Matilda Betham-Edwards (4 March 1836, in

Westerfield Westerfield is a village in Suffolk, England. It lies about two miles north of the centre of Ipswich in the East Suffolk District, and is served by Westerfield railway station on the Ipswich–Lowestoft East Suffolk Line. Amenities Westerfield ...

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

– 4 January 1919, in

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

) was an English novelist, travel writer and

Francophile A Francophile, also known as Gallophile, is a person who has a strong affinity towards any or all of the French language, French history, French culture and/or French people. That affinity may include France itself or its history, language, cuisin ...

, and a prolific poet, who corresponded with several well-known English male poets of the day. In addition, she wrote a number of children's books.

Biography

Betham-Edwards was the fourth daughter of a farmer, Edward Edwards (c. 1808–1864) and his wife Barbara (1806–1848), daughter of William Betham (1749–1839), an antiquary and cleric. She was educated in Ipswich and as a governess-pupil at a school in London.Joan Thirsk, "Edwards, Matilda Barbara Betham (1836–1919)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200
retrieved 4 April 2015
/ref> Her first novel, ''The White House by the Sea'' (1857) was an immediate success, reprinted several times, pirated in the United States, and in print for forty years.''The Feminist Companion to Literature in English'', eds Virginia Blain, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy (London: Batsford, 1990), p. 90. Matilda studied French and German abroad and then settled with her sister in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

to manage the farm which had belonged to her father. Not content, however, with purely rural occupations, she contributed from time to time to ''

Household Words ''Household Words'' was an English weekly magazine edited by Charles Dickens in the 1850s. It took its name from the line in Shakespeare's ''Henry V'': "Familiar in his mouth as household words." History During the planning stages, titles origi ...

'', having the advantage at this time of the friendship of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

and an early association with

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

and

Mary Lamb Mary Anne Lamb (3 December 1764 – 20 May 1847) was an English writer. She is best known for the collaboration with her brother Charles on the collection ''Tales from Shakespeare'' (1807). Mary suffered from mental illness, and in 1796, aged 3 ...

, friends of her mother. On her sister's death, she moved to London and wrote a number of novels of French life based on her frequent visits to France and her intimate knowledge of provincial French homes, as well as children's books, and non-fiction books about France. She was published by George and Richard Bentley.Women in the Literary Marketplace http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/womenLit/getting_into_print/Betham_Edwards_L.htm She stayed in Algeria with the feminist educationalist

Barbara Bodichon Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon (born Barbara Leigh Smith; 8 April 1827 – 11 June 1891) was an English educationalist and artist, and a leading mid-19th-century feminist and women's rights activist. She published her influential ''Brief Summary ...

and visited France and Spain with her. Of

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

descent, she considered France her second native land and made it her mission to bring about better understanding and sympathy between the two countries which shared her allegiance. In this way, she did much to promote a better understanding between English and French people. The French government made her an Officier de l’Instruction Publique de France in recognition of her untiring efforts towards the establishment of a genuine and lasting ''entente cordiale''. She was awarded a medal at the

Franco-British Exhibition (1908) The Franco-British Exhibition was a large public fair held in London between 14 May and 31 October 1908. The exhibition attracted 8 million visitors and celebrated the Entente Cordiale signed in 1904 by the United Kingdom and France. The chief ar ...

. Betham-Edwards is often cited in anthologies of lesbian poetry. She died in

, Sussex in 1919. Professor

Joan Rees Joan Rees (1923 – 2 December 2014) was a British scholar specialising in Elizabethan, Jacobean and 19th century English literature. A professor emerita at the University of Birmingham, she won the British Academy's Rose Mary Crawshay Prize in 19 ...

has written the only biography of Matilda Betham-Edwards, in 2006 (see below).

Works by Matilda Betham-Edwards

References

External links

* *
Biography of Matilda Betham Edwards by Professor Joan Rees
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Betham-Edwards, Matilda 1836 births 1919 deaths English women poets British women travel writers English women novelists English travel writers English women non-fiction writers

Biography

Works by Matilda Betham-Edwards

See also

References

External links