Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna (1 October 1790 – 12 July 1846) was a popular Victorian English writer and novelist who wrote under the pseudonym Charlotte Elizabeth. She was "a woman of strong mind, powerful feeling, and of no inconsiderable share of tact."
Her work focused on promoting women's rights (see her books ''The Wrongs of Women'' and ''Helen Fleetwood'') and
evangelical Protestantism
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "born again", in which an individual experi ...
, as seen in her book ''Protection; or, The Candle and the Dog, ''in which the following characteristic quote appears: "Our greatest blessings come to us by prayer, and the studying of God's word." As Isabella A. Owen remarked in 1901, "She was above all else an anti-Romanist, a most protesting
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
."
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and became best known for her novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (1852), which depicts the harsh ...
wrote of her memoir ''Personal Recollections'' (1841): "We know of no piece of autobiography in the English language which can compare with this in richness of feeling and description and power of exciting interest."
[''Acadiensis: Journal of the History of the Atlantic Region.'' 1901, p. 228]
Life
Born on 1 October 1790, Charlotte was the daughter of Reverend Michael Browne, rector of St. Giles's Church and
minor canon of
Norwich Cathedral, who contributed greatly to the development of Tonna's strong faith and devotion to God, the consequence of being raised in a "Tory, royalist, Church-of-England family".
Her mother Charlotte was the daughter of local physician Dr. John Murray.
Charlotte was baptized on 22 October 1790 at St. Martin-at-Palace Church in her hometown of Norwich.
In her early youth, she "displayed a very ardent temperament and lively imagination."
[
] She was so eager to learn that she accepted an offer from her uncle to teach her the French language before she was six years old. During this time of learning, she strained her eyes so hard "that she was deprived of sight for some months."
After this period of temporary vision impairment, she suffered permanent hearing loss at the age of ten, "due to medication she was taking for other ailments."
First marriage
In 1813 she married Captain George Phelan of the
60th regiment, and spent two years with him while he served with his regiment in
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
(1817–1819). They then returned to Ireland, where Phelan owned a small estate near
Kilkenny
Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512.
Kilken ...
. The marriage was not a happy one, and it was reported that Captain Phelan was addicted to "gross intemperance" and personally abused Charlotte during their marriage.
She was very patient towards him and refused to seek help from her friends, but as the abuse continued she was forced to separate from him in 1824.
Charlotte was aware that her marital troubles could be interpreted many ways so, to keep her privacy, "Tonna made her friends and acquaintances promise that in the event of her death they would destroy all her letters and other correspondence".
Her pen name "Charlotte Elizabeth" was a tactic she used to protect her writing earnings from Captain Phelan when they were married.
Mrs. Phelan subsequently resided with her brother, Captain John Browne, for two years at
Clifton
Clifton may refer to:
People
*Clifton (surname)
*Clifton (given name)
Places
Australia
* Clifton, Queensland, a town
**Shire of Clifton
*Clifton, New South Wales, a suburb of Wollongong
*Clifton, Western Australia
Canada
*Clifton, Nova Scotia ...
, where she made the acquaintance of
Hannah More
Hannah More (2 February 1745 – 7 September 1833) was an English religious writer, philanthropist, poet and playwright in the circle of Johnson, Reynolds and Garrick, who wrote on moral and religious subjects. Born in Bristol, she taught at a s ...
. Shortly thereafter, she was deprived of her sibling's support, as, "tragically, John Murray Browne drowned in a boating accident whilst posted with his regiment in
Mullingar, County Westmeath, Ireland, in 1829."
After the death of her brother, "she undertook the sole charge of the education and maintenance of his two sons."
She later moved to
Sandhurst, and then to London.
Second marriage
In 1837 Captain Phelan died in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
. Despite Captain Phelan's abuse and their separation, after his death she took care of his mother and sister which spoke "volumes of her benevolence and Christian principle".
In 1841, Charlotte married
Lewis Hippolytus Joseph Tonna
Lewis Hippolytus Joseph Tonna (3 September 1812 – 2 April 1857) was an English polyglot and campaigner on behalf of evangelical protestantism.
Born Liverpool, son of the Spanish vice-consul and consul for the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, his fa ...
. Her second marriage to Tonna was a much happier one, he being an "excellent husband" who was very active in London society. Also a Protestant writer, he wrote a memoir entitled ''The'' ''Life of Charlotte Elizabeth'' in 1869 to celebrate his late wife's life.
As a woman active in public service, Charlotte "began a Sunday school in her cottage, did charity work in the Irish ghetto in London, and established a Protestant Church in St. Giles in the early 1830s"
Death
In early 1844, a cancerous mass appeared under Charlotte's left axilla, eventually causing "her death by attacking an artery and causing exhaustion from loss of blood."
She died at
Ramsgate
Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to t ...
on 12 July 1846, and was buried in St. George's Churchyard Ramsgate, Kent. Two months prior to her death, she expressed to her husband that she did not want to be buried in a vault but in a perishable "simple earth grave".
This was due to her deep devotion to God and the common Christian belief that from "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return."
Writing career
Charlotte became a novel-writer after the death of her father because "a small annuity was all that
ermother could depend on".
Her religious conversion also had a great impact on her writing career. At her husband's estate in Dublin, she had an epiphany and for six months "experienced the mighty power of God" at work in her life. At that moment she devoted her career to attempting to converting "everyone, especially Irish Catholics to Evangelical Protestantism".
Religious outreach
While in Ireland, Charlotte began to write tracts for various religious societies. Her first essay in authorship was in aid of the objects of the Dublin Tract Society in 1820.
Her tracts became popular because of their sheer, and deliberate simplicity; "if, on reading a manuscript to a child of five years old,
hefound there was a single sentence or word above his comprehension, it was instantly corrected to suit that lowly standard."
She was the subject of continued persecution, and because of claims made against her, "she was obliged to publish her works under her baptismal names of 'Charlotte Elizabeth.'"
Anti-Catholic sentiments
She was very hostile to the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, and some of her publications are said to have been placed on the ''
Index Expurgatorius
The ''Index Librorum Prohibitorum'' ("List of Prohibited Books") was a list of publications deemed heretical or contrary to morality by the Sacred Congregation of the Index (a former Dicastery of the Roman Curia), and Catholics were forbidden ...
''. In 1837 she published an abridgment of ''
Foxe's Book of Martyrs'' and also an abridgment called ''The Female Martyrs of the English Reformation'' due to her interest in Protestant martyrs.
She was so intrigued with martyrs that she once asked her father, "Papa, may I be a martyr?" during her childhood.
Protestant editorial work
She edited ''The Protestant Annual'', 1840, and ''The Christian Lady's Magazine'' from 1836, and ''The Protestant Magazine'' from 1841 until her death, with "her writings being dictated when
hewas unable to hold the pen."
In ''The Christian Lady's Magazine,'' she was able to voice her interests such as "the superiority of rural over urban life, the domestic role of women, the dangers of Popery, the hatred of unions, and, of course, the urgency of being born again through Christ".
She also wrote poems, two of which, "The Maiden City" and "No Surrender," were written especially for the
Orange cause. Writing in 1899,
O'Donoghue
Donoghue or O'Donoghue is an anglicized form of the Irish language surname Ó Donnchadha or Ó Donnchú.
Etymology
The name means "descendant of Donnchadh", a personal name composed of the elements ''donn'' "brown-haired an and ''cath'' "battle" ...
stated that these "are extremely vigorous and popular. They are quite the best Orange songs that have been written."
Writing on social causes
Her drive for social change was prominent in ''The Wrongs of Woman,'' wherein she wrote about the poor working conditions of female workers in London. The story focused on Kate Clark, a newly hired lace runners apprentice, who faced great work obstacles such as "long hours, poor pay and lack of food" which was common amongst labor workers in London.
Published in four volumes between 1843–1844, the book adequately described the sickly and dirty lifestyle London workers endured during the Victorian era.
She reflects, concerning the benefit for masters in maintaining low wages and poor conditions for the poor,
...in the desperate spirit of speculation, commercial men will set no limits to the production of what they may possibly sell, to the farther increase of their growing capital; and that in the struggle for means to live by the very scanty portion of this accumulated wealth which is allowed to circulate among them, the really destitute class are as little disposed to reject the most inadequate remuneration for their heavy toil; thus at once glutting the market with labourers, and keeping down the price of work.
Another popular work by Tonna was ''Helen Fleetwood: A Tale of the Factories'' which told the story of cotton mill child labor workers, which was serialized between 1839 and March 1841 in ''The Christian Lady’s Magazine.'' Her concern for the social and economic conditions of women expressed in her writing helped gather support for passage of the London
Factory Acts
The Factory Acts were a series of acts passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to regulate the conditions of industrial employment.
The early Acts concentrated on regulating the hours of work and moral welfare of young children employed ...
of 1844, 1847, and 1848.
Sympathetic towards the Jewish community despite desiring their conversion to Christianity, she believed that "Jews might retain their traditional rituals and still reach salvation by accepting Jesus Christ as the Messiah."
In 1843, she published ''Judah's Lion'' as her last book-length work of fiction which focused upon Jewish beliefs and culture.
Animal welfare
Tonna wrote ''Kindness to Animals, Or, The Sin of Cruelty Exposed and Rebuked'' (1845), an early work supportive of animal welfare.
Literary reception
Throughout her life, Charlotte Tonna was very popular amongst Evangelical Protestant communities. Critics from the ''New York Evangelist'' described her writings as "too fast" and described her style as "consequently diffuse and inelegant, and there is a too incessant prosperity to preach".
However, they praised her vividness of description and sprightliness to her writing.
Additionally, other critics complained of her stories having "thin characterizations" and long tangents that disrupted the plot, but still praised her ability to describe in intense details the poor working conditions of labor workers in ''Helen Fleetwood: A Tale of the Factories''.
''The Christian Ladies Magazine'' also mentioned Tonna's "unbalanced" style but claimed her vulnerability and "intensity of feeling" in her writing" atoned for it.
People praised her ability to creatively instruct children in her children's stories as she frequently used, "nature in religious analogies in both her prose and poems" to help children learn how to live.
These analogies can be seen in works such as ''The Bee, The Swan, The Wasp, The Bow and the Cloud, The Willow Tree, and The Hen and Her Chickens.''
She was inspired by Protestant authors
John Bunyan and
Isaac Watts, who also used religious analogies to instruct children.
Due to her popularity, her works were translated into many diverse languages such as "French, Italian, Marathi, and the Mpongwe language of Gabon in West Africa."
In 1845, the ''Christian Examiner'' praised her work and declared that Tonna had "secured an unhesitating reception amongst most of those called Evangelical Christians."
Her legacy endures as a highly respected writer in the Evangelical Protestant community.
Works
*''Zadoc, the Outcast of Israel'' (London, 1825)
*''Perseverance: a Tale'' (London, 1826)
*''Rachel: a Tale'' (London, 1826)
*''Consistency: a Tale'' (London, 1826)
*''Osric: a Missionary Tale, and other Poems'' (Dublin, 1826?)
*''Izram: a Mexican Tale, and other Poems'' (London, 1826)
*''The System: a Tale of the West Indies'' (London, 1827)
*''The Rockite: an Irish Story'' (London, 1829)
*''The Museum'' (Dublin, 1832)
*''The Mole'' (Dublin, 1835)
*''Alice Benden, or the Bowed Shilling'' (London, 1838)
*''Letters from Ireland,'' 1837 (London, 1838)
*''Derriana'' (1833)
*''Derry'' (1833; 10th ed. 1847)
*''Chapters on Flowers'' (London, 1836)
*''Conformity: a Tale'' (London, 1841)
*''Helen Fleetwood'' (London, 1841)
*''Falsehood and Truth'' (Liverpool, 1841)
*''Personal Recollections'' (London, 1841)
*''Dangers and Duties'' (London, 1841)
*''Judah's Lion'' (London, 1843)
*''The Wrongs of Woman, in four parts'' (London, 1843-4)
*''The Church Visible in all Ages'' (London, 1844)
*''Judea Capta: an Historical Sketch of the Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans'' (London, 1845)
*''Works of Charlotte Elizabeth'' (with introduction by Mrs. H. B. Stowe, 2nd edit. New York, 1845)
*''Protection; or, the Candle and the Dog'' (Lane & Tippett, 1846)
*''Bible Characteristics'' (London, 1851)
*''War with the Saints'' (London, 1852)
*''Short Stories for Children'' (Dublin, 1854)
*''Tales and Illustrations'' (Dublin, 1854)
*''Stories from the Bible'' (London, 1861)
*''Charlotte Elizabeth's Stories'' (collected, New York, 1868)
*''Kindness to Animals: or, The Sin of Cruelty Exposed and Rebuked'' (Philadelphia: American Sunday-School Union, 1845)
available online
*''Little Oaths'' (New York: American Tract Society, 18--?
available online
*''Patty; or, Beware of Meddling'' (Sunday-School Union of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 18--?
available online
*''Richard and Rover'' (New York: Lane & Tippett for the Sunday-School Union of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1846
available online
*''The Bible The Best Book'' (New York: American Tract Society, 185-?
available online
*''The Burying-ground'' (N.Y. American Tract Society, 185-?)
*''The Newfoundland fisherman: a true story'' (N.Y. American Tract Society, 18--?)
*''Personal Recollections'' (London: R. B. Seeley & W. Burnside, 1841)
*''The Perils of the Nation: An Appeal to the Legislature, The Clergy, and the Higher and Middle Classes'' (London: Seeley, Burnside and Seeley, 1843)
Further reading
**
References
Endnotes
Texts
Charlotte Elizabeth – AcadiensisShaping the Values of Youth: Elizabeth, Charolotte A Memoir of Charlotte Elizabeth by Lewis Hippolytus Joseph TonnaProtection; or, the Candle and the Dog;Attribution
External links
*
*
Works by or about Charlotte Elizabeth Tonnaat
HathiTrust
HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries including content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digitized locally ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tonna, Charlotte Elizabeth
1790 births
1846 deaths
English religious writers
English Anglicans
Evangelical Anglicans
English children's writers
19th-century English women writers
19th-century British writers
English women non-fiction writers
Women religious writers
Anglican writers
People from Norwich
British deaf people