Emily Bowes Gosse (10 November 1806 – 10 February 1857) was a prolific religious

tract Tract may refer to: Geography and real estate * Housing tract, an area of land that is subdivided into smaller individual lots * Land lot or tract, a section of land * Census tract, a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census ...

writer and author of

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

Christian poems and articles.Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004

Biography

Emily Bowes was born in London, England to William and Hannah Bowes, both from old New England families. Her early years were divided between Merioneth, Exmouth and London, and in 1824 she commenced work as a governess to Revd John Hawkins in Berkshire, later moving to the home of Revd Sir Christopher John Musgrave, in Hove. After these spells, Emily returned to London to stay with her parents in Clapton, North London. She attended the

Plymouth Brethren The Plymouth Brethren or Assemblies of Brethren are a low church and non-conformist Christian movement whose history can be traced back to Dublin, Ireland, in the mid to late 1820s, where they originated from Anglicanism. The group emphasizes ...

assembly in Hackney, where she met her future husband,

Philip Henry Gosse Philip Henry Gosse FRS (; 6 April 1810 – 23 August 1888), known to his friends as Henry, was an English naturalist and populariser of natural science, an early improver of the seawater aquarium, and a painstaking innovator in the study of ma ...

. They had known one another for several years before they married at

Brook Street Chapel Brook Street Chapel is a church building in Tottenham, North London. The building was constructed for use as a meeting place for local Christians affiliated with the Plymouth Brethren movement. History A group of around eight individuals who had ...

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Waltham ...

, in 1848. Emily was 42, her husband was 38. Emily gave birth to their only child,

Edmund Edmund is a masculine given name or surname in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector". Persons named Edmund include: People Kings and ...

in 1849. Emily died in Islington after a painful and protracted battle with breast cancer, and was buried in

Abney Park Cemetery Abney Park cemetery is one of the "Magnificent Seven" cemeteries in London, England. Abney Park in Stoke Newington in the London Borough of Hackney is a historic parkland originally laid out in the early 18th century by Lady Mary Abney, D ...

Stoke Newington Stoke Newington is an area occupying the north-west part of the London Borough of Hackney in north-east London, England. It is northeast of Charing Cross. The Manor of Stoke Newington gave its name to Stoke Newington the ancient parish. The ...

. Among her last words were: "I shall walk with Him in white. Won't you take our lamb and walk with me?"

Painting

It has been incorrectly claimed that Emily was a Victorian

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

painter who studied with

John Sell Cotman John Sell Cotman (16 May 1782 – 24 July 1842) was an English marine and landscape painter, etcher, illustrator, author and a leading member of the Norwich School of painters. Born in Norwich, the son of a silk merchant and lace dealer, Cot ...

, and an illustrator whose work includes the uncredited

chromolithographs Chromolithography is a method for making multi-colour printmaking, prints. This type of colour printing stemmed from the process of lithography, and includes all types of lithography that are printed in colour. When chromolithography is used to ...

for her husband P. H. Gosse's book ''The Aquarium: an unveiling of the wonders of the deep sea'' (1854).

Publications

Gosse was a writer of Christian poetry books and a religious tract author and periodical contributor. Of sixty ''Narrative Tracts'' in book form, fifty-four were written by her and the rest by husband. In total, at least sixty-three Emily Gosse narrative or gospel tracts were published, with an aggregate sale of seven million copies by 1866. She authored 40 periodical articles. R. B. Freeman and Douglas Wertheimer, “Emily Gosse: A Bibliography,�
Brethren Historical Review 17
2021, p. 41-46, 49). Her book
Abraham And His Children
' (1855) consisted of object lessons using Biblical characters to illustrate parenting principles.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowes, Emily British women artists Christian writers 1806 births 1857 deaths Artists from London British Plymouth Brethren English illustrators English people of American descent Deaths from breast cancer Deaths from cancer in England English women writers

Biography

Painting

Publications

Further reading

References