Mary Russell Mitford (1787 - 1855)

Born 16 Dec 1787 in Alresford, Hampshire, England

Died 10 Jan 1855 at age 67 in Swallowfield, Berkshire, England, United Kingdom

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Biography

Mary Mitford is Notable.

Mary Russell Mitford was an English author and dramatist, known for her authentic and endearing portraits of village life. The book Our Village made her famous.

"Will you walk with me through our village, courteous reader? The journey is not long. We will begin at the lower end, and proceed up the hill."

Mitford Cottage

Mary was born at Alresford, Hampshire, the only child of George Mitford and Mary Russell. Her father was a descendant of an ancient Northumberland family, her mother an heiress of a modest estate, ten years older than her husband. Sadly, although Mary's father was a trained physician and a graduate of Edinburgh University, he had a taste for gambling more than for a profession, and soon not only ceased his practice, but squandered away the income of his wife.

Mary Russell, daughter of George Midford and Mary Midford, was baptised on 29 February 1788 in New Alresford, Hampshire, England.^[1]

Mary was a precocious child and was an avid reader. But by March 1820, Dr. Mitford's irresponsibility had reduced his family to the utmost poverty, and their home had to be sold, including the valuable family library of books that had meant so much to Mary.

• 'The household removed to Three Mile Cross, a village on the turnpike road between Reading and Basingstoke, and lived there in "an insufficient and meanly furnished labourer's cottage.' ^[2]

It became necessary for Mitford to turn her able mind to writing literature, and not just reading it. Soon she was able to supplement the family income. Eventually, with her father's fall into complete financial ruin due to his gambling, her parents were to become completely dependent on the income from Mary's writing.

Her wide-ranging output included children’s stories, poems, serialized short stories to popular magazines, tragedies, and even plays produced on stage.

One of the magazine Mary Mitford published for.

Her greatest success came as a bit of a surprise, when Mitford decided to write of simple village life. She thought little of the effort at first, preferring to use her talents to pen dramatic tragedies and classics such as 'Mary Queen of Scots,' a scene in English verse (1831), and an opera libretto, 'Sadak and Kalascado,' which was produced in 1835. She also contributed several dramatic scenes to the 'London Magazine' and other periodicals. Her poetry was praised.

Still, though widely read, respected, and modestly popular for these efforts, it was with the publication of Our Village that her place in English literature was secured. First serialized in magazines, then in book form in 1824, this beloved series of sketches of village scenes and vividly drawn characters was based upon ordinary life in Three Mile Cross, the hamlet in the parish of Shinfield, where she lived.

Regarding her appearance, she was described more in literary terms by her admirers than in flattering terms.

• '"She has a pale gray soul-lit eye, and hair as white as snow"...."that wonderful wall of forehead"...her eyes had "glitter and depth".'

The tragedy of Mary's life was that, in spite of the success and fame she achieved, with a steady income resulting, she could never keep her father out of debt. The effort left her exhausted and frail. When he died--and she grieved his loss dearly--he still managed to leave her grossly in debt. Friends who loved her, and who cherished her work, came together to form a 'public subscription', which paid off these debts and enabled her to have a bit of income besides. This bond of loyal and sympathetic support that she had forged through her life was perhaps her greatest achievement.

• Of all situations for a constant residence, that which appears to me most delightful is a little village far in the country; a small neighbourhood, not of fine mansions finely peopled, but of cottages and cottage-like houses, 'messuages or tenements,' as a friend of mine calls such ignoble and nondescript dwellings, with inhabitants whose faces are as familiar to us as the flowers in our garden; a little world of our own, close-packed and insulated like ants in an ant-hill, or bees in a hive, or sheep in a fold, or nuns in a convent, or sailors in a ship; where we know every one, are known to every one, interested in every one, and authorised to hope that every one feels an interest in us. How pleasant it is to slide into these true-hearted feelings from the kindly and unconscious influence of habit, and to learn to know and to love the people about us, with all their peculiarities, just as we learn to know and to love the nooks and turns of the shady lanes and sunny commons that we pass every day.

In the 1841 census Mary Mitford (age 50) was in Three Mile Cross, Shinfield (West Side), Wiltshire, England. She was living with her father.^[3]

In the 1851 census Mary Russell Mitford (age 64), Authoress, was the unmarried head of household in Three Mile Cross, Shinfield East, Wokingham, Berkshire, England.^[4]

Mary passed away in 1855, due to injuries resulting from a carriage accident. ^[5]

In addition to the works already mentioned, Miss Mitford published: 'Dramatic Scenes, Sonnets, and other Poems' (1827); 'Stories of American Life' (1830); 'American Stories for Children' (1832). She contributed to Mrs. Jolmstone's Edinburgh Tales, the London Magazine, the Reading Mercury, Mr. S.C. Hall's Amulet, a religious annual (1826-30), and his Juvenile Forget-me-not and others. She edited 'Finden's Tableaux,' a fashionable annual, from 1838 to 1841, and a selection from Dumas for the young (1846). ^[6]

More about Mary Russell Mitford, including her complete bibliography, can be found here.

Sources

1. ↑ Baptism: "Hampshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1536-1812"
   Hampshire Archives and Local Studies; Winchester, Hampshire, England; Anglican Parish Registers; Reference: 83045/1/4
   Ancestry Sharing Link (free access)
   Ancestry Record 62421 #396239 (subscription required, accessed 11 November 2023)
   Mary Russell baptism on 29 Feb 1788, daughter of George Midford & Mary Midford, in New Alresford, Hampshire, England.
2. ↑ http://www.berkshirehistory.com/bios/mrmitford.html
3. ↑ 1841 Census: "1841 England Census"
   Class: HO107; Piece: 1165; Book: 13; Civil Parish: Shinfield (West Side); County: Wiltshire; Enumeration District: 17; Folio: 4; Page: 3; Line: 20; GSU roll: 464192
   Ancestry Sharing Link (free access)
   Ancestry Record 8978 #11213374 (subscription required, accessed 11 November 2023)
   Mary Mitford (50) in Shinfield (West Side) in Wokingham registration district in Wiltshire, England.
4. ↑ 1851 Census: "1851 England, Wales & Scotland Census"
   Reference: HO107; Piece number: 1693; Folio: 40; Page: 41; Schedule: 172
   FindMyPast Image - FindMyPast Transcription (subscription required, accessed 11 November 2023)
   Mary Russell Mitford (64), unmarried, Authoress, head of household in Three Mile Cross, Shinfield East in Wokingham registration district in Berkshire, England. Born in England.
5. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 15 April 2021), memorial page for Mary Russell Mitford (16 Dec 1787–10 Jan 1855), Find A Grave: Memorial #10449443, citing All Saints Churchyard, Swallowfield, Wokingham Borough, Berkshire, England ; Maintained by Find A Grave .
6. ↑ Dictionary of National Biography, 1894 edition

See also:

• 'Virginia Woolf' a biography by her nephew Quentin Bell, published by The Hogarth Press, Pimlico, London in 1996. ISBN 0 7126 7450 0, includes extensive family trees. Hundreds of friends, professional connections and people in the 'Bloomsbury set' are also mentioned in the text.'Virginia Woolf' a biography by her nephew Quentin Bell