Favell Lee Mortimer

Favell Lee Mortimer, born Favell Lee Bevan (July 14 1802 – 22 August 1878) was an English Evangelical author of educational books for children.

Life

Born at Russell Square, London,England, she was one of five daughters of Favell Bourke (1780–1841) and Barclays bank co-founder David Bevan (1774–1846). She was raised a Quaker. Her first romantic attachment, to Henry Manning, ended when he married a rector's daughter. In 1841, at the age of 39, she married the Reverend Thomas Mortimer, a popular preacher and minister of the Episcopal Chapel, Gray's Inn Lane, London; reputedly he was cruel to her.Fact|date=April 2007

She established a school on her father's estate, at Fosbury, in Wilshire and her interest in education writing grew from that experience. According to Todd Pruzan, "For the better part of the 19th century, Mrs. Mortimer was something of a literary superstar to an impressionable audience, both in her native England and beyond." ["The Clumsiest People in Europe"( [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4698196 citation] ).] The "Peep of Day" series was immensely popular: over 500,000 copies of the original edition were issued; it went through numerous English editions; and it was published by the Religious Tract Society in thirty-seven different dialects and languages. In a 1950 article in "The New Yorker", Mortimer's grand-niece Rosalind Constable called the book, "one of the most outspokenly sadistic children's books ever written."

Like many women writers, her books initially appeared anonymously, as "By the Author of 'The Peep of Day.'" Her focus on introductions to other countries and cultures was perhaps ironic, given that she herself travelled outside of her native England only twice.Fact|date=April 2007 She died at Runton near Cromer in Norfolk, and is buried in Upper Sheringham churchyard. To contemporary readers her piety is unpalatable or amusing and her descriptions of other cultures are marred by unpleasant stereotypes; however, to the student of nineteenth-century children's literature, her texts are instructive.

Works

*"The peep of day, or, A series of the earliest religious instruction the infant mind is capable of receiving" (1836)
*"Line upon Line" (1837)
*"More about Jesus" (1839)
*"Near Home, or, The Countries of Europe Described" (1849)
*"Far Off" (1849)
*"Asia and Australia Described" (1849)
*"Far Off, Part II" (1852)
*"Africa and America Described" (1854)
*"Reading without Tears" (1857)

Resources

* Boase, F. "Modern English Biography". 1892-1921.
* Kirk, J. F. "A Supplement to Allibone's critical dictionary of English literature." 1891.
* Mitchell, Rosemary. “ [http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.hil.unb.ca/view/article/19345 Mortimer , Favell Lee (1802–1878)] .” "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. 2 Apr. 2007.
* Pruzan, Todd. "The Clumsiest People in Europe". Bloomsbury, 2005. ( [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4698196 excerpt] )
* Ward, T. H. "Men of the reign... of Queen Victoria". 1885.

References

External links

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