Mary Elizabeth Braddon (4 October 1835 – 4 February 1915) was an English popular novelist of the Victorian era.[1] She is best known for her 1862 sensation novelLady Audley's Secret, which has also been dramatised and filmed several times.
Born in Soho, London, Mary Elizabeth Braddon was privately educated. Her mother Fanny separated from her father Henry because of his infidelities in 1840, when Mary was five. When Mary was ten years old, her brother Edward Braddon left for India and later Australia, where he became Premier of Tasmania. Mary worked as an actress for three years, when she was befriended by Clara and Adelaide Biddle. They were only playing minor roles, but Braddon was able to support herself and her mother. Adelaide noted that Braddon's interest in acting waned as she took up writing novels.[2]
Mary met John Maxwell (1824–1895), a publisher of periodicals, in April 1861 and moved in with him in 1861.[3] However, Maxwell was already married to Mary Ann Crowley, with whom he had five children. While Maxwell and Braddon were living as husband and wife, Crowley was living with her family. In 1864, Maxwell tried to legitimize their relationship by telling the newspapers that they were legally married; "however, Richard Brinsley Knowles wrote to these papers, informing them that his sister-in-law and true wife of Maxwell was still living, thereby exposing Braddon's 'wife' status as a façade".[4] Mary acted as stepmother to his children until 1874, when Maxwell's wife died and they were able to get married at St. Bride's Church in Fleet Street. Braddon had six children by him: Gerald, Fanny, Francis, William, Winifred Rosalie, and Edward Herry Harrington.
Her eldest daughter, Fanny Margaret Maxwell (1863–1955), married the naturalist Edmund Selous on 13 January 1886. In the 1920s, they were living in Wyke Castle, where Fanny founded a local branch of the Woman's Institute in 1923, of which she became the first president.[5]
Tomb of Mary Elizabeth Maxwell in Richmond Cemetery
Braddon died on 4 February 1915 in Richmond (then in Surrey) and is interred in Richmond Cemetery.[6] Her home had been Lichfield House in the centre of the town, which was replaced by a block of flats in 1936, Lichfield Court, now listed. She has a plaque in Richmond parish church, which calls her simply "Miss Braddon". A number of nearby streets are named after characters in her novels – her husband was a property developer in the area.[7]
WorkEdit
Writing
Braddon was a prolific writer, producing more than 80 novels with inventive plots. The most famous is Lady Audley's Secret (1862), which won her recognition and a fortune as a bestseller.[3] Braddon began publishing the first chapters of her novel in July, 1861, in Robin Goodfellow, a literary magazine owned by Maxwell, and then later Sixpenny Magazine. From its serialized form, Lady Audley's Secret was republished as a novel and sold through nine editions in its first year of publication. It has remained in print since its publication and been dramatised and filmed several times, with the first stage adaptation opening in London by the winter of 1863.[8]
In addition to Lady Audley's Secret, Braddon's other best-known novel, Aurora Floyd, appeared in 1863. Since it also featured a woman trapped in a bigamous relationship, Aurora Floyd and Lady Audley's Secret have been referred to as Braddon's "bigamy novels." Like Lady Audley, Aurora Floyd was first serialized in Temple Bar, a magazine, before appearing in novelized form.[8]
Braddon wrote several works of supernatural fiction, including the pact with the devil story Gerard or The World, the Flesh, and the Devil (1891), and the ghost stories "The Cold Embrace", "Eveline's Visitant" and "At Chrighton Abbey".[9][10] From the 1930s onwards, these stories were often anthologised in collections such as Montague Summers's The Supernatural Omnibus (1931) and Fifty Years of Ghost Stories (1935).[11] Braddon also wrote historical fiction. In High Places depicts the youth of Charles I.[12]London Pride focuses on Charles II.[12]Mohawks is set during the reign of Queen Anne.[12]Ishmael is set at the time of Napoleon III's rise to power.[12]
Publishing
Braddon founded Belgravia magazine (1866), which presented readers with serialised sensation novels, poems, travel narratives and biographies, along with essays on fashion, history and science. It was accompanied by lavish illustrations and offered a source of literature at an affordable cost. She also edited Temple Bar magazine.
Legacy
There is a critical essay on Braddon's work in Michael Sadleir's book Things Past (1944).[3] In 2014 the Mary Elizabeth Braddon Association was founded to pay tribute to Braddon's life and work.[13]
^"Braddon, Mary Elizabeth (Maxwell)". Who's Who. Vol. 59. 1907. pp. 201–202.
^Kay Boardman; Shirley Jones (2004). Popular Victorian Women Writers. Manchester University Press. pp. 189–190. ISBN978-0-7190-6450-0.
^ abcVictor E. Neuburg, The Popular Press Companion to Popular Literature, Popular Press, 1983. ISBN0879722339, pp. 36–37.
^"Biography". Mary Elizabeth Braddon. 2 July 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
^. Sensationpress.com. Archived from the original on 12 May 2008. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
^Meller, Hugh; Parsons, Brian (2011). London Cemeteries: An Illustrated Guide and Gazetteer (fifth ed.). Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. pp. 290–294. ISBN9780752461830.
^Richmond Local History Society (3rd ed., 2019). The Streets of Richmond and Kew. ISBN978-1912-314010
^ abMullin, Katherine (2004). "Braddon [married name Maxwell], Mary Elizabeth (1835–1915), novelist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/34962. ISBN978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 25 May 2023. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^Mike Ashley "BRADDON, M(ary) E(lizabeth)" In St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost, & Gothic Writers, ed. David Pringle. Detroit: St. James Press/Gale, 1998, ISBN1558622063 pp. 80–83.
^E. F. Bleiler (1983), The Guide to Supernatural Fiction. Kent, Ohio: Kent State UP. ISBN0873382889 pp. 77–78.
^Mike Ashley and William Contento, The Supernatural Index: A Listing of Fantasy, Supernatural, Occult, Weird, and Horror Anthologies. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1995. ISBN0313240302 p. 134.
^ abcdJonathan Nield (1925), A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales. G. P. Putnam's Sons, pp. 60, 68, 82 and 108.
^Feminist & Women's Studies Association (UK & Ireland). Retrieved 7 August 2014.
^Buckingham, James Silk; Sterling, John; Maurice, Frederick Denison; Stebbing, Henry; Dilke, Charles Wentworth; Hervey, Thomas Kibble; Dixon, William Hepworth; MacColl, Norman; Murry, John Middleton; Rendall, Vernon Horace (4 November 1876). "Review of Joshua Haggard's Daughter". The Athenæum (2558): 591.
^ abG. C. Boase, Megan A. Stephan, "Hazlewood, Colin Henry (1823–1875)", rev. Megan A. Stephan, (quoting The Britannia diaries, 1863–1875: selections from the diaries of Frederick C. Wilton, ed. J. Davis (1992)) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (accessed 3 December 2011).
SourcesEdit
Beller, Anne-Marie (2012). Mary Elizabeth Braddon: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
Bleiler, Everett (1948). The Checklist of Fantastic Literature. Chicago: Shasta Publishers. p. 58.
Diamond, Michael. Victorian Sensation. London: Anthem (2003) ISBN1-84331-150-X, pp. 191–192
Pamela K Gilbert Mary Elizabeth Braddon (Oxford University Press, 2011) (bibliography)
Jessica Cox, ed. New Perspectives on Mary Elizabeth Braddon (Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, 2012)
Marlene Tromp, Pamela K. Gilbert and Aeron Haynie, eds Beyond Sensation: Mary Elizabeth Braddon in Context (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2000)
Saverio Tomaiuolo In Lady Audley's Shadow: Mary Elizabeth Braddon and Victorian Literary Genres (Edinburgh University Press, 2010)
External linksEdit
Wikisource has original works by or about: Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mary Elizabeth Braddon.
Media related to Mary Elizabeth Braddon at Wikimedia Commons
Works by Mary Elizabeth Braddon in eBook form at Standard Ebooks
Mary Elizabeth Braddon's The Higher Life audiobook with video at YouTube
Mary Elizabeth Braddon's The Higher Life audiobook at Libsyn
October 24, 2023
mary, elizabeth, braddon, october, 1835, february, 1915, english, popular, novelist, victorian, best, known, 1862, sensation, novel, lady, audley, secret, which, also, been, dramatised, filmed, several, times, william, powell, frith, 1865, contents, biography,. Mary Elizabeth Braddon 4 October 1835 4 February 1915 was an English popular novelist of the Victorian era 1 She is best known for her 1862 sensation novel Lady Audley s Secret which has also been dramatised and filmed several times Mary Elizabeth Braddon by William Powell Frith 1865 Contents 1 Biography 2 Work 3 Partial list of fiction 4 Dramatisations 5 References 6 Sources 7 External linksBiography EditBorn in Soho London Mary Elizabeth Braddon was privately educated Her mother Fanny separated from her father Henry because of his infidelities in 1840 when Mary was five When Mary was ten years old her brother Edward Braddon left for India and later Australia where he became Premier of Tasmania Mary worked as an actress for three years when she was befriended by Clara and Adelaide Biddle They were only playing minor roles but Braddon was able to support herself and her mother Adelaide noted that Braddon s interest in acting waned as she took up writing novels 2 Mary met John Maxwell 1824 1895 a publisher of periodicals in April 1861 and moved in with him in 1861 3 However Maxwell was already married to Mary Ann Crowley with whom he had five children While Maxwell and Braddon were living as husband and wife Crowley was living with her family In 1864 Maxwell tried to legitimize their relationship by telling the newspapers that they were legally married however Richard Brinsley Knowles wrote to these papers informing them that his sister in law and true wife of Maxwell was still living thereby exposing Braddon s wife status as a facade 4 Mary acted as stepmother to his children until 1874 when Maxwell s wife died and they were able to get married at St Bride s Church in Fleet Street Braddon had six children by him Gerald Fanny Francis William Winifred Rosalie and Edward Herry Harrington Her eldest daughter Fanny Margaret Maxwell 1863 1955 married the naturalist Edmund Selous on 13 January 1886 In the 1920s they were living in Wyke Castle where Fanny founded a local branch of the Woman s Institute in 1923 of which she became the first president 5 The second eldest son was the novelist William Babington Maxwell 1866 1939 nbsp Tomb of Mary Elizabeth Maxwell in Richmond CemeteryBraddon died on 4 February 1915 in Richmond then in Surrey and is interred in Richmond Cemetery 6 Her home had been Lichfield House in the centre of the town which was replaced by a block of flats in 1936 Lichfield Court now listed She has a plaque in Richmond parish church which calls her simply Miss Braddon A number of nearby streets are named after characters in her novels her husband was a property developer in the area 7 Work EditWritingBraddon was a prolific writer producing more than 80 novels with inventive plots The most famous is Lady Audley s Secret 1862 which won her recognition and a fortune as a bestseller 3 Braddon began publishing the first chapters of her novel in July 1861 in Robin Goodfellow a literary magazine owned by Maxwell and then later Sixpenny Magazine From its serialized form Lady Audley s Secret was republished as a novel and sold through nine editions in its first year of publication It has remained in print since its publication and been dramatised and filmed several times with the first stage adaptation opening in London by the winter of 1863 8 In addition to Lady Audley s Secret Braddon s other best known novel Aurora Floyd appeared in 1863 Since it also featured a woman trapped in a bigamous relationship Aurora Floyd and Lady Audley s Secret have been referred to as Braddon s bigamy novels Like Lady Audley Aurora Floyd was first serialized in Temple Bar a magazine before appearing in novelized form 8 R D Blackmore s anonymous sensation novel Clara Vaughan 1864 was wrongly attributed to her by some critics Braddon wrote several works of supernatural fiction including the pact with the devil story Gerard or The World the Flesh and the Devil 1891 and the ghost stories The Cold Embrace Eveline s Visitant and At Chrighton Abbey 9 10 From the 1930s onwards these stories were often anthologised in collections such as Montague Summers s The Supernatural Omnibus 1931 and Fifty Years of Ghost Stories 1935 11 Braddon also wrote historical fiction In High Places depicts the youth of Charles I 12 London Pride focuses on Charles II 12 Mohawks is set during the reign of Queen Anne 12 Ishmael is set at the time of Napoleon III s rise to power 12 PublishingBraddon founded Belgravia magazine 1866 which presented readers with serialised sensation novels poems travel narratives and biographies along with essays on fashion history and science It was accompanied by lavish illustrations and offered a source of literature at an affordable cost She also edited Temple Bar magazine LegacyThere is a critical essay on Braddon s work in Michael Sadleir s book Things Past 1944 3 In 2014 the Mary Elizabeth Braddon Association was founded to pay tribute to Braddon s life and work 13 Partial list of fiction EditThe Trail of the Serpent first published as Three Times Dead 1860 The Octoroon 1861 The Black Band 1861 Lady Audley s Secret 1862 French Le Secret de Lady Audley 1863 Ralph the Bailiff and Other Tales 1862 John Marchmont s Legacy 1862 1863 The Captain of the Vulture 1863 Aurora Floyd 1863 Eleanor s Victory 1863 Henry Dunbar the story of an outcast 1864 The Doctor s Wife 1864 Only a Clod 1865 Sir Jasper s Tenant 1865 The Lady s Mile 1866 French L Allee des Dames 1868 Birds of Prey 1867 French Oiseaux de proie 1874 Circe 1867 Rupert Godwin 1867 Run to Earth 1868 French La Chanteuse des rues 1873 Dead Sea Fruit 1868 French Un Fruit de la Mer Morte 1874 Charlotte s Inheritance 1868 French L Heritage de Charlotte 1874 Fenton s Quest 1871 To the Bitter End 1872 Robert Ainsleigh 1872 Lucius Davoren or Publicans and Sinners 1873 French Lucius Davoren 1878 Milly Darrell and other tales 1873 Griselda 1873 drama Lost For Love 1874 Taken at the Flood 1874 A Strange World 1875 Hostages to Fortune 1875 Joshua Haggard s Daughter 1876 14 French Joshua Haggard 1879 Weavers and Weft or In Love s Nest 1876 Dead Men s Shoes 1876 An Open Verdict 1878 The Cloven Foot 1879 Vixen 1879 Just as I am 1880 Asphodel 1881 Mount Royal 1882 Phantom Fortune 1883 The Golden Calf 1883 Ishmael A novel 1884 Flower and Weed and other tales 1884 Wyllard s Weird 1885 Mohawks 1886 One Thing Needful 1886 The Good Hermione A Story for the Jubilee Year 1886 as Aunt Belinda Cut by the County 1887 The Fatal Three 1888 The Day Will Come 1889 One Life One Love 1890 The World the Flesh and the Devil 1891 The Venetians 1892 All Along the River 1893 The Christmas Hirelings 1894 Thou Art The Man 1894 Sons of Fire 1895 London Pride or When the World was Younger 1896 Rough Justice 1898 In High Places 1898 His Darling Sin 1899 The Infidel 1900 A Lost Eden 1904 The Rose of Life 1905 The White House 1906 Dead Love Has Chains 1907 During Her Majesty s Pleasure 1908 Our Adversary 1909 Beyond These Voices 1910 Some bibliographical material in this incomplete list comes from Jarndyce booksellers catalogue Women s Writers 1795 1927 Part I A F Summer 2017 Dramatisations EditSeveral of Braddon s works have been dramatised including Aurora Floyd by Colin Henry Hazlewood first performed at Britannia Theatre Saloon London 1863 15 The Cold Embrace starring Jonathan Firth BBC Radio 4 2009 Lady Audley s Secret by Colin Henry Hazlewood first performed at the Victoria Theatre London 1863 15 Lady Audley s Secret starring Theda Bara Fox Film Corp 1915 Lady Audley s Secret starring Neve McIntosh Kenneth Cranham and Steven Mackintosh PBS Mystery 2000 References Edit Braddon Mary Elizabeth Maxwell Who s Who Vol 59 1907 pp 201 202 Kay Boardman Shirley Jones 2004 Popular Victorian Women Writers Manchester University Press pp 189 190 ISBN 978 0 7190 6450 0 a b c Victor E Neuburg The Popular Press Companion to Popular Literature Popular Press 1983 ISBN 0879722339 pp 36 37 Biography Mary Elizabeth Braddon 2 July 2014 Retrieved 5 August 2022 Fanny Margaret Maxwell Sensationpress com Archived from the original on 12 May 2008 Retrieved 11 January 2013 Meller Hugh Parsons Brian 2011 London Cemeteries An Illustrated Guide and Gazetteer fifth ed Stroud Gloucestershire The History Press pp 290 294 ISBN 9780752461830 Richmond Local History Society 3rd ed 2019 The Streets of Richmond and Kew ISBN 978 1912 314010 a b Mullin Katherine 2004 Braddon married name Maxwell Mary Elizabeth 1835 1915 novelist Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online ed Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 ref odnb 34962 ISBN 978 0 19 861412 8 Retrieved 25 May 2023 Subscription or UK public library membership required Mike Ashley BRADDON M ary E lizabeth In St James Guide to Horror Ghost amp Gothic Writers ed David Pringle Detroit St James Press Gale 1998 ISBN 1558622063 pp 80 83 E F Bleiler 1983 The Guide to Supernatural Fiction Kent Ohio Kent State UP ISBN 0873382889 pp 77 78 Mike Ashley and William Contento The Supernatural Index A Listing of Fantasy Supernatural Occult Weird and Horror Anthologies Greenwood Publishing Group 1995 ISBN 0313240302 p 134 a b c d Jonathan Nield 1925 A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales G P Putnam s Sons pp 60 68 82 and 108 Feminist amp Women s Studies Association UK amp Ireland Retrieved 7 August 2014 Buckingham James Silk Sterling John Maurice Frederick Denison Stebbing Henry Dilke Charles Wentworth Hervey Thomas Kibble Dixon William Hepworth MacColl Norman Murry John Middleton Rendall Vernon Horace 4 November 1876 Review of Joshua Haggard s Daughter The Athenaeum 2558 591 a b G C Boase Megan A Stephan Hazlewood Colin Henry 1823 1875 rev Megan A Stephan quoting The Britannia diaries 1863 1875 selections from the diaries of Frederick C Wilton ed J Davis 1992 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography accessed 3 December 2011 Sources EditBeller Anne Marie 2012 Mary Elizabeth Braddon A Companion to the Mystery Fiction Jefferson NC McFarland Bleiler Everett 1948 The Checklist of Fantastic Literature Chicago Shasta Publishers p 58 Diamond Michael Victorian Sensation London Anthem 2003 ISBN 1 84331 150 X pp 191 192 Pamela K Gilbert Mary Elizabeth Braddon Oxford University Press 2011 bibliography Jessica Cox ed New Perspectives on Mary Elizabeth Braddon Amsterdam New York Rodopi 2012 Marlene Tromp Pamela K Gilbert and Aeron Haynie eds Beyond Sensation Mary Elizabeth Braddon in Context Albany State University of New York Press 2000 Saverio Tomaiuolo In Lady Audley s Shadow Mary Elizabeth Braddon and Victorian Literary Genres Edinburgh University Press 2010 External links Edit nbsp Wikisource has original works by or about Mary Elizabeth Braddon nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mary Elizabeth Braddon nbsp Media related to Mary Elizabeth Braddon at Wikimedia Commons Works by Mary Elizabeth Braddon in eBook form at Standard Ebooks Works by Mary Elizabeth Braddon at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Mary Elizabeth Braddon at Internet Archive Works by Mary Elizabeth Braddon at LibriVox public domain audiobooks nbsp Works by Mary Elizabeth Braddon at Open Library Works at the Victorian Women Writers Project Mary Elizabeth Braddon s The Higher Life audiobook with video at YouTube Mary Elizabeth Braddon s The Higher Life audiobook at Libsyn Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Mary Elizabeth Braddon amp oldid 1176589648, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
