Gaskell, Elizabeth |
NOVELIST, BIOGRAPHER (ENGLAND) |
BORN 29 Sep 1810, London: 93 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea - DIED 12 Nov 1865, Holybourne, Hampshire BIRTH NAME Stevenson, Elizabeth Cleghorn GRAVE LOCATION Knutsford, Cheshire: Brook Street Unitarian Chapel (Churchyard) |
Elizabeth Gaskell was born in London but her mother died one year after her birth and from then on she lived with her aunt Hannah Lumb in Knutsford. She was educated there and at Stratford-on-Avon. After she left school she spent time in London and in Newcastle upon Tyne. On 30 August 1832 she married Rev William Gaskell in Knutsford. They moved to Manchester where her husband became the minister at Cross Street Unitarian Chapel. In 1841 they travelled to Heidelberg in Germany and German literature influenced her stories. In 1848 her first and most successful novel "Mary Barton" was published. Charles Dickens noticed her and she started writing for his magazine Household Words. In 1850 they moved to a house 84 at Plymouth Grove that is now a museum. In 1853 her novel "Ruth" was published, followed by "North and South" in 1854/1855. At Plymouth Grove she was visited by Charlotte Brontė and after Charlotte died she wrote her biography and published it in 1857. Other visitors were Dickens, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Charles Hallé, who lived in the neighbourhood. She died in 1865 of a heart attack during a visit to a house that she had bought in Hoybourne, Hampshire. She was buried in Knutsford. Related persons was visited by Beecher Stowe, Harriet wrote about Brontė, Charlotte was a friend of Clarke, Mary Elizabeth has a connection with Dickens, Charles was visited by Hallé, Charles was written about by Thackeray Ritchie, Anne Events |
19/8/1850 | Elizabeth Gaskell meets Charlotte Brontė. At that time, Charlotte Brontė stayed with the Kay-Shuttleworth family at Briery Close near Lake Windermere. [Brontė, Charlotte] |
27/6/1851 | Charlotte Brontė visits Elizabeth Gaskell in Manchester [Brontė, Charlotte] |
0/9/1853 | Elizabeth Gaskell visits Charlotte Brontė in Haworth [Brontė, Charlotte] |
0/5/1854 | Charlotte Brontė visits Elizabeth Gaskell for the last time in Manchester [Brontė, Charlotte] |
Sources Todd, Janet (ed.), Dictionary of British Woman Writers, Routledge, London, 1989 An Elizabeth Gaskell Chronology Elizabeth Gaskell - Wikipedia |