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Amelia Opie
A 1798 portrait of Amelia Opie by her husband, John Opie
Born
Amelia Alderson

12 November 1769
Norwich, United Kingdom
Died2 December 1853
Norwich, United Kingdom
Resting placeGildencroft Quaker Cemetery, Norwich
NationalityBritish
EducationSelf-educated
Occupation(s)18th century novelist, poet, and playwright
Years active~45 years
Known forBeing a self-educated abolitionist, activist, and author
Notable workThe Father and Daughter, Adeline Mowbray, The Black Man's Lament

Amelia Opie, née Alderson (12 November 1769 – 2 December 1853), was an English author who published numerous novels in the Romantic Period of the early 19th century, through 1828. Opie was also a leading abolitionist in Norwich. In fact, when 187,000 names were presented to the British parliament as a petition from the women to stop slavery, Amelia Opie was the first name signed. This only begins to introduce Opie's heart for the abolitionist movement and human rights.

Early life and influences edit

She was born Amelia Alderson, daughter of James Alderson, a physician, and Amelia Briggs of Norwich, England. She was a cousin of notable judge Edward Hall Alderson, with whom she corresponded throughout her life, and also a cousin of notable artist Henry Perronet Briggs.

Miss Alderson had inherited radical principles and was an ardent admirer of John Horne Tooke. She was closely engaged to activists John Philip Kemble, Sarah Siddons, William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft.[1] Mary Wollstonecraft is often noted as the first feminist, which probably influenced the topics that Amelia wrote about.

During the time of her writing, Amelia joined a political circle of friends that included Thomas Hardy, John Tooke, and John Thelwall. These four conducted conventions that emphasized Parliamentary reform. At one of these meetings, they were found, the men were charged for high treason. However, they were released because of lack of evidence.

Marriage and family edit

In 1798, Alderson married John Opie, the painter. The couple spent nine years in married happiness, although her husband did not share her love of society. With her husband's encouragement, Amelia completed a novel in 1801 titled Father and Daughter, which showed genuine fancy and pathos.[1]

Writing career edit

 
Amelia Opie by David d'Angers (1836).

After her novel Father and Daughter was published in 1801, Amelia Opie began to publish regularly. Her volume of Poems, published in 1802 went through six editions, and was followed by The Warrior's Return and other poems in 1808.[2] More novels followed: Adeline Mowbray (1804), Simple Tales (1806), Temper (1812), Tales of Real Life (1813), Valentine's Eve (1816), Tales of the Heart (1818), and Madeline (1822).

Opie wrote The Dangers of Coquetry when she was only 18 years old. Her novel Father and Daughter (1801) is about misled virtue and family reconciliation. Encouraged by her husband to continue writing, she published Adeline Mowbray (1804), an exploration of women's education, marriage, and the abolition of slavery. This novel in particular is noted for engaging the history of Opie's former friend Mary Wollstonecraft, whose relationship with the American Gilbert Imlay outside of marriage caused some scandal, as did her later marriage to the philosopher William Godwin. Godwin had previously argued against marriage as an institution by which women were owned as property, but when Wollstonecraft became pregnant, they married despite his prior beliefs. In the novel, Adeline becomes involved with a philosopher early on, who takes a firm stand against marriage, only to be convinced to marry a West Indian landowner against her better judgment. The novel also engages abolitionist sentiment, in the story of a mixed-race woman and her family whom Adeline saves from poverty at some expense to herself.

Amelia Opie divided her time between London and Norwich, England. She was a friend of writers Sir Walter Scott, Richard Brinsley Sheridan and Madame de Stael.

In 1825, she joined the Society of Friends, due to the influence of Joseph John Gurney and his sisters, who were longtime friends and neighbours in Norwich.[1] Amelia joined the Society of Friends despite her recently-deceased father's objections. The rest of her life was spent mostly in travel and working with charities. In the meantime, however, she published an anti-slavery poem titled, The Black Man's Lament in 1826 and a volume of devotional poems, Lays for the Dead in 1834.[3] Opie worked with Anna Gurney to create a Ladies Anti-Slavery Society in Norwich.[4] This anti-slavery society organised a petition of 187,000 names that was presented to parliament. The first two names on the petition were Amelia Opie and Priscilla Buxton.[5]

Opie went to the World's Anti-Slavery Convention in London in 1840 where she was one of the few women included in the commemorative painting.

 Isaac Crewdson (Beaconite) writerSamuel Jackman Prescod - Barbadian JournalistWilliam Morgan from BirminghamWilliam Forster - Quaker leaderGeorge Stacey - Quaker leaderWilliam Forster - Anti-Slavery ambassadorJohn Burnet -Abolitionist SpeakerWilliam Knibb -Missionary to JamaicaJoseph Ketley from GuyanaGeorge Thompson - UK & US abolitionistJ. Harfield Tredgold - British South African (secretary)Josiah Forster - Quaker leaderSamuel Gurney - the Banker's BankerSir John Eardley-WilmotDr Stephen Lushington - MP and JudgeSir Thomas Fowell BuxtonJames Gillespie Birney - AmericanJohn BeaumontGeorge Bradburn - Massachusetts politicianGeorge William Alexander - Banker and TreasurerBenjamin Godwin - Baptist activistVice Admiral MoorsonWilliam TaylorWilliam TaylorJohn MorrisonGK PrinceJosiah ConderJoseph SoulJames Dean (abolitionist)John Keep - Ohio fund raiserJoseph EatonJoseph Sturge - Organiser from BirminghamJames WhitehorneJoseph MarriageGeorge BennettRichard AllenStafford AllenWilliam Leatham, bankerWilliam BeaumontSir Edward Baines - JournalistSamuel LucasFrancis Augustus CoxAbraham BeaumontSamuel Fox, Nottingham grocerLouis Celeste LecesneJonathan BackhouseSamuel BowlyWilliam Dawes - Ohio fund raiserRobert Kaye Greville - BotanistJoseph Pease - reformer in India)W.T.BlairM.M. Isambert (sic)Mary Clarkson -Thomas Clarkson's daughter in lawWilliam TatumSaxe Bannister - PamphleteerRichard Davis Webb - IrishNathaniel Colver - Americannot knownJohn Cropper - Most generous LiverpudlianThomas ScalesWilliam JamesWilliam WilsonThomas SwanEdward Steane from CamberwellWilliam BrockEdward BaldwinJonathon MillerCapt. Charles Stuart from JamaicaSir John Jeremie - JudgeCharles Stovel - BaptistRichard Peek, ex-Sheriff of LondonJohn SturgeElon GalushaCyrus Pitt GrosvenorRev. Isaac BassHenry SterryPeter Clare -; sec. of Literary & Phil. Soc. ManchesterJ.H. JohnsonThomas PriceJoseph ReynoldsSamuel WheelerWilliam BoultbeeDaniel O'Connell - "The Liberator"William FairbankJohn WoodmarkWilliam Smeal from GlasgowJames Carlile - Irish Minister and educationalistRev. Dr. Thomas BinneyEdward Barrett - Freed slaveJohn Howard Hinton - Baptist ministerJohn Angell James - clergymanJoseph CooperDr. Richard Robert Madden - IrishThomas BulleyIsaac HodgsonEdward SmithSir John Bowring - diplomat and linguistJohn EllisC. Edwards Lester - American writerTapper Cadbury - Businessmannot knownThomas PinchesDavid Turnbull - Cuban linkEdward AdeyRichard BarrettJohn SteerHenry TuckettJames Mott - American on honeymoonRobert Forster (brother of William and Josiah)Richard RathboneJohn BirtWendell Phillips - AmericanJean-Baptiste Symphor Linstant de Pradine from HaitiHenry Stanton - AmericanProf William AdamMrs Elizabeth Tredgold - British South AfricanT.M. McDonnellMrs John BeaumontAnne Knight - FeministElizabeth Pease - SuffragistJacob Post - Religious writerAnne Isabella, Lady Byron - mathematician and estranged wifeAmelia Opie - Novelist and poetMrs Rawson - Sheffield campaignerThomas Clarkson's grandson Thomas ClarksonThomas MorganThomas Clarkson - main speakerGeorge Head Head - Banker from CarlisleWilliam AllenJohn ScobleHenry Beckford - emancipated slave and abolitionistUse your cursor to explore (or Click "i" to enlarge)
1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention.[6] Move your cursor to identify delegates – the female delegates are on the right

Even late in her life, Opie maintained connections with writers, for instance receiving George Borrow as a guest. After a visit to Cromer, a seaside resort on the North Norfolk coast, she caught a chill and retired to her bedroom. A year later on 2 December 1853, she died at Norwich and was said to retain her vivacity to the last. She was buried at the Gildencroft Quaker Cemetery, Norwich.

A somewhat sanitised biography of Amelia Opie, titled A Life, by Miss C.L. Brightwell, was published in 1854.

Reception edit

During the 18th century, while Amelia Opie wrote, she was regarded with high esteem. She and her husband John would host extravagant parties at their home, and the guests they had viewed them as the life of the party. [7] Amelia viewed herself as the entertainer. Her life was not funded by her writing, but writing was more of a hobby that Amelia took up to express her opinions about social and political issues. There also is not much recorded about Amelia's reception, how she was perceived at the time and how she is perceived now. However, it can be inferred that because of her personality and deep care for societal issues, she wrote to express opinion and raise others' hearts for the deep issues. Amelia Opie was perceived as a respectable, beautiful, delicate, intelligent woman. Amelia Opie was often associated with the earliest feminists, including Mary Wollstonecraft. [8] She too is regarded as one of the early feminists, simply because she wrote along similar lines as Wollstonecraft. Some of Amelia's favorite topics to write about included family value, marriage, human rights, including women rights and the abolitionist movement. She is regarded also as an activist. [8] During the feminist resurgence, Amelia did not make another grand entrance, as, even during the time that she was alive and writing, she was never as well-known as she should have been. Today, she is often overlooked simply because her works are not regarded as highly as those of Aphra Behn, Katherine Philips, Sarah Fielding, etc. Her writing was evidentially charismatic for the time period she was in, and now that the time period is over, she is glazed over with the majority of the other women writers of the 18th century.

Principal works edit

Novels and Stories

  • Dangers of Coquetry. (published anonymously) 1790
  • The Father and Daughter. 1801
  • Adeline Mowbray. 1804
  • Simple Tales. 1806
  • Temper 1812
  • First Chapter of Accidents. 1813
  • Tales of Real Life. 1813
  • Valentine's Eve. 1816
  • New Tales. 1818
  • Tales of the Heart. 1820
  • Madeline. 1822
  • Illustrations of Lying. 1824
  • Tales of the Pemberton Family for Children. 1825
  • The Last Voyage. 1828
  • Detraction Displayed. 1828
  • Miscellaneous Tales. (12 Vols.) 1845-7

Biographies

  • Memoir of John Opie. 1809
  • Sketch of Mrs. Roberts. 1814
 
Illustration from the poetry book: The Black Man's Lament, Or, How to Make Sugar by Amelia Opie. (London, 1826)

Poetry

  • Maid of Corinth. 1801
  • Elegy to the Memory of the Duke of Bedford. 1802
  • Poems. 1802
  • Lines to General Kosciusko. 1803
  • Song to Stella. 1803
  • The Warrior's Return and other poems. 1808
  • The Black Man's Lament. 1826
  • Lays for the Dead. 1834

Miscellaneous

  • Recollections of Days in Holland. 1840
  • Recollections of a Visit to Paris in 1802. 1831–1832.

References edit

  1. ^ a b c   One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Opie, Amelia". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 129.
  2. ^ Armstrong, I, Bristow, J, et al (eds). Nineteenth-Century Women Poets. Oxford University Press. 1996
  3. ^ Armstrong, Bristow et al
  4. ^ Women's Anti-Slavery Associations, Spartacus, Retrieved 30 July 2015
  5. ^ Genius of Universal Emancipation. B. Lundy. 1833. p. 174.
  6. ^ The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, 1840, Benjamin Robert Haydon, 1841, [[National Portrait Gallery, London|]], London, NPG599, Given by British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society in 1880
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Portrait was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b "Amelia Opie". British History. Spartacus Educational. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  • [1]
  • "Opie, Amelia". British Authors of the Nineteenth Century H.W. Wilson Co., New York, 1936


Further reading edit

  • Eberle, Roxanne (1994). "Amelia Opie's 'Adeline Mowbray': Diverting the Libertine Gaze; Or, The Vindication of a Fallen Woman". Studies in the Novel. 26 (2): 121–52.
  • Howard, Carol (1998). "'The Story of the Pineapple': Sentimental Abolitionism and Moral Motherhood in Amelia Opie's Adeline Mowbray". Studies in the Novel. 30: 355–76.
  • Howard, Susan K. "Amelia Opie", British Romantic Novelists, 1789–1832. Ed. Bradford K. Mudge. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992.
  • Kelly, Gary (1980). "Discharging Debts: The Moral Economy of Amelia Opie's Fiction". The Wordsworth Circle. 11: 198–203.
  • Kelly, Gary. English Fiction of the Romantic Period, 1789–1830. London: Longman, 1989.
  • King, Shelley and John B. Pierce. "Introduction", The Father and Daughter with Dangers of Coquetry. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2003.

[2]*Simmons, Jr., James R. "Amelia Opie". British Short-Fiction Writers, 1800–1880. Ed. John R. Greenfield. Detroit: Gale Research, 1996.

  • Spender, Dale. Mothers of the Novel: 100 Good Women Writers Before Jane Austen. London: Pandora, 1986.
  • St. Clair, William. The Godwins and Shelleys: The Biography of a Family. London: Faber and Faber, 1989.
  • Staves, Susan. "British Seduced Maidens", Eighteenth-Century Studies 12 (1980–81):109–34.
  • Ty, Eleanor. Empowering the Feminine: The Narratives of Mary Robinson, Jane West, and Amelia Opie, 1796–1812. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998.

External links edit



Category:1769 births Category:1853 deaths Category:People from Norwich Category:19th-century English novelists Category:British abolitionists Category:English Quakers Category:English women poets Category:English biographers Category:Romanticism

  1. ^ King, Shelley. "Portrait of a Marriage: John and Amelia Opie and the Sister Arts". Studies in Eighteenth Century Culture. EBSCOhost. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  2. ^ King, Shelley. "Portrait of a Marriage". Retrieved 1 August 2017.
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