Howitt, Mary (Botham) 1799 - 1888 Sketches of Natural History (1847)

A writer and translator, Howitt was born in Staffs to Ann (Wood), a governess and Samuel Botham, a land surveyor. She grew up in the country and received a severe Quaker education, but their nurse reportedly taught them scandal and oaths. When Mary went to school at the age of nine, she was mortified by her odd clothing. She learned Latin, mathematics and geography and then taught herself and her younger siblings. In 1821, she married William Howitt, a less strict Quaker. They lived in Nottingham and began their literary collaboration in 1823 with a book of poetry, The Forest Minstrel. In 1824, they had a daughter, Anna. They lived in Surrey beginning in 1836, but moved to Heidelberg three years later. She converted to Roman Catholicism in 1882, at the age of 83.

Mary Howitt wrote for Keepsakes and Annuals to earn money. She regarded her collection of dramatic sketches, The Seven Temptations (1834) as her best work. Her fiction, Wood Leighton; or A Year in the Country, (1836) had some success in spite of the fact that it was reported to have been modeled on Mitford's Our Village. Her translations of Frederika Bremer's novels brought her wide acclaim (Blain, Virginia, Patricia Clements, and Isobel Grundy 546). She first translated Hans Christian Andersen's tales into English under the title Wonderful Stories for Children (Mitchell 145).

Mitchell, Sally. Victorian Britain. Garland: London, 1988. 145.

Blain, Virginia, Patricia Clements, and Isobel Grundy. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English. London, Batsford, 1990. 546.

Other sources:

Amice Lee, 1955. Life of the Howitts.