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Mary Anne Everett Green ( Wood; 19 July 1818 – 1 November 1895) was an English historian. After establishing a reputation for scholarship with two multi-volume books on royal ladies and noblewomen, she was invited to assist in preparing
calendars A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a physi ...
(abstracts) of hitherto disorganised historical state papers. In this role of "calendars editor", she participated in the mid-19th-century initiative to establish a centralised national archive. She was one of the most respected female historians in Victorian Britain.


Family and early career

Mary Anne Everett Wood was born in
Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
to a Wesleyan Methodist minister, Robert Wood, and his wife Sarah ( Bateson; born Wortley, Leeds, youngest daughter of Matthew Bateson, clothier). Her father was responsible for her education, offering an extensive knowledge of history and languages, and she benefited from mixing with her parents' intellectual friends including
James Everett James Everett (14 February 1890 – 18 December 1967) was an Irish Labour Party politician who served as Minister for Justice from 1954 to 1957, Minister for Posts and Telegraphs from 1948 to 1951 and Leader of the National Labour Party from ...
, the minister and writer, for whom she was named. When the family moved to London in 1841 she began researching in the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
and elsewhere, and during the 1840s she worked on ''Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies'' (1846) and ''Lives of the Princesses of England: from the Norman Conquest '' (1849–1855). She had started work on this book in 1843, using private libraries like that of the rich collector Sir
Thomas Phillipps Sir Thomas Phillipps, 1st Baronet (2 July 1792 – 6 February 1872), was an English antiquary and book collector Book collecting is the collecting of books, including seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, ...
, as well as archives like those at
Lambeth Palace Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is situated in north Lambeth, London, on the south bank of the River Thames, south-east of the Palace of Westminster, which houses Parliament, on the opposite ...
. After her marriage to the painter George Pycock Green in 1845, they travelled for the sake of his artistic career, and she was able to research her subject further in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and
Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,
. ''Lives of the Princesses'' was praised by the antiquary
Dawson Turner Dawson Turner (18 October 1775 – 21 June 1858) was an English banker, botanist and antiquary. He specialized in the botany of cryptogams and was the father-in-law of the botanist William Jackson Hooker. Life Turner was the son of Jam ...
and by the historian Sir
Francis Palgrave Sir Francis Palgrave, (; born Francis Ephraim Cohen, July 1788 – 6 July 1861) was an English archivist and historian. He was Deputy Keeper (chief executive) of the Public Record Office from its foundation in 1838 until his death; and he is ...
among others. Palgrave, the first Deputy Keeper of the
Public Record Office The Public Record Office (abbreviated as PRO, pronounced as three letters and referred to as ''the'' PRO), Chancery Lane in the City of London, was the guardian of the national archives of the United Kingdom from 1838 until 2003, when it was m ...
(PRO), had met Green, was impressed with her scholarship, especially her knowledge of languages, and recommended her to his superior John Romilly, the
Master of the Rolls The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the President of the Court of Appeal (England and Wales)#Civil Division, Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales a ...
. Romilly was continuing Lord Langdale's work of overseeing the establishment of a national archive (the PRO), and publishing some of the documents it held. Numerous state papers which had been assembled from different locations were studied and summarised, and then the abstracts were arranged in chronological order in the form of "
calendars A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a physi ...
". In 1854, Romilly invited Green to become an external calendars editor. In her first few years doing this work she gave birth to two of her three daughters, one of whom,
Evelyn Everett-Green Evelyn Ward Everett-Green (17 November 1856 in London – 23 April 1932 in Funchal) was an English novelist who started with improving, pious stories for children, moved on to historical fiction for older girls, and then turned to adult romantic ...
, became a novelist. Mary Anne Everett Green's son had been born in 1847 but died in 1876. Her husband became disabled and it was important for her to earn an income. While supplementing her work at the PRO with journalism, she pursued some private research but had no time to complete a planned book on the
Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
ian queens.


Public records

Unlike the full-time employees doing similar work, such as Sir
Thomas Duffus Hardy Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy (22 May 1804 – 15 June 1878) was an English archivist and antiquary, who served as Deputy Keeper of the Public Record Office from 1861 to 1878. Life Hardy was the third son of Major Thomas Bartholomew Price Hardy, from ...
, and the three male free-lancers working on the calendars, who all had paid assistance, Green's only helper was her sister
Esther Esther is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther. In the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian king Ahasuerus seeks a new wife after his queen, Vashti, is deposed for disobeying him. Hadassah, a Jewess who goes by the name of Esther, is chosen ...
, but she became the "most highly respected" and "most efficient compiler of calendars". She sometimes complained about being paid less than the men, and also disputed editorial questions with her superiors. Romilly did eventually agree to her suggestion of historical prefaces written by herself and the other editors, and these came to be seen as an essential part of the calendars. Green herself wrote 700 pages of prefaces which amount to a history of seventeenth-century England.Christine L. Krueger, ''Why she lived at the PRO'' Over the next four decades Green edited 41 volumes starting with ''Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, of the Reign of
James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) *James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) *James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu *James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
'' (4 volumes, 1857–9). By the time she completed ''Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, of the Reign of
Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
'' in 1872, reviewers considered she had established a model for such work; with more detailed abstracts than many other calendars, as well as the highest standards of scholarship, her work "came to be recognized as the standard to be followed by all editors". Like other 19th-century women historians, Green tended to concentrate her work in fields seen as suited to "feminine" talents: research into queens and ladies, private lives, and the deciphering, translation and compilation of historical documents, for instance. One of her earliest books was prefaced by her asking the reader not to criticise her for having "ventured upon a field usually occupied only by the learned of the opposite sex." Her calendar prefaces, though, were an opportunity to write on broader, more "masculine" themes, like the
Interregnum An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one monarch and the next (coming from Latin '' ...
, earning respect for the overall quality and "strict historical accuracy". She was one of only three women to sign a public petition in 1851 asking the PRO to offer free access to its records for serious scholars, a request which was granted in 1852. Alongside 80 men's signatures, including those 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 ...
, Macaulay, and Carlyle, were the women historians who depended on detailed study of freshly discovered original sources to claim authority for their work: Agnes Strickland and
Lucy Aikin Lucy Aikin (6 November 1781 – 29 January 1864) was an English historical writer, biographer and correspondent. She also published under pseudonyms such as Mary Godolphin. Her literary-minded family included her aunt Anna Laetitia Barbauld, a w ...
were the other two. Green went on working at the PRO until shortly before she died, aged 77, at home in London on 1 November 1895, having passed her research on the
Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
ian queens to her friend
A. W. Ward Sir Adolphus William Ward (2 December 1837 – 19 June 1924) was an English historian and man of letters. Life Ward was born at Hampstead, London, the son of John Ward. He was educated in Germany and at Peterhouse, Cambridge. In 1866, W ...
. Her work at the PRO was continued by the niece she had trained: Sophia Crawford Lomas. Both Ward and Lomas helped ensure that her ''Elizabeth, Electress Palatine and Queen of Bohemia'' (1909) appeared posthumously. She also intended to publish an edition of the letters of
Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia Elizabeth Stuart (19 August 159613 February 1662) was Electress of the Palatinate and briefly Queen of Bohemia as the wife of Frederick V of the Palatinate. Since her husband's reign in Bohemia lasted for just one winter, she is called the Wi ...
and collected over 400 transcripts.Mary Anne Everett Green, ''Elizabeth, Electress Palatine and Queen of Bohemia'' (London, 1909), p. 122. Other books of hers include ''Diary of John Rous'' (1856) and ''Letters of Queen Henrietta Maria'' (1857). She was also known for her philanthropy.


Work online


Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies of Great Britain: Volume 2Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies of Great Britain: Volume 3Lives of the Princesses of England, from the Norman ConquestCalendar of State Papers Domestic: James I, 1603-1610


References

*Christine L. Krueger, 'Why she lived at the PRO: Mary Anne Everett Green and the profession of history', in the ''Journal of British Studies'' (2003, 42:1) *Anne Laurence, 'Women historians and documentary research', in '' Women, Scholarship and Criticism c.1790–1900'' by Joan Bellamy, Anne Laurence and Gill Perry (Manchester 2000) *Philippa Levine, ''The Amateur and the Professional: Antiquarians, Historians and Archaeologists in Victorian England, 1838-1886'' (Cambridge University Press, 1986) *Hugh Mooney, "Henry Bickersteth, Baron Langdale" in the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' *Patrick Polden, "John Romilly, first Baron Romilly" in the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' *
Pierre Chaplais Pierre Théophile Victorien Marie Chaplais (8 July 1920 – 26 November 2006) was a French historian. He was Reader in Diplomatic at the University of Oxford from 1957 to 1987. Born in Châteaubriant, Loire-Inférieure (now Loire-Atlantique), ...
, reviewing ''The Public Record Office, 1838–1958'' (
HMSO The Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) is the body responsible for the operation of His Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) and of other public information services of the United Kingdom. The OPSI is part of the National Archives of the Un ...
1991) by John D. Cantwell, in ''The English Historical Review'' (Feb. 1995, volume 110, number 435) *''New International Encyclopedia''


Notes


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Mary Anne Everett 19th-century English historians English biographers British women historians Linguists from England Women linguists English antiquarians English book editors English philanthropists 1818 births 1895 deaths Writers from Sheffield 19th-century British women writers 19th-century British philanthropists Women biographers