Elizabeth Gaskell Biography
English Novelist, Short-Story Writer and Biographer
English writer of the Victorian era, Elizabeth Gaskell's novels provide picture of society in different levels strata, including between rich and poor, town and country, and young and old. She is also best known for Cranford and her biography of her friend and novelist Charlotte Brontë.
Gaskell's sympathy for the poor and for ill-treated women won many friends, including Charlotte Brontë. After Brontë died in 1855, Gaskell wrote her biography. She died at the age of 55, November 12, 1865, in Holybourne, Hampshire.
Early Life and Education of Elizabeth Gaskell
Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson was born on September 29, 1819, in Chelsea, London, with strong Unitarian upbringing, a principle of faith and charity infused in her writings all her life. Her mother died when she was an infant. She was raised by her mother's sister and brother, Hannah Lumb and Dr. Peter Holland, in the village of Knutsford near the northern city of Manchester. Her Aunt Hannah and Uncle Peter became her devoted surrogate parents. They called her 'Lily.'
Later, aged 13, she attended a boarding school in the Midlands, Avonbank school in Stratford-upon-Avon, run by her stepmother's relatives. She stayed here for three years learning languages, etiquette and other traditional subjects for her day. Her visits to her father, a civil servant who had remarried, were a sharp contrast to her loved country life at Knutsford.
Mrs. Elizabeth Gaskell
When she was 22 years old, she met and married William Gaskell, a preacher who taught English literature. From then on, she was simply known as Mrs. Gaskell. The couple lived in the fast-growing industrial city of Manchester and felt deeply for the working poor, who suffered great hardships. Together, they wrote verses called Sketches among the Poor.
Mary Barton
Gaskell's first novel, Mary Barton, was published when she was 38. She wrote it to help herself recover from the death of her infant son, and also to highlight the struggles of factory workers. The plot tells of class hatred that drives a working class father to murder. The book's realistic characters and scenes were praised by no less than Charles Dickens.
Countryside Influences into Literature
Gaskell later wrote short stories and sketches for Charles Dickens' magazine Household Words, some of which formed the basis of other famous novel Cranford. Her memories of her hometown, Knutsford, and its villagers inspired this novel about life in a quiet country town. Her other novel, Country families also figure in Wives and Daughters, her last book which was published posthumously.
Works by Elizabeth Gaskell
- Mary Barton, 1848
- The Moorland Cottage, 1850
- Cranford, 1853
- Ruth, 1853
- North and South, 1854-55
- The Life of Charlotte Brontë, 1857
- Sylvia's Lovers, 1863
- Cousin Phillis, 1863
- Wives and Daughters, 1866 (published after she died)
Sources:
Goring, Rosemary (editor), Larousse Dictionary of Writers. New York: Larousse, 1994
Great British Writers, London: Colour Library Books, 1993
McGovern, Una (editor), Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap, 2002
Elizabeth Gaskell, English Novelist & Biographer
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