As International Women's Month draws to a close, we celebrate some of the women writers represented in the Birthplace Museum library collection in this month's blog post.

Johnson's Birthplace holds strong collections of material relating to Hester Thrale, which we introduce in this previous blog post, and also the poet Anna Seward, including around 100 manuscript letters. In this Month's post we browse the bookshelves of the Museum library to share some works by or relating to other women writers of the century.

Sarah Siddons (left) and Fanny Burney (right)

Sarah Siddons

One of the greatest actresses of the 18th century, Siddons was famed for her performance in tragedies. Born in 1755, Siddons came from a performing family and eventually triumphed on the stage from the 1780s. Siddons's circle included Joshua Reynolds and acquaintances of Johnson. Johnson met Siddons in 1783 and during their meeting Siddons promised to act his favourite tragic character, Queen Catherine in Shakepeare's King Henry the Eighth. Sadly Siddons did not have an opportunity to do before Johnson's death.

The Birthplace manuscript collection holds a charming 'thank you' note from the great actress to Lichfield-based poet Anna Seward, sent in 1796.

It reads:

My dear Madam

I am scarcely recovered enough from a long illness to hold my pen but cannot longer delay my grateful acknowledgements for the honour you have done by sending me your beautiful poems.  I have only strength to add that no lady can be more deeply sensible of such an attention than

                                      my dear Miss Seward

                                           Your and obliged,

                                                       S Siddons.

Sarah Siddons to Anna Seward, 1796

Letter from Sarah Siddons to Anna Seward, 1796

The library shelves contain an interesting adaptation of John Milton's Paradise Lost by Siddons. She had seven children, sadly five of whom she outlived, and wrote the adaptation for her own family, explaining in the introduction it was planned to " afford occupation and amusement for four evenings". The adaptation was published in 1822. Sarah Siddon's own memoirs are also in the library, published in the year of her death, 1731.

Fanny Burney

The Wanderer; or, Female Difficulties was Fanny Burney's last novel, published in 1814. Written over fourteen years, partly while Burney was in exile in France, the first edition of 3,00 copies sold out. The historical novel follows a group fleeing the Terror and tells the story of Juliet Granville and the challenges faced by independent women in the 18th century.

Burney, Later Madame d'Arblay, was born in 1752 and her first novel Evelina appeared in 1778 to great applause. Johnson met Burney through Hester Thrale and Burney described Johnson as 'The First (man) of every Kingdom'. She lived a long life and her journals are an important source for understanding 18th and early !9th century life and women's experiences. Burney died in Bath in 1840. A memorial to her was established in Poet's corner in Westminster Abbey in 2002.

Charlotte Lennox

Charlotte Ramsay was born approximately 1729 in Gibraltar to Scottish and Irish Parents. By 1747 she was in London and published her first literary work 'Poems on Several Occasions'. The same year she married Alexander Lennox, an employee of the printer William Strahan. Charlotte Lennox was initially also an actress, meaning that she had her own income when she married, but she moved towards an exclusively literary career. She performed at Drury Lane in the 1750s, and went on to have her own play performed there in the 1770s. Over the decades Lennox published novels, poems, plays and translations, and wrote for the periodical 'The Lady's Museum'.

Her most significant work was 'The Female Quixote, or, the Adventures of Arabella' published in 1752. The novel was an inversion of 'Don Quixote', Cervantes's famous 17th century parody of chivalric romances. Another significant work by Lennox was her 'Shakespear Illustrated' (1753-54), which was a pioneering attempt to explore the sources used by Shakespeare for his plays and an important early work of feminist literary criticism.

Lennox met Samuel Johnson after her first novel 'Harriot Stuart' was published in 1750 and they became lifelong friends. Johnson supported his friend by providing the dedication to the Earl of Middlesex for the 'Female Quixote', and to the Earl of Orrery in 'Shakespear Illustrated'. A great advocate of Lennox, Johnson also sent reviews of several of her works to the Literary Magazine and helped to draft proposals for an edition of her works in 1775.

Unfortunately, critical success did not lead to financial success within her lifetime and Lennox's later years were spent in poverty, with assistance from a pension from the Royal Literary Fund. She died in 1804 and was buried in an unmarked grave in Covent Garden, London.

Susanna Centlivre

Susanna Centlivre was the most celebrated female playwright of her period. The Busy Body (or 'Busie Body') was first performed in 1709 at Drury Lane. This copy of the play from 1777 shows the lasting impact of the work, which was performed a recorded 475 times in the eighteenth century but likely many more. The essayist William Hazlitt described how the Busy Body had been performed "a thousand times in town and country, giving delight to the old, the young, and the middle aged."

Susanna Freeman was baptized in 1669 in Lincolnshire and, following a career as an actress and a married ended by her husband's death in a duel, she eventually made her way to London. Susanna had written since childhood but became a professional writer when her first published work appeared in 1701 under the pseudonym 'Astraea'. She had a prolific and well-respected career, with nineteen plays, three volumes of letters and numerous poems appearing. Susanna married a Joseph Centlivre, a cook in Queen Anne's court, after meeting him while she was performing at Windsor Castle in 1707. She died in 1723 and her death was widely reported.

Anna Letitia Barbauld

Anna Letitia Barbauld (born Aikin) was born in 1743 in Leicestershire and had a long career as an editor, literary critic as well as a poet, essayist, author of children's literature, and an abolitionist.  As well as writing, Barbauld was a teacher and manager of the Palgrave Academy in Suffolk, where she taught with her husband in the 1770s.

Barbauld was one the of most significant literary critics of her period. Amongst her many works was a six-volume edition of the edited letters of the novelist Samuel Richardson, which included a detailed biographical introduction written by her that represents the first major biography of the writer. She later went on to produce a 50 volume series of British Novelists. Barbauld died in 1804 in Stoke Newington, London.

Hannah More

Writer of poetry, plays and tracts on moral and religious subjects, Hannah More was born in Bristol in 1745. Being the daughter of a schoolmaster provided More with access to education from an early age and she became a teacher. She began writing as a child and penned her first plays while teaching. More was an acquaintance of David and Eva Maria Garrick, and her tragedy play 'Percy' was staged at Drury Lane in 1777.

Samuel Johnson met Hannah More in 1774 and had a great respect for her work, telling Hester Thrale that her 'Bas Bleau' was "a very great performance". More and Johnson travelled to Oxford together for a visit to Pembroke College in 1782. Hannah More died in 1833 and her memoir and correspondence was published the following year.