Charlotte Grove (1773–1860) was an English diarist.

Biography

She was the first child and eldest daughter of Thomas Grove, a landowner of

Ferne House Ferne House is a country house in the parish of Donhead St Andrew in Wiltshire, England, owned by Viscount Rothermere. There has been a settlement on the site since 1225 AD. The current house, known as Ferne Park and the third to occupy the sit ...

Donhead St Andrew Donhead St Andrew is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, on the River Nadder. It lies east of the Dorset market town of Shaftesbury. The parish includes the hamlets of West End, Milkwell and (on the A30) Brook Waters. Ferne House ...

, Wiltshire, by his marriage to Charlotte Pilfold. Her sister Harriet Grove became known as the "first love" of the poet

Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achie ...

. In 1827, at the age of 44, she married the new rector of

Berwick St John Berwick St John is a village and civil parish in south-west Wiltshire, England, about east of Shaftesbury in Dorset. The parish includes the Ashcombe Park estate, part of the Ferne Park estate, and most of Rushmore Park (since 1939 the home ...

, Richard Downes. Charlotte kept a diary from 1811 until her death, although some years have not survived. The surviving original diaries are held at the

Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre The Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England, serves as a focal point for heritage services relating to Wiltshire and Swindon. The centre opened in 2007 and is funded by Wiltshire Council and Swindon Borough Counci ...

Chippenham Chippenham is a market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village ...

. Edited diary entries are included in ''The Grove Diaries'', which also features the diaries of three other members of the Grove family including her sister Harriet (years 1809–1810) and much later,

Agnes Geraldine Grove Agnes Geraldine Grove born Agnes Geraldine Lane Fox also Agnes Geraldine Fox-Pitt; Lady Grove (25 July 1863 – 7 December 1926) was an English aristocrat, diarist and essayist. She wrote to support women's suffrage, anti-vivisection and anti-vac ...

, daughter of Augustus Henry Lane-Fox Pitt Rivers and a friend of

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...

. Two volumes of transcriptions of the diaries were published in 2007 and 2013.

References

1773 births 1860 deaths People from Wiltshire English diarists Women diarists 19th-century British women writers 19th-century British writers {{England-writer-stub