Esther Copley, Esther Hewlett or sometimes Esther Hewlett Copley (née Esther Beuzeville, 10 May 1786 – 17 July 1851) was an English religious

tractarian The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...

and a prolific writer of didactic books for children.

Life

Copley was the youngest daughter of a silk manufacturer, Peter Beuzeville (1741–1812), and his wife, Mary Griffith Meredith (1744–1811), who were both 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 ...

origin. On her father's retirement, the family moved to

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buc ...

, where in 1809 she married the Oxford cleric James Philip Hewlett (1779/80–1820), curate of St. Aldate's, Oxford, and chaplain of the

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

colleges of Magdalen and New College. They had three sons, two of whom also become Anglican clerics, and two daughters who married two brothers: Esther Beuzeville Hewlett married Ebenezer Sargent and Emma Hewlett married George Eliel Sargent. As a widow, Esther married in 1827 William Copley (1796–1857), a Baptist minister in Oxford, whose chapel she had already joined. They moved later to

St. Helier St Helier (; Jèrriais: ; french: Saint-Hélier) is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. St Helier has a population of 35,822 – over one-third of the total population of Jersey – ...

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

, then to Eythorne,

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, but they separated in 1843, perhaps due to Copley's alcoholism, which had already involved her in writing his sermons for him. Esther is buried in the Eythorne Baptist churchyard.Rosemary Mitchell, "Copley, Esther (1786–1851)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2004
Retrieved 6 August 2016.
/ref>

Writings

Esther was a prolific author of children's books, tracts, and books on

domestic economy Home economics, also called domestic science or family and consumer sciences, is a subject concerning human development, personal and family finances, consumer issues, housing and interior design, nutrition and food preparation, as well as texti ...

. ''Cottage Comforts'' (1825), addressed to the working people, had reached 24 impressions by 1864, for example. Among several other works on domestic matters was the pamphlet ''Hints on the

Cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

morbus'' (1832), on how to prevent and treat the disease. Copley's stories for children were mainly didactic, designed to make them thrifty and good by providing examples of moral behaviour. She also wrote longer, non-fiction works for children, including ''Scripture Natural History for Youth'' (1828) and a 500-page ''History of Slavery and its Abolition'' (1836), which derived slavery from human sinfulness.Marion Ann Taylor and Heather E. Weir: ''Let Her Speak for Herself: Nineteenth-century Women Writing on the Women of Genesis'' (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2006), p. 32. ''Family Experiences and Home Secrets'' (1851) incorporated three earlier books, in which a family is shown to prosper through hard work, foresight and benevolence.

Commemoration

Esther Copley was buried at Eythorne Baptist Church under a tree near the gate,Sargent family history
Retrieved 11 October 2014.
/ref> In 1996, a plaque commemorating her and her extended family was erected in the United Reformed church, Henley-on-Thames, where she and her parents had moved in the early years of the 19th century.

Bibliography

* * * *

Sources

*Rosemary Mitchell, "Copley , Esther (1786–1851)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. (Oxford: OUP, 2004)

Subscription required, accessed 8 May 2010. This cites D. M. Lewis, ed., ''The Blackwell Dictionary of Evangelical Biography, 1730–1860'', (Oxford, 1995), "Biographical sketch of Mrs Copley". In: Copley, E.: ''The Complete Cottage Cookery''. 11th ed. (London: William Wesley, 1859), pp. v–x, and Baptist sources.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Copley, Esther 1786 births 1851 deaths Baptist writers English Baptists English women non-fiction writers 19th-century English women writers 19th-century English writers 19th-century British writers English children's writers English self-help writers British women children's writers 19th-century Baptists People from Eythorne