Mary Elizabeth Braddon | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Braddon, circa 1875 | |
| Born | (1835-10-04)4 October 1835 Soho, London, England |
| Died | 4 February 1915(1915-02-04) (aged 79) Richmond, Surrey |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Genre | Sensation novels |
| Years active | 1860—1910 |
| Notable works | Lady Audley's Secret (1862) Aurora Floyd (1863) |
| Spouse | John Maxwell |
Mary Elizabeth Braddon (4 October 1835 – 4 February 1915) was an English popularnovelist of theVictorian era.[1] She is best known for her 1862sensation novelLady Audley's Secret, which has also been dramatised and filmed several times.
Born inSoho, London, Mary Elizabeth Braddon was privately educated. Her mother Fanny separated from her father Henry because of his infidelities in 1840, when Braddon was five. When Braddon was ten years old, her brotherEdward Braddon left forIndia and laterAustralia, where he becamePremier of Tasmania. Mary worked as an actress for three years, when she was befriended by Clara andAdelaide 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 began writing novels.[2]
Braddon metJohn 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] Braddon acted as stepmother to his children until 1874, when Maxwell's wife died and they were able to get married atSt. Bride's Church inFleet Street. Braddon had six children by him: Gerald, Fanny, Francis, William, Winifred Rosalie, and Edward Herry Harrington.
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Her eldest daughter, Fanny Margaret Maxwell (1863–1955), married the naturalistEdmund Selous on 13 January 1886. In the 1920s, they were living inWyke Castle, where Fanny founded a local branch of theWoman's Institute in 1923, of which she became the first president.[5]
Their second eldest son was the novelistWilliam Babington Maxwell (1866–1939).
Braddon died on 4 February 1915 inRichmond (then in Surrey) and is interred inRichmond 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. There is a plaque commemorating Braddon inRichmond 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]
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Braddon was a prolific writer, producing more than 80 novels with inventive plots. The most famous isLady Audley's Secret (1862), which won her recognition and a fortune as a bestseller.[3] Braddon began publishing the first chapters of her novelserially in July, 1861, inRobin Goodfellow, a literary magazine owned by Maxwell, and then laterSixpenny Magazine.Lady Audley's Secret was then 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 toLady Audley's Secret, Braddon's other best-known novel,Aurora Floyd, was published in 1863. Since it also featured a woman trapped in abigamous relationship,Aurora Floyd andLady Audley's Secret have been referred to as Braddon's "bigamy novels." LikeLady Audley, Aurora Floyd was first serialized inTemple Bar, a magazine, before appearing in novelized form.[8]
R. D. Blackmore's anonymous sensation novelClara Vaughan (1864) was wrongly attributed to Braddon by some critics.
Braddon wrote several works ofsupernatural fiction, including thepact with the devil storyGerard or The World, the Flesh, and the Devil (1891), and theghost 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 asMontague Summers'sThe Supernatural Omnibus (1931) andFifty Years of Ghost Stories (1935).[11] Braddon also wrote historical fiction.In High Places depicts the youth ofCharles I.[12]London Pride focuses onCharles II.[12]Mohawks is set during the reign ofQueen Anne.[12]Ishmael is set at the time ofNapoleon III's rise to power.[12]
Braddon foundedBelgravia 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 editedTemple Bar magazine.
There is a critical essay on Braddon's work inMichael Sadleir's bookThings Past (1944).[3]
In 2014 the Mary Elizabeth Braddon Association was founded to pay tribute to Braddon's life and work.[13]
Some bibliographical material in this incomplete list comes from Jarndyce booksellers' catalogueWomen's Writers 1795–1927. Part I: A–F (Summer 2017).
Several of Braddon's works have been dramatised, including:
Media related toMary Elizabeth Braddon at Wikimedia Commons
