Anna Letitia Le Breton ( Aikin; 30 June 1808 – 29 September 1885) was an English author.

Early years and education

She was born into a distinguished literary and medical family of prominent Unitarians. Her mother was Anne, daughter of the Rev

Gilbert Wakefield Gilbert Wakefield (1756–1801) was an English scholar and controversialist. He moved from being a cleric and academic, into tutoring at dissenting academies, and finally became a professional writer and publicist. In a celebrated state trial ...

. Her father was

Charles Rochemont Aikin Charles Rochemont (or Rochmont) Aikin (1775–1847) was an English doctor and chemist. Biography He was born at Warrington, Lancashire into a distinguished literary family of prominent Unitarians. His father, Dr John Aikin, was a medical docto ...

, a member of the

Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations a ...

. He had grown up as the adopted child of his aunt,

Anna Laetitia Barbauld Anna Laetitia Barbauld (, by herself possibly , as in French, Aikin; 20 June 1743 – 9 March 1825) was a prominent English poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, and author of children's literature. A " woman of letters" who published in mu ...

, a prominent poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, and children's author; he was educated at the school she ran with her husband, the

Palgrave Academy Palgrave Academy was an early dissenting academy, that is, a school or college set up by English Dissenters. It was run from 1774 to 1785 in Palgrave, Suffolk, by the married couple Anna Laetitia Barbauld and her husband Rochemont Barbauld, a min ...

. Charles Rochemont Aikin's father was John Aikin (1747–1822), a medical doctor, historian, and author. His siblings/cousins (Anna Letitia's aunt and uncle) were

Lucy Aikin Lucy Aikin (6 November 1781 – 29 January 1864) was an English historical writer, biographer and correspondent. She also published under pseudonyms such as Mary Godolphin. Her literary-minded family included her aunt Anna Laetitia Barbauld, a w ...

(1781–1864), a historical writer, and

Arthur Aikin Arthur Aikin (19 May 177315 April 1854) was an English chemist, mineralogy, mineralogist and scientific writer, and was a founding member of the Chemical Society (now the Royal Society of Chemistry). He first became its treasurer in 1841, and la ...

(1773–1854), a doctor and chemist. Le Breton was educated at home in London and saw much of her namesake great-aunt and other members of the Aikin family. She had eight children. Her namesake daughter, Anna Letitia, married

Francis James Roscoe Francis James Roscoe (December 28, 1830 – December 20, 1878) was a Canadian entrepreneur and Member of Parliament. Francis Roscoe was born in Liverpool, England, the son of W.S. Roscoe, was educated at University College and the University ...

Career

She married, in 1833, Philip Hemery Le Breton, a lawyer of the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...

, born to a

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the l ...

family of clerics, and who was second cousin to actress

Lillie Langtry Emilie Charlotte, Lady de Bathe (née Le Breton, formerly Langtry; 13 October 1853 – 12 February 1929), known as Lillie (or Lily) Langtry and nicknamed "The Jersey Lily", was a British socialite, stage actress and producer. Born on the isla ...

. They lived in Hampstead, then a village outside London, but now part of

Inner London Inner London is the name for the group of London boroughs which form the interior part of Greater London and are surrounded by Outer London. With its origins in the bills of mortality, it became fixed as an area for statistics in 1847 and was u ...

. For twenty years he was a member of its

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

. He chaired the

Metropolitan Board of Works The Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) was the principal instrument of local government in a wide area of Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent, defined by the Metropolis Management Act 1855, from December 1855 until the establishment of the London Cou ...

parks committee and lobbied successfully with the Commons Preservation Society (now

Open Spaces Society The Open Spaces Society is a campaign group that works to protect public rights of way and open spaces in the United Kingdom, such as common land and village greens. It is Britain's oldest national conservation body and a registered charity. Foun ...

) for the preservation of Hampstead Heath. She assisted her husband in his ''Memoirs, Miscellanies, and Letters'' of her aunt Lucy, which was published in 1864. In 1874 she herself edited Lucy Aikin's correspondence with

William Ellery Channing William Ellery Channing (April 7, 1780 – October 2, 1842) was the foremost Unitarian preacher in the United States in the early nineteenth century and, along with Andrews Norton (1786–1853), one of Unitarianism's leading theologians. Chann ...

, the American Unitarian theologian, and published a ''Memoir of Mrs. Barbauld, including Letters and Notices of her Family and Friends.'' In 1883 appeared Le Breton's last book, ''Memories of Seventy Years, by one of a Literary Family'', which was edited by her daughter, Mrs. Herbert Martin. Widowed in 1884, she died at Hampstead on 29 September 1885, aged 77 and was interred in the cemetery there. Of her eight children that reached maturity, six survived her.

References

;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Le Breton, Anna Letitia 1808 births 1885 deaths 19th-century English women writers 19th-century British writers 19th-century English writers Victorian women writers Victorian writers English women writers Writers from London English Unitarians Anna Laetitia Barbauld