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
19/8/1850Elizabeth Gaskell meets Charlotte Brontė. At that time, Charlotte Brontė stayed with the Kay-Shuttleworth family at Briery Close near Lake Windermere. [Brontė, Charlotte]
27/6/1851Charlotte Brontė visits Elizabeth Gaskell in Manchester [Brontė, Charlotte]
0/9/1853Elizabeth Gaskell visits Charlotte Brontė in Haworth [Brontė, Charlotte]
0/5/1854Charlotte Brontė visits Elizabeth Gaskell for the last time in Manchester [Brontė, Charlotte]

Images

Plaque for Elizabeth Gaskell at the house where she lived in Manchester.
Picture by Androom (23 Aug 2015)

 

Plaque for Elizabeth Gaskell at Cheyne Walk, London, where she was born.
Picture by Androom (26 Mar 2016)

 

Brook Street Chapel, Knutsford. Elizabeth Gaskell was buried here in th graveyard.
Picture by Androom (09 Nov 2016)

 

The grave of Elizabeth Gaskell at the graveyard of Brook Street Chapel, Knutsford.
Picture by Androom (09 Nov 2016)

 

Bust of Elizabeth Gaskell at the memorial tower in Knutsford, Greater Manchester.
Picture by Androom (09 Nov 2016)

 

Sources
• Todd, Janet (ed.), Dictionary of British Woman Writers, Routledge, London, 1989
An Elizabeth Gaskell Chronology
Elizabeth Gaskell - Wikipedia


Gassmann, Vittorio

Published: 20 Nov 2016
Last update: 25 Apr 2022