Eliza (Gould) Flower (1770 - 1810)

Born 1770 in Bampton, Devon, England

Wife of Benjamin Flower — married 1 Jan 1800 in Newington, Middlesex, England

Died 11 Apr 1810 at about age 40 in Harlow, Essex, England

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Biography

Eliza Gould was born in 1770, the daughter of John Gould who lived at Dodbroke in the Devon parish of Bampton and had a tannery business. She worked as a schoolmistress at South Molton, but was dismissed for subscribing to the "Cambridge Intelligencer", a radical magazine, published by Benjamin Flower who had previously been working at Tiverton.

When Flower was fined and jailed in 1799 for asserting his right to free speech, she visited him in prison and they married in 1800 as soon as he was released.^[1] They made their home at Harlow in Essex, where she had daughters in 1803 and 1805. Giving birth to a son in 1811, both she and the baby died.

Described as "a woman of intellectual and spiritual integrity, literary aspirations, radical political opinions, and profoundly held romantic ideals", her memorial reads:

"To the memory of ELIZA wife of BENJAMIN FLOWER of Harlow Essex and of their infant son who survived his birth only a few hours died April 11th 1810 aged 40 Her children arise up and call her blessed her husband also and he praiseth thee"^[2]

Sources

• Richard Garnett, revised by Adam I. P. Smith "Flower, Benjamin (1755–1829)" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 23 Sep 2004 https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/9760

1. ↑ Name: Eliza Gould Gender: Female Record Type: Marriage Marriage Date: 1 Jan 1800 Marriage Place: St Mary, Newington, Southwark, England Spouse: Benjamin Flower Register Type: Parish Register London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: p92/mry/019
2. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 11 September 2020), memorial page for Eliza Flower (unknown–11 Apr 1810), Find a Grave Memorial no. 47154067, citing Harlow Baptist Burial Ground, Harlow, Harlow District, Essex, England ; Maintained by julia&keld (contributor 46812479)