''The Dairyman's Daughter'' is an early 19th-century

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

religious booklet of 52 pages, which had a remarkably wide distribution and influence. It was a narrative of the religious experience of Elizabeth Wallbridge, who was the person after whom the book was named.

Elizabeth Wallbridge

Elizabeth Wallbridge, daughter of Joseph Wallbridge, was born, lived and died in the Parish of

Arreton Arreton is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the central eastern part of the Isle of Wight, England. It is about 3 miles south east of Newport, Isle of Wight, Newport. Name The settlement has had different names and diffe ...

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

, England. Her parents were worthy, but lowly and poor, and their children put out to

domestic service A domestic worker is a person who works within a residence and performs a variety of household services for an individual, from providing cleaning and household maintenance, or cooking, laundry and ironing, or care for children and elderly ...

at an early age. The author of the narrative was Rev. Legh Richmond, a religious writer of the period, who was

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are as ...

of the nearby Church of England parish of

Brading The ancient 'Kynges Towne' of Brading is the main town of the civil parishes in England, civil parish of the same name. The ecclesiastical parish of Brading used to cover about a tenth of the Isle of Wight. The civil parish now includes the to ...

. According to the account in the book, Miss Wallbridge's life until the age of 26 was of a most worldly character. Although never immoral, she was wilful, proud, selfish and irreligious. However, her life was transformed by a sermon and she became very devout. With exceptional strength of mind, a retentive memory, the mastery of a few religious classics and enforced leisure because of illness, she devoted time and strength to the study of the Bible, in which she became remarkably knowledgeable. Miss Wallbridge died after a lingering sickness of a year and a half, on 30 May 1801, at the age of 31. During her illness

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

often visited her and talked with her, and these discussions inspired him to write the book.

Religious meaning of the book

Her spiritual experience, excepting its intensity, was very normal and free of excess. She said, Her religious experience was not morbid nor morose but winsome and cheerful. She met her serious difficulties with rare heroism, humility, altruism and unwavering faith in her Lord. It is this simplicity, the strength and normal character of her experience which gave it such extensive influence.

Publication and popularity

''The Dairyman's Daughter'' was first issued in tract form in 1814 by the

Religious Tract Society The Religious Tract Society was a British evangelical Christian organization founded in 1799 and known for publishing a variety of popular religious and quasi-religious texts in the 19th century. The society engaged in charity as well as commerc ...

and in the same year by the New England Tract Society in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. The National Society in 1825 published it as Tract No. 9, and circulated at least half a million copies of this narrative, as the chief agency for its distribution in America. In 1828, 14 years after its first publication, its circulation exceeded four million copies in 19 languages, and the number of conversions from its perusal were estimated in the thousands. Its popularity increased for several decades and it is estimated that over ten million copies have been distributed in many languages. Some writers have claimed that ''The Dairyman's Daughter'' has had a more extensive influence and a wider circulation than any other similar publication. One chapter of a recent book surveying the history of the Religious Tract Society, Lutterworth Press and children's literature is devoted to ''The Dairyman's Daughter''. The success of the story led many to make the pilgrimage to

to visit the grave of the Dairyman's Daughter, including

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

. The simple chair on which Miss Wallbridge sat when talking with Rev. Richmond was preserved and in 1836 sent to America, where it was given to the

American Tract Society The American Tract Society (ATS) is a nonprofit, nonsectarian but evangelical organization founded on May 11, 1825, in New York City for the purpose of publishing and disseminating tracts of Christian literature. ATS traces its lineage back thro ...

. Today, the chair is housed in the Texas Baptist Historical Collection as part of the American Tract Society archives. A chapel was erected in her memory on the main road between Arreton and Apse Heath. Now closed and converted into a residence, the foundation stone is still visible from the road. In 1859, the American artist Jasper Francis Cropsey painted a work entitled ''The Cottage of the Dairyman's Daughter''.

Present-day influence

The book is now not widely known, although the short text of it has been reprinted innumerable times in various anthologies and publications. The best-known memorial today to the Dairyman's Daughter in her home parish of

is a

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

of the same name,The Dairyman's Daughter pub description and pictures
located close to Wallbridge's grave in the churchyard of St George's Church.

References

External links

Link to the Project Gutenberg text of the book
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dairymans Daughter 1814 books 1825 non-fiction books 19th-century Christian texts Christianity on the Isle of Wight Christian writers English non-fiction literature People from the Isle of Wight