum and suicide threats. They managed to calm him down, but soon afterwards he took a huge dose of laudanum. Godwin hurried to his lodgings where he found Shelley and a docter. Shelley survived, but his friend Thomas Peacock hardly recognized him when he saw him. [Shelley, Mary][Westbrook, Harriet]
6/7/1814Shelley 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. [Godwin, William][Shelley, Mary]
28/7/1814Shelley and Mary Godwin leave London to elope to France. They secretly left London in the company of Claire Clairmont. They left for Dover, crossed the Channel in an open boat and travelled to Paris. [Clairmont, Claire][Shelley, Mary]
13/9/1814Shelley and Mary Godwin return to London [Shelley, Mary]
27/9/1814Shelley and Mary move to 5 Church Terrace, Pancras, London. Claire Clairmont went with them. [Clairmont, Claire][Shelley, Mary]
23/10/1814Shelley hides for his creditors. Between 23 Oct and 9 Nov he and Mary lived apart. [Shelley, Mary]
14/11/1814Shelley introduces Mary to his friend Hogg [Hogg, Thomas Jefferson][Shelley, Mary]
30/11/1814Charles, the son of Shelley and Harriet Westbrook is born. At that time Shelley had left Harriet and had eloped with Mary Godwin. [Shelley, Mary][Westbrook, Harriet]
0/1/1815Sir Bysshe Shelley dies. His son Timothy Shelley inherited the baronetcy and Percy Bysshe shelley was now the first heir. 
1/1/1815T.J. Hogg declares his love to Mary Godwin, encouraged by P.B. Shelley. Mary accepted his affection, but she didn't answer it physically since she was pregnant from Shelley. Shelley was a strong advocate of free love and it is possible that he had sexual relations with her stepsister Claire at the time. [Clairmont, Claire][Hogg, Thomas Jefferson][Shelley, Mary]
10/1/1815Shelley and Mary move to 4 Hans Place, London. Claire Clairmont was once more in their company. [Clairmont, Claire][Shelley, Mary]
2/3/1815Shelley and Mary move to Arabella Road, Pimlico, London. In their company were Claire Clairmont and Clara, Mary and Shelley's baby girl. [Clairmont, Claire][Shelley, Mary]
6/3/1815Mary Godwin's stillborn daughter Clara dies [Shelley, Mary]
13/5/1815Shelley signs an agreement with his father regarding his allowance. They agreed on a yearly amount of 1,000 pounds. 
24/1/1816William, the second child of Mary Godwin and Percy Bysshe Shelley, is born [Shelley, Mary]
0/2/1816Percy Bysshe Shelley's "d'Alastor" is published 
23/3/1816William Godwin refuses to receive Percy Bysshe Shelley at Skinner Street [Godwin, William]
2/5/1816Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Godwin and Claire Clairmont leave London for Geneva [Clairmont, Claire][Shelley, Mary]
17/5/1816Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Godwin and Claire Clairmont arrive in Geneva. Soon Lord Byron and his physician John Polidori would arrive there as well. [Shelley, Mary]
27/5/1816Possible first meeting of Byron and Shelley. It is not entirely certain that they never met before. Byron had just arrived in Switzerland in the company of John Polidori. [Byron, George Noel Gordon ]
16/6/1816Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Godwin, Claire Clairmont, Lord Byron and John Polidori tell each other ghost stories. They told each other stories all night and decided that each of them would write a ghost story. Mary Shelley wrote "Frankenstein" and John Polidori wrote "The Vampyre". [Byron, George Noel Gordon ][Clairmont, Claire][Shelley, Mary]
21/6/1816Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Godwin and Claire Clairmont go to Chamonix [Clairmont, Claire][Shelley, Mary]
27/6/1816Byron plucks a sprig of Gibbon's acacia. This happened in Lausanne, where Edward Gibbon had completed his "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire". He had gone there with Shelley and they entered the gardens of Gibbon's former summer residence. Gibbon had walked outside into the dark after completing his work and was relieved that his task was completed. At the same time he felt very lonely. By the time Byron and Shelley walked in the garden, the house was a ruin and Gibbon had been dead for over twenty years. [Byron, George Noel Gordon ]
20/8/1816'Monk' Lewis adds a codicil to his testament. He did this at the Villa Deodati, Byron's rented home at the Lake of Geneva. Byron, Shelley and Polidori acted as witnesses. In the codicil he obliged his heirs to live in Jamaica for three months of every year, to see if the slaves at his properties were treated well. He also prohibited slaves to be sold. He would die on 14 May 1818, shortly after such an inspection on Jamaica. [Byron, George Noel Gordon ]
0/9/1816Mary Godwin, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Claire Clairmont arrive in Bath. After their return to England they travelled to Bath where they took lodgings at 5 Abbey Church Yard. In Bath Mary attended lectures by Dr Wilkinson at the Kingston Lecture Room and Wilkinson suggested that electricity might be used to bring inanimate matter to life. This was an inspiration to Mary's novel "Frankenstein". [Clairmont, Claire][Shelley, Mary]
8/9/1816Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Godwin and Claire Clairmont return to England and arrive at Portsmouth [Shelley, Mary]
27/12/1816Reconciliation between Percy Bysshe Shelley and William Godwin. Now that Shelley wanted to mary his daugter Mary Godwin restored their relations. [Godwin, William]
30/12/1816Percy Bysshe Shelley marries Mary Godwin. At St. Mildred's Church, London. [Shelley, Mary]
0/1/1817Shelley's "A proposal for putting reform to the vote throughout the kingdom" is published. The pamphlet appeared under the name 'The Hermit of Harlow'. 
8/1/1817The Westbrook family starts a legal procedure for the custody of Percy Bysshe Shelley's children. He had left his wife Harriet Westbrook and she had committed suicide. [Westbrook, Harriet]
24/1/1817The trial for the custody of Percy Bysshe Shelley's children begins. It was presided by Lord Chancellor Eldon. 
27/2/1817Percy Shelley and Mary Shelley leave Bath. They stayed with Percy's friend Thomas Peacock and went to live in Marlow-on-Thames, Buckinghamshire. [Shelley, Mary]
18/3/1817Percy Bysshe and Mary Shelley move to Albion House, Marlow [Shelley, Mary]
27/3/1817Lord Chancellor Eldon denies Shelley the custody to his children. Eldon's former order of March 1817 concludes "His Lordship doth order that the Defendant Percy Bysshe Shelley and his Agents be restrained from taking possession of the persons of the Plaintiffs Eliza Ianthe Shelley and Charles bysshe Shelley the Infants or Intermeddling with the said Infants until the further order of this Court And it is ordered that it be referred to Mr. Alexander one of the Masters of this Court to enquire what will be a proper plan for the maintenance and education of the said Plaintiffs the Infants and..." 
14/5/1817Mary Shelley completes her novel "Frankenstein". She asked Percy Bysshe Shelley to write an introduction and he did so. [Shelley, Mary]
7/11/1817Percy Bysshe Shelley witnesses an execution in Derby. The three workers Jeremiah Brandreth, William Turner, and Isaac Ludlum or Ludlam were found guilty of leading the Pentrich Rising. They were hanged and meant to be cut into pieces afterwards, but this was changed to beheading. Half an hour after they were hanged the executioner had a hard time beheading them. When the heads were finally shown to the public, it panicked and ran away. Shelley condemned the cruelty of the government in pamphlet. 
0/12/1817Percy Bysshe Shelley's "The Revolg of Islam" is published 
9/3/1818William and Clara Shelley and Allegra Byron baptised at St Giles-in-the-Fields in London. The baptism took place before Percy, Mary and Clare left for the continent for the second time. The current church is from 1810 and the font is probably the same as at the time of the baptism. [Clairmont, Claire][Shelley, Mary]
11/3/1818Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Claire Clairmont leave for Italy. They crossed the Channel on the 12th. [Clairmont, Claire][Shelley, Mary]
11/6/1818The Shelleys and Claire Clairmont move to the Casa Bertini in Bagna di Lucca [Clairmont, Claire][Shelley, Mary]
17/8/1818Shelley travels to Venice with Claire Clairmont. Claire wanted to visit her daughter Allegra who was with the father, Lord Byron. Mary Shelley stayed behind in Bagni di Lucca. [Byron, Allegra][Clairmont, Claire][Shelley, Mary]
31/8/1818Mary Shelley leaves Bagna di Lucca for Venice. Her husband had asked her in a letter to join him and Claire Clairmont there. [Shelley, Mary]
24/9/1818Clara Shelley dies of dysentery. She was the third child of Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelley and she had contracted the illness during a hurried journey to Este. [Shelley, Mary]
5/11/1818The Shelleys travel to Rome. They would stay there until the end of November and then they moved on to Naples. [Shelley, Mary]
27/2/1819Shelley registers a daughter, Elena, in Naples. The child was named Elena Adelaide. Shelley gave 27 Dec 1818 as her birthdate and himself and his wife Mary as her parents. It seems impossible that the child was Mary's. According to Mary's diary Claire Claimont was 'unwell' on 27 Dec. But there is no further evidence that Claire had been pregnant, so it's unlikely as well that Claire was the mother. The child was probably adopted by another family. Only in 1936 the existence of Elena was discovered by Newman Ivy White. [Clairmont, Claire][Shelley, Mary]
0/3/1819The Shelleys return to Rome [Shelley, Mary]
9/3/1819Percy Bysshe and Mary Shelley visit the Pantheon in Rome. They went there again by moonlight. [Shelley, Mary]
0/5/1819Shelley starts writing "The Cenci" 
8/5/1819Percy Bysshe Shelley sits for a portrait by Amelia Curran. He posed on May 8th and 9th in Rome. The portrait was never finished. After Shelley's death Mary asked if she could have it. Amelia Curran answered from Paris that she had wanted to burn it because it was bad but that she hadn't done so. In May 1825 she sent the portrait to Mary from Rome. [Curran, Amelia][Shelley, Mary]
7/6/1819William Shelley dies from malaria. He was the second child of Percy Bysshe and Mary Shelley. He was buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome. On 10 Jun the Shelleys left Rome. [Shelley, Mary]
10/6/1819The Shelleys and Claire Clairmont leave Rome for Livorno. In Leghorn they wanted to visit the Gisbornes, who lived there. [Clairmont, Claire][Shelley, Mary]
30/9/1819Mary Shelley meets Lady Mount Cashell. She visited her in Pisa together with Percy Bysshe Shelley and Claire Clairmont. [Clairmont, Claire][King, Margaret, Lady Mount Cashell][Shelley, Mary]
2/10/1819The Shelleys and Claire Clairmont move to Florence, 4395 via Valfonda. Claire left for Vienna on 10 Nov. [Shelley, Mary]
5/11/1819Shelley and Mary travel to Rome. They would stay there until the end of November and then depart for Naples. [Shelley, Mary]
12/11/1819 Percy Bysshe and Mary Shelley's son Percy Florence is born. He was born in Florence. [Shelley, Mary][Shelley, Percy Florence, 3rd Baronet]
0/1/1820Shelley and Mary move to Casa Frasi, Pisa [Shelley, Mary]
0/3/1820Shelley's lyrical drama "Cenci" is published and Mary Shelley starts "Catruccio, Prince de Lucca". William Godwin later changed the name of his daughter's novel in "Valperga". [Shelley, Mary]
15/6/1820The Shelleys return to Bagna di Lucca  [Shelley, Mary]
5/8/1820The Shelleys move to Casa Prinni, Bagni San Giuliano [Shelley, Mary]
25/8/1820William Godwin receives the last letter Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote to him. Shortly informed Godwin that he would not send him anymore money after he had given him a considerable fortune during the last few years. He also hinted that Godwin had been accused of selling his daughter Mary to Shelley and sending more money would probably further damage his and her reputation. This last letter was probably written on 7 August. Godwin noted the receival of the letter with anger in his diary. [Godwin, William][Shelley, Mary]
2/10/1820Shelley meets Mavrocordato for the first time [Mavrocordato, Alexander]
0/11/1820The Shelleys meet Emilia Viviani in Florence. She was the daughter of the governor of Pisa and she was locked up in a convent until her marriage. She was the inspiration for Shelley's "Epipsychidion". [Shelley, Mary]
16/1/1821Jane and Edward Williams arrive in Pisa. They met the Shelleys on January 19th and the couples soon became friends. [Shelley, Mary][Williams, Edward Ellerker][Williams, Jane]
0/2/1821Percy Bysshe Shelley writes "Epipsychidion" for Emilia Viviani. Different sources state that he wrote in January/February or in March respectively. Emilia was the daughter of the governor of Pisa, who had placed her in a convent. Shelley had visited her several times and they had a brief correspondence. The poem was written in January and Febraury in 1821 and published anonymously later that year by Charles and James Ollier in London. After publication Shelley asked them to withdraw it, probably because of its autobiographical elements. 
5/3/1821The Shelleys move to Casa Aulla, Pisa [Shelley, Mary]
8/5/1821The Shelleys move to Bagni di San Giuliano [Shelley, Mary]
25/10/1821The Shelleys move to Tre Palazzi di Chiesa, Pisa [Shelley, Mary]
5/11/1821First meeting between Lord Byron and Edward Williams. Percy Byshhe Shelley took Williams to see Byron and introduced them to each other. Williams was favourably impressed by Byron's good mood and by his wit. [Byron, George Noel Gordon ][Williams, Edward Ellerker]
20/11/1821Shelley introduces Thomas Medwin to Lord Byron. Medwin had arrived in Pisa in November 1821. They got along well and he often dined with Byron and his circle. They also went pistol shooting. When Medwin left Pisa in April 1822, Byron organised a party for him. [Byron, George Noel Gordon ][Medwin, Thomas]
14/1/1822Edward John Trelawny arrives in Pisa. He was a friend of the Williams family and he admired Lord Byron. He soon met the Shelleys. [Shelley, Mary][Trelawny, Edward John][Williams, Edward Ellerker][Williams, Jane]
30/4/1822The Shelleys and Claire Clairmont move to Casa Magni, San Terenzo. The Williams family joined them one day later. [Clairmont, Claire][Shelley, Mary][Williams, Edward Ellerker][Williams, Jane]
16/6/1822Mary Shelley miscarries and almost dies herself. She thought she was dying from the hemorrhaging. Her own mother Mary Wollstonecraft had died after Mary's birth. Shelley saved her by putting her into a bucket of ice. When the doctor arrived the critical stage had already passed. Years later Mary wrote that she felt a passive kind of satisfaction at the time she thought she was dying and that the experience had removed her fear of death. [Shelley, Mary]
22/6/1822Shelley is dreaming that he strangles his wife Mary. First he dreamed that Edgar and Jane Williams walked naked and rted with blood into his room and told him that the see was destroying their house. When he looked outside in his dream he saw himself strangling Mary. When he woke up he screamed and ran into Mary's room to see if she was still alive. She had almost died of a miscarriage a few days before and she was still weak. [Shelley, Mary]
8/7/1822Percy Bysshe Shelley drowns in the Gulf of Spezia. He and Edward Williams were sailing back home to Mary Shelley and Jane Williams from Leghorn, where they had met Leigh Hunt and his family. Allthough a storm was rising they left in Shelley's small boat the Don Juan. Only ten days later their bodies were found on the beach. [Shelley, Mary][Williams, Edward Ellerker][Williams, Jane]
18/7/1822Shelley's dead body is found near Viareggio 
18/8/1822Trelawny burns Shelley's body on the beach. Shelley's body was found on the beach and buried there. It was not allowed to move it because of the risk of diseases. A huge metal furnace was brought to the beach and his remains were cremated. The ashes were taken to the Protestant Cemetery in Rome. Trelawny snatched Shelley's heart from the flames. Leigh Hunt wanted to keep it, but after some pression he gave it to Mary Shelley. Lord Byron couldn't stand it and swam back to his nearby ship before the burning of the corpse started. [Byron, George Noel Gordon ][Hunt, Leigh][Shelley, Mary][Trelawny, Edward John]
1/1/1823The second issue of The Liberal is published. This issue contained "Song, Written for an Indian Air" by P.B. Shelley and "A Tale of the Passions, or, the Death of Despina" by Mary Shelley. [Shelley, Mary]
21/1/1823Shelley's ashes are transferred to the Protestant Cemetery in Rome 
0/4/1823The third issue of The Liberal is published. It appeared around 23 Apr 1823 and it contained "Lines to a Critic" by P.B. Shelley and "Madame D'Houtetot" by Mary Shelley. [Shelley, Mary]
30/7/1823The fourth issue of The Liberal is published. It contained an essay about Giovanni Villani written by Mary Shelley. It is possible that she had already written it in 1821. [Shelley, Mary]
0/6/1824Shelley's Posthumous Poems published by Mary Shelley. Sir Timothy Shelley stopped circulation by threatening to withdraw the allowance for her son Percy Florence. [Shelley, Mary]
13/7/1827Mary Shelley finds out that her friend Jane Williams has betrayed her. Jane was Mary's best friend, but Jane had spread malicious rumours about Mary behind her back. One of the things Jane said was that she had treated Shelley badly during his last year. Jane told this to Leigh Hunt and T.J. Hogg. [Hogg, Thomas Jefferson][Hunt, Leigh][Shelley, Mary][Williams, Jane]
0/0/1839Mary Shelley publishes an annotated version of the works of Percy Bysshe Shelley [Shelley, Mary]
0/3/1843Mary Shelley arrives in Rome. She had been touring the continent with her son Percy Florence since June 1842 and it was her first visit to the city since the 1820s. They visited Shelley's grave but she couldn't find the grave of her son William who had died in Rome in 1819 and was buried at the same cemetery. Percy Florence was unimpressed with the art in Rome and to her disappointment he refused to visit the museums. Mary toured them with the art critic Alexis-Francóis Rio. [Shelley, Mary][Shelley, Percy Florence, 3rd Baronet]
29/7/1848Mary Shelley joins her son Percy Florence and his wife Jane at Field Place. Jane St. John had married her son Percy Florence and they had returned from their honeymoon in the Lake District. Field Place was the birthplace of Percy Florence's father Percy Bysshe Shelley. [Shelley, Mary][Shelley, Percy Florence, 3rd Baronet][St. John, Jane]
7/5/1886Trial performance van Shelley's "The Cenci". It was held at the Grand Theatre, Islington, London in front of 3,000 people. The main performers were Hermann Vezin and Alma Murray. 
6/12/1889Sir Percy Florence Shelley dies. He was the only surviving child of Percy Bysshe shelley and Mary Shelley. [Shelley, Mary][Shelley, Percy Florence, 3rd Baronet]

Images

Portrait of Percy Bysshe Shelley by Amelia Curran.
(1819)

 

"The Funeral of Shelley" by Louis Éduard Fournier. E.J. Trelawny, Leigh Hunt and Lord Byron watch the burning of Shelley's body. In reality Byron had left the scene before the burning took place.
 

The grave of Percy Bysshe Shelley at the Cimitero Acattolico, Rome.
Picture by Androom (23 Jan 2010)

 

The graves of Percy Bysshe Shelley and Edward John Trelawny at the Cimitero Acattolico, Rome.
Picture by Androom (23 Jan 2010)

 

Bust of P.B. Shelley at the Keats-Shelley House in Rome.
Picture by Androom (23 Jan 2010)

 

Plaque for Mary Shelley at St. Peter's Church, Bournemouth.
Picture by Androom (18 Jun 2010)

 

The Plaque at the house where Percy Bysshe Shelley lived in Florence.
Picture by Androom (03 Feb 2011)

 

The house where Percy Bysshe Shelley lived in Pisa.
Picture by Androom (06 Feb 2011)

 

The house where Percy Bysshe Shelley lived in Pisa.
Picture by Androom (06 Feb 2011)

 

Plaque for Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Shelley at 87 Marchmont Street, London.
Picture by Androom (14 Aug 2016)

 

Plaque for Percy Bysshe Shelley at Saint Mary’s Church, Horsham, West Sussex.
Picture by Androom (16 Feb 2017)

 

Memorial for Percy Bysshe Shelley at Horsham Museum, Horsham.
Picture by Androom (16 Feb 2017)

 

Memorial for Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Shelley at Christchurch Priory, Christchurch.
(memorial)
Picture by Androom (01 Jul 2017)

 

Statue of Percy Bysshe Shelley at the Piazza Percy Bysshe Shelley in Viareggio.
Picture by Androom (16 Feb 2018)

 

The Villa Valsovano in Livorno, where the Shelleys stayed in 1819.
Picture by Androom (17 Feb 2018)

 

Plaque at the Villa Valsovano in Livorno, where Shelley stayed in 1819.
Picture by Androom (17 Feb 2018)

 

The house in Bagni di Lucca where Shelley stayed in 1818.
Picture by Androom (18 Feb 2018)

 

Plaque at the house in Bagni di Lucca where Shelley stayed in 1818.
Picture by Androom (18 Feb 2018)

 

Plaque for Percy Bysshe Shelley in Poland Street, London.
Picture by Androom (05 Aug 2019)

 

Sources
• Abbott, G., Tortures of the Tower of London, David & Charles, 1986
• Bernheim, Cathy, Mary Shelley, Qui êtes-vous?, La Manufacture, Lyon, 1988
• Blunden, Edmund, Shelley, Collins, London, 1946
• Stephen, Leslie [Sir], Sidney Lee [Sir] [Editors], The Dictionary of National Biography, From the Earliest Times to 1900, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1960
• Feldman, Paula R. and Diana Scott-Kilvert, The Journals of Mary Shelley, 1814-1844, Oxford at the Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1987
• Holmes, Richard, Shelley, The Pursuit, Penguin Books, London, 1987
• Jones, Frederick L., Maria Gisborne & Edward E. Williams, Their Journals and Letters, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma, 1951
• Kingston Stocking, Marion, The Journals of Claire Clairmont, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1968
• Mellor, Anne K., Mary Shelley, her Life, her Fiction, her Monsters, Routledge, New York, 1989
• Norman, Sylva, Flight of the Skylark, Max Reinhardt, London, 1954
• Quennell, Peter, Byron, The Years of Fame - Byron in Italy, Collins, London, 1974
• Roe, Ivan, Shelley: The Last Phase, Hutchinson & Co, London, 1955
• Spark, Muriel, Mary Shelley, Constable, London, 1988
• St Clair, William, The Godwins and the Shelleys, Faber and Faber, London, 1990
• Sunstein, Emily W., Mary Shelley, Romance and Reality, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1989
• Todd, Janet, Death & The Maidens, Fanny Wollstonecraft and The Shelley Circle, Counterpoint, Berkeley, 2007
• Tomalin, Claire, Shelley and his World, Thames and Hudson, London, 1980
Queen Mab (poem) - Wikipedia
St. Irvyne - Wikipedia
Thomas Medwin - Wikipedia
10 sites from Mary Shelley’s London…6. St Giles-in-the-Fields… – Exploring London


Shelley, Percy Florence, 3rd Baronet

Published: 01 Jan 2006
Last update: 27 Apr 2024