Harriet Marian "Minny" Stephen (née Thackeray; 1840–1875), was the wife of

Leslie Stephen Sir Leslie Stephen (28 November 1832 – 22 February 1904) was an English author, critic, historian, biographer, and mountaineer, and the father of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell. Life Sir Leslie Stephen came from a distinguished intellect ...

and what her father

William Makepeace Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray (; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel ''Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portrait of British society, and t ...

called 'the balance wheel in the family'.

Early life

Harriet Marian Thackeray, always known as 'Minny', was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on 27 May 1840, the third daughter of William Makepeace Thackeray and Isabella Gethin Creagh (née Shawe; 1816–1893). Following Minny's birth, her mother suffered from severe

postpartum depression Postpartum depression (PPD), also called postnatal depression, is a type of mood disorder associated with childbirth, which can affect both sexes. Symptoms may include extreme sadness, low energy, anxiety, crying episodes, irritability, and cha ...

, which developed into serious, ongoing mental illness. As result, Isabella Thackeray was sent to a private asylum. Minny and her sisters spent the following four years with William Thackeray's mother - a strict

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

- in Paris, after which they returned to live with him in London. Here, they were raised in a busy cultural atmosphere, exposed to the many literary guests of their father. The girls were educated by various governesses, visiting teachers, and foreign travel. Minny's sister, Anne Isabella, went on to be a noted writer, and Minny too was described as having 'a capacity for shrewd and witty commentary on the people she met.' Minny's father described her at the age of 21 as being:

absurdly young for her age for she still likes playing with children and kittens and hates reading and is very shy tho' she does not show it and very clever tho' she does not do anything in particular and always helps me out of scrapes which I am getting into.

William Makepeace Thackeray died in 1863, and his daughters returned to live with their grandmother, who died a year later. Financially comfortable, Minny and Anne bought a house in London, where they shared household duties according to their particular talents.

Marriage to Leslie Stephen

Minny met Leslie Stephen at a dinner party held by his mother, Lady Stephen, with whom they were friends. Elizabeth Gaskell, also present, told Stephen later that she had foreseen their marriage from this early stage. Although the courtship was slow, the couple became engaged in December 1866, and married on 19 June the following year. Minny's sister, Anne, continued to live with the couple at the house she and Minny had bought together. Minny and Leslie travelled to Switzerland for their honeymoon, where Minny described the

Matterhorn The (, ; it, Cervino, ; french: Cervin, ; rm, Matterhorn) is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the main watershed and border between Switzerland and Italy. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the ...

by moonlight as looking

like a great hooky sort of gleaming ghost. I always think that it will come & poke its great hook nose into the windows.

The marriage was a happy one, and Minny shared her husband's interests, physical and intellectual. Stephen's more controversial opinions, for example on the matter of religion, she admired and supported, writing that she was

very thankful... that I belong to a man who can speak the bare truth & who tries to make others do the same.

After suffering two miscarriages, Minny gave birth to a daughter, Laura Makepeace (1870-1945) on 7 December 1870. Laura was born prematurely, referred to by Anne as 'a six months child.' Minny became pregnant again in the summer of 1875, but was taken ill on 27 November. She suffered convulsions and never regained consciousness, dying on 28 November, Leslie Stephen's birthday.

Legacy

Minny was buried in

Kensal Green Cemetery Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of Queens Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, it was founded by the barrister George Frederick ...

. Her daughter, Laura, was subsequently diagnosed as mentally handicapped, and placed in an institution by Leslie Stephen in 1891. Although 'somewhat sentimentalized by Stephen and his contemporaries', Minny clearly possessed an observational wit and sharpness:

Like her father, she had an acute sense of human ridiculousness, which she could pillory in a phrase, and she had a rod of iron in her character.

Her influence on her husband has also been acknowledged, helping to 'inspire a new sense of confidence and assertiveness' in him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephen, Harriet 1840 births 1875 deaths Thackeray family 19th-century English women 19th-century English people Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery