Elizabeth Gaskell

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (1810-1865) was born in London but she spent her formative years in Cheshire, Stratford-upon-Avon and the north of England. In 1832 she married Unitarian minister Reverend William Gaskell of Manchester. As well as leading a busy domestic life as minister's wife and mother of four daughters, she worked among the poor, traveled frequently, and wrote. Mary Barton (1848) was her first success. She met Charlotte Brontë in 1850 and wrote the controversial biography of her...See more

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (1810-1865) was born in London but she spent her formative years in Cheshire, Stratford-upon-Avon and the north of England. In 1832 she married Unitarian minister Reverend William Gaskell of Manchester. As well as leading a busy domestic life as minister's wife and mother of four daughters, she worked among the poor, traveled frequently, and wrote. Mary Barton (1848) was her first success. She met Charlotte Brontë in 1850 and wrote the controversial biography of her late friend's life, The Life of Charlotte Brontë (1857). See less