Mary Howitt, 1799-1888

Mary Howitt was born in Coleford, Gloucestershire in 1799 to Samuel Botham, a land surveyor, and Ann (ne Woods) who were both Quakers. Soon after Mary's birth, the family moved to Uttoxeter, Staffordshire. She was educated at schools in Croydon and Sheffield. In 1821, she married William Howitt (1792-1879), a writer from Heanor, Derbyshire, who was earning at the time earning his living as a dispensing chemist. The following year, they moved to Nottingham. Their surviving children were: Anna Mary (known as 'Annie', 1824-1881), Charles Botham (1826-1828), Alfred William (1830-1908), Claude Middleton (1833-1844), Herbert Charlton (known as 'Charlton', 1838-1863), and Margaret Anastasia (known as 'Meggie', 1839-1930).

In the 1830s, William and Mary moved to Esher, Surrey to be closer to London's literary circle and publishers. In 1840, they moved to Heidelberg in Germany and complemented earnings from their creative writing with those from translation. Mary learnt Swedish and Danish and translated some Icelandic sagas. In 1843, they returned to England and took up residence in London: first in Clapton, then in St. John's Wood, and finally in Highgate. Mary continued her translations and was commissioned by Hans Christian Anderson to translate some of his works for children. Throughout her life, Mary was a devout Quaker, with strong beliefs and commitments. After a brief spell in Claremont, Surrey (1866-1869) the Howitts moved to Rome where Mary died in 1888.

Mary and William Howitt wrote both separately and in partnership. They contributed prose, tales and verse for journals such as the Edinburgh Journal and published topographical works about the places that they visited. In 1848 and 1849 Mary contributed to William's Howitt Journal as well as being the paper's joint editor.

Antedivian Sketches (1830) was Mary's first poetry collection, followed in 1836 by Chronicle of Wood Leighton, a prose work for adults set in Uttoxeter. She also wrote fiction, and her books for children, such as Illustrated Library for the Young, were very popular. In all, about seventy-four books were written wholly or predominantly by Mary.