Ellenor Fenn ( Frere; 1743–1813;

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

s, Mrs. Teachwell, Mrs. Lovechild) was a prolific 18th-century British writer of children's books.

Early life

Ellenor Frere was born on 12 March 1743/44 in

Westhorpe, Suffolk Westhorpe is a linear village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. The village is from the town of Bury St. Edmunds, from Stowmarket, and from the villages of Wyverstone and Finningham. Westhorpe Hall was a form ...

to Sheppard and Susanna Frere.

John Frere John Frere (10 August 1740 – 12 July 1807) was an English antiquary and a pioneering discoverer of Old Stone Age or Lower Palaeolithic tools in association with large extinct animals at Hoxne, Suffolk in 1797. Life Frere was born in Royd ...

was her elder brother and

John Hookham Frere John Hookham Frere (21 May 1769 – 7 January 1846) was an English diplomat and author. Early life Frere was born in London. His father, John Frere, a member of a Suffolk family, had been educated at Caius College, Cambridge, and became Sec ...

her nephew. In 1766, she married the

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...

John Fenn and moved with him to Hill House,

Dereham Dereham (), also known as East Dereham, is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Breckland District of the England, English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the A47 road, about 15 miles (25 km) west of the city ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. Although they had no biological children, they adopted and brought up an orphaned heiress, Miss Andrews.Stoker, "Ellenor Fenn".

Career

Fenn wrote a series of children's books for her nephews and nieces, inspired by

Anna Laetitia Barbauld Anna Laetitia Barbauld (, by herself possibly , as in French, Aikin; 20 June 1743 – 9 March 1825) was a prominent English poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, and author of children's literature. A " woman of letters" who published in mu ...

's '' Lessons for Children'' (1778-9), and in 1782 she wrote to the children's publisher

John Marshall John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the fourth Chief Justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remains the longest-serving chief justice and fourth-longes ...

asking whether he would be willing to publish them. Between 1782 and 1812, he published numerous books by Fenn, often anonymously or under the pseudonyms Mrs. Teachwell or Mrs. Lovechild. ''

Cobwebs to Catch Flies ''Cobwebs to Catch Flies'' (1783) is a children's book by Ellenor Fenn, originally anonymous, but later editions were advertised as being by ''Mrs Teachwell'' or "Mrs Lovechild". It was a reading primer and was one of the first books to differ ...

'' (1783), a reading primer, was perhaps her most popular book; it went through multiple editions in both Britain and America until the 1870s. Her ''Child's Grammar'' went through sixty editions by the 1860s. Fenn also created toys and games that encouraged mothers to teach their children themselves. Andrea Immel, a specialist in 18th-century childhood, writes that through her games, we can "recognize

enn ENN may refer to: People * Enn (given name) * Hans Enn (born 1958), Austrian alpine skier Other uses * ENN Group, a Chinese natural gas distribution company * ENN TV, a Pakistani news television channel * Escapist News Network, a parody newsc ...

as an early advocate of child-centered teaching strategies" The games emphasize conversation and the child's own world; they encourage the mother to answer the child's questions and to spontaneously teach when the child is interested in learning. In 1795, Fenn had a falling out with her publisher, John Marshall, and moved her business to

Elizabeth Newbery Elizabeth Newbery born Elizabeth Bryant (1745 – October 21, 1821) was a British bookseller and publisher, notably of children's book at the "corner of St Paul's churchyard" in London. Life Newbury's early life is unclear. There are indications ...

's firm and publishers in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

. Throughout her career, Fenn never received any royalties for her work, only free distribution copies of her works.

Life and death in Dereham

When Fenn's husband was knighted in 1787, Fenn became known as Lady Fenn. He served as High Sheriff of

from 1791–2. Upon his death on 14 February 1794, Fenn was left "financially secure" and able to devote more of her time to philanthropy. Fenn established a Sunday School in Dereham in 1785 which by 1788 had over 100 pupils. She also started a needlework school and "revived the trade to tow-spinning to give poor women an income." Fenn died at Dereham on 1 November 1813, aged 69, and was buried at St Bartholomew's church,

Finningham Finningham is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in the East of England, located approximately 7.5 miles north of Stowmarket and 16 miles from the county town of Ipswich. In 2011 its population was 480. Etymology ...

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 ...

. On 29 November 2013, two hundred years after her death, Fenn was finally recognised in Dereham with the unveiling of a '

Blue Plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...

' outside Hill House, her home for nearly fifty years, beside a renewed plaque for her husband.

Literary analysis

Many of Fenn's works were directed towards young girls and women. She wrote an entire series entitled "Mrs. Teachwell's Library for Young Ladies." Many of these works focus on how to teach and outline Fenn's idea of proper reading materials. Fenn published several volumes of what we would now call picturebooks that employed

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

s. Her sense of the visual layout of her books was keen and she carefully dictated to her publishers the margins and font sizes of her books.

Selected works

This list of works relies almost exclusively on Carol Percy's bibliography of Fenn's works. *''Set of Toys'' (c.1780) - game *''School Occurrences'' (1782-3) *''Juvenile Correspondence'' (1783) *''

'' (1783) *''Fables, by Mrs. Teachwell'' (1783) *''Fables in Monosyllables by Mrs. Teachwell'' (1783) *''Rational Sports'' (1783) *''School Dialogues for Boys'' (1783-4) *''Female Guardian'' (1784) *''Art of Teaching in Sport'' (1785) *''The Rational Dame'' (1786) *''A Spelling Book'' (1787) *''Fairy Spectator'' (1789) *''Juvenile Tatler'' (1789) *''The Village Matron'' (1795) *''The Short History of Insects'' (1796); as the long title shows, this work was produced in association with the

Leverian Museum The Leverian collection was a natural history and ethnographic collection assembled by Ashton Lever. It was noted for the content it acquired from the voyages of Captain James Cook. For three decades it was displayed in London, being broken up ...

.Christa Knellwolf King, ''Frankenstein's Science: experimentation and discovery in Romantic culture, 1780-1830'' (2008), p. 173
Google Books
*''The Infant's Friend'' (1797) *''The Mother's Grammar'' (1798) *''The Child's Grammar'' (1798) *''Parsing Lessons for Elder Pupils'' (1798) *''Parsing Lessons for Young Children'' (1798) *''The Friend to Mothers'' (1799) *''Family Miscellany'' (1805) *''The Teacher's Assistant'' (1809)

References

Bibliography

*Immel, Andrea. "Mistress of Infantine Language: Lady Ellenor Fenn, Her Set of Toys, and the Education of Each Moment." ''Children’s Literature'' 25 (1997): 215–228. *Percy, Carol. "Disciplining Women?: Grammar, gender, and leisure in the works of Ellenor Fenn (1743-1813)." ''Historiographia Linguisticia'' 33 (2006): 109–137. *Stoker, David. "Ellenor Fenn". ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

''. Retrieved on 6 March 2007. *Stoker, David. "'Ellenor Fenn as "Mrs Teachwell" and "Mrs Lovechild": a pioneer late eighteenth century children's writer, educator and philanthropist". ''Princeton University Library Chronicle'' (2007).

External links

Works credited to Mrs. Lovechild
at

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 ...