Agnes Strickland

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Agnes Strickland by John Hayes, 1846

Agnes Strickland (born August 19, 1796 in London , † July 13, 1874 in Southwold ) was an English historian and poet .

Life

Agnes Strickland was the second daughter of Thomas Strickland († 1818) and his second wife Elizabeth, b. Homer († 1864). She had five sisters and two brothers. In 1808 she moved with her family to Reydon Hall, Suffolk . Early on she devoted herself to historical studies. Since Thomas Strickland had lost a large part of his fortune when he died in 1818, those of his daughters who had already worked as a writer began to contribute to their livelihood by using their literary talents. Agnes Strickland's early literary productions were primarily historical verse novels in the style of Walter Scott , e. B. the poetic tale Worcester Field (1827). Then she and her older sister Elizabeth wrote simple prose stories for children.

Agnes Strickland later turned to historical biography, for which she diligently studied sources. From 1840 she began writing her most famous work, the twelve-volume work Lives of the Queens of England from the Norman Conquest, comprising the lives of 38 English queens from Mathilde von Flandern to Anne Stuart . To compile these biographies, Strickland, who was an ardent supporter of the monarchy and church, evaluated contemporary letters, personal papers and numerous official documents, from which she inserted extensive excerpts into her work. Her sister Elizabeth contributed a great deal to this extensive work, which, however, does not do justice to the standards of modern critical biography, as well as to her other historical publications. However, Elizabeth did not want to be named as a co-author.

In August 1870, Agnes Strickland was awarded a pension of £ 100 from the treasury at Gladstone's request in recognition of her services . In 1872 her health deteriorated; she broke her ankle due to a fall, which resulted in partial paralysis. She died in 1874 at the age of 78 and was buried in Southwold Cemetery. Her sister Jane Margaret Strickland described her life in a book published in 1887.

Two of Agnes Strickland's sisters, Susanna Moodie and Catharine Parr Traill , emigrated with their husbands to Canada in 1832 and became well-known writers there.

Works (selection)

  • Worcester Field, or The Cavalier , 1827
  • Demetrius and other Poems , 1833
  • Historical Tales of Illustrious British Children , 1833
  • Pilgrims of Walsingham , 2 vols., 1835
  • Tales and Stories from History , 2 vol., 1836
  • Historic Scenes and Poetic Fancies , 1850
  • Lives of the Queens of England from the Norman Conquest , 12 vols., London 1840-48; new edition, 6 vols., London 1864; in abridged version, London 1867
  • Letters of Mary, Queen of Scots , 3 vols., London 1842–43
  • Lives of the Queens of Scotland and English Princesses Connected with the Royal Succession of Great Britain , 8 vols, London 1850–59
  • Lives of the Bachelor Kings of England , London 1861 (biographies of William II , Edward V , Edward VI )
  • Lives of the Seven Bishops Committed to the Tower in 1688 , London 1866
  • Lives of the Tudor Princesses, Including Lady Jane Gray and Her Sisters , 1868
  • Lives of the Last Four Princesses of the Royal House of Stuart , 1872

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Elizabeth Lee, Dictionary of National Biography , Vol. 55 (1898), pp. 48 and 49.
personal data
SURNAME Strickland, Agnes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English historian and poet
DATE OF BIRTH August 19, 1796
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH July 13, 1874
Place of death Southwold