William Howitt

Mary Howitt

Howitts collaborative work: Abbeys and Castles of Great Britain (1862)

William Howitt (* 1792 in Heanor , Derbyshire , † March 3, 1879 in Rome ) was an English writer.

William Howitt (spr.hoitt), from a Quaker family, married after incomplete studies in 1823 with Mary Botham, who has made herself known as a writer under the name Mary Howitt , and together with her published the poetry collections: The forest minstrel (1823 ) and The desolation of Eyam (1827), followed by other collaborative works (including Stories of English and foreign life , 1853).

Mary worked as a novelist and writer for young people, her husband as a cultural historian and archaeologist. The latter initially wrote:

The book of the seasons (1831),
Popular history of priestcraft (1833), both published several times; the
Tales of Pantika (1835) and
Rural life in England (1836), in which he attractively describes the manners and customs of the country folk;
Colonization and Christianity (1838);
The boy's country book (1839) and the magnificent work
Visits to remarkable places etc (1840, 2nd series 1842; new edition 1856).

A two-year stay in Heidelberg prompted the works:

The student life of Germany (1841); Reprint, translation by Kurt U. Bertrams, Hilden: WJK-Verl. 2004 ISBN 3-933892-66-X
The rural and domestic life of Germany (1842) and the satirical
German experiences (1844).

Returning to England in 1844, he published:

The aristocracy of England (1846); further
Homes and haunts of the British poets (1847);
The hall and the Hamlet (1847); the novel
Madam Dorington of the Dene (1851) et al

In 1847 the couple had left the Quakers . Howitt went with the gold rush to Australia in 1852 with the sons Alfred William and Herbert Charlton , from where he returned to England in 1854. Meanwhile, Mary had moved to Highgate with daughters Margaret and Anna Mary . Of his later works we should mention:

A boy's adventures in the wilds of Australia (1854);
Land, labor and gold, or two years in Victoria (1855);
Tallangetta, the squatter's home (1857);
Illustrated history of England (1861, 6 vols.);
The history of the supernatural in all ages and nations (1863);
Discovery in Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand (1865);
The mad-war-planet, and other poems (1871) u. a

From 1871 he and Mary stayed in the Austrian summer resort in Dietenheim near Bruneck and in Rome in winter . Towards the end of his life he surrendered to spiritism and forfeited the prestige that he enjoyed earlier. He died on March 3, 1879 while staying in Rome and was buried on the Cimitero acattolico .

Web links

Literature by and about William Howitt in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

↑ Richard Henry Horne was also on the ship
^ Rowena Edlin-White: William and Mary Howitt: A Literary Marriage , at Thoroton Society

personal data
SURNAME	Howitt, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	English writer
DATE OF BIRTH	1792
PLACE OF BIRTH	Heanor , Derbyshire
DATE OF DEATH	March 3, 1879
Place of death	Rome

[1] Richard Henry Horne was also on the ship

[2] Rowena Edlin-White: William and Mary Howitt: A Literary Marriage , at Thoroton Society