Dorothy Wordsworth (1771 - 1855)

Born 25 Dec 1771 in Cockermouth, Cumberland, England

Ancestors

Died 25 Jan 1855 at age 83 in Rydal Mount, Cumberland, England, United Kingdom

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Biography

Dorothy Wordsworth is Notable.

"Wordsworth and His Exquisite Sister"

Dorothy Wordsworth is often considered famous because she was the sister of the beloved poet, William Wordsworth. Yet, after her death, her journals were published, as well as some of her poetry, and she began to be respected in her own right for the superlative quality of her prose.

• 'Perhaps one of the best-loved of all journals, The Grasmere Journals bring Dove Cottage, where Dorothy stayed with her brother and his friend Coleridge, to vivid and intimate life. Dorothy notes the walks and weather, the friends, country neighbors, and travelers on the roads with intimacy and immediacy. She sets down accounts of the garden, of Wordsworth's marriage, and even insight into the composition of Wordsworth's poetry.' ^[1]

The first publication of the Grasmere Journals came in 1897. But Dorothy never wrote these for publication. In fact, she once penned in a letter:

From the Grasmere Journals.

• 'I should detest the idea of setting myself up as an author.'

Still, Dorothy Wordsworth ranks today in reputation as a fine author and poet, and the influence she had on her brother's poetry is beginning to be realized.

In appearance, her description from others might remind us of a young Emily Bronte. Described as an ardent spirit, wild, carefree, (when young) and a lover of the outdoors, their good friend and fellow poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge once wrote:

• "Wordsworth and his exquisite sister are with me. She is a woman, indeed! in mind, I mean, and heart ; for her person is such that, if you expected to see a pretty woman, you would think her ordinary ; if you expected to see an ordinary woman, you would think her pretty; but her manners are simple, ardent, impressive. In every motion her most innocent soul outbeams so brightly that who saw her would say : 'Guilt was a thing impossible in her.’"

Dorothy and her brother William were champion walkers. It was estimated, by De Quincey, "upon good data", that William Wordsworth must have walked 180,000 miles by his middle age. What is lesser known is that his sister Dorothy walked with him, stride for stride, in most of these ramblings.

• 'Dorothy had the long, swift stride of a Lake Country girl, with a brown gypsy face and wild eyes'.... ^[2]

She was once rebuked by their venerable aunt Mrs. Crackenthorpe for rambling about the countryside alone on foot. This caused her brother William to rush to her defense by penning another poem, entitled: To A Young Lady Who Had Been Reproached for taking Long Walks in the Country'.

• 'Dear child of nature, let them rail!'

Dorothy continued to live with her brother, even after his marriage. She resided in the upper part of the house, and eventually was rarely seen, due to illness, infirmity, and the loss of mental acuity.

Dorothy Wordsworth died in 1855. For more information and a bibliography of her writing, see sources and links below. As well, her journals are available to read online, through Project Gutenberg.

The Wordsworth Genealogy

Dorothy never married nor had children. The family genealogy, however, is of interest. According to the book, “The Story of a Sister’s Love” by Edmund Lee, (1887):

• 'John Wordsworth, the father, was an attorney-at-law, who had attained considerable success in his profession, being the solicitor of the then Earl of Lonsdale, in an old manor-house belonging to whose family he resided. Miss Wordsworth's mother was, on the maternal side, descended from an old and distinguished family, being the only daughter of William Cookson, of Penrith, who had married Dorothy Crackenthorp[e], whose family, we are informed, had, since the early part of the fourteenth century, resided at Newbiggen Hall, Westmoreland. The Wordsworths themselves traced their descent from a Yorkshire family of that name who had settled in the country about the time of the Norman Conquest.'

Sources

1. ↑ https://bookshop.org/books/the-grasmere-journals/9781491572832
2. ↑ Beautiful Lofty People, by Helen Bevington, published 1946 by Harcourt and Brace

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Wordsworth
• https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/dorothy-wordsworth
• http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/death-dorothy-wordsworth
• https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1950/12/dorothy-wordsworth-the-perfect-sister/376240/

• "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J3XW-ML3 : 11 February 2018, Dorothy Wordsworth, 18 Jan 1772); citing ALL SAINTS,COCKERMOUTH,CUMBERLAND,ENGLAND, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 90,596.
• "England and Wales Census, 1851," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SGYR-NG3 : 9 November 2017), Dorothy Wordsworth in household of Mary Wordsworth, , Westmorland, England; citing , Westmorland, England, p. 8, from "1851 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO HO 107, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.