Elizabeth Gaskell (1810–1865)
Author of North and South
About the Author
Elizabeth Gaskell was born on September 29, 1810 to a Unitarian clergyman, who was also a civil servant and journalist. Her mother died when she was young, and she was brought up by her aunt in Knutsford, a small village that was the prototype for Cranford, Hollingford and the setting for numerous show more other short stories. In 1832, she married William Gaskell, a Unitarian clergyman in Manchester. She participated in his ministry and collaborated with him to write the poem Sketches among the Poor in 1837. Our Society at Cranford was the first two chapters of Cranford and it appeared in Dickens' Household Words in 1851. Dickens liked it so much that he pressed Gaskell for more episodes, and she produced eight more of them between 1852 and 1853. She also wrote My Lady Ludlow and Lois the Witch, a novella that concerns the Salem witch trials. Wives and Daughters ran in Cornhill from August 1864 to January 1866. The final installment was never written but the ending was known and the novel exists now virtually complete. The story centers on a series of relationships between family groups in Hollingford. Most critics agree that her greatest achievement is the short novel Cousin Phillis. Gaskell was also followed by controversy. In 1853, she offended many readers with Ruth, which explored seduction and illegitimacy that led the "fallen woman" into ostracism and inevitable prostitution. The novel presents the social conduct in a small community when tolerance and morality clash. Critics praised the novel's moral lessons but Gaskell's own congregation burned the book and it was banned in many libraries. In 1857, The Life of Charlotte Brontë was published. The biography was initially praised but angry protests came from some of the people it dealt with. Gaskell was against any biographical notice of her being written during her lifetime. After her death on November 12, 1865, her family refused to make family letters or biographical data available. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Life of Charlotte Brontë (Cambridge Library Collection - Literary Studies) (Volume 1) (2001) 22 copies
Elizabeth Gaskell: The Complete Novels [Mary Barton, Cranford, Ruth, North and South, etc.] (Book House) (2012) 20 copies
My Lady Ludlow and Other Tales 7 copies
The Life and works of Charlote Bronte and Her Sisters (Collected Works of Charlotte Bronte 7 volumes) (1872) 7 copies
[unidentified works] 5 copies
Right at last, and other tales 4 copies
Cranford 4 copies
The Lady Chillers: classic ghost and horror stories by women authors (15 complete stories by Victorian and Edwardian… (2014) 4 copies
The works of Elizabeth Gaskell. Volume 3, Novellas and shorter fiction II, Round the Sofa, and Tales from Household… (2017) 2 copies
Reading & Training - Life Skills : Elizabeth Gaskell : North and South [book + sound recording] (2017) — Writer — 2 copies
Wives and Daughters 2 copies
The Collected Short Stories of Elizabeth Gaskell [Annotated] (Civitas Library Classics) (2012) 2 copies
Mrs Gaskell"s works pocket edition Mary Barton, and Other Tales. Cranford, and Other Tales. Ruth, and Other Tales,… (1890) 2 copies
The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Mrs. Gaskell-Volume 2: Including One Novel 'a Dark Night's… (2012) 1 copy
(all) 1 copy
Life in Manchester (1847) 1 copy
The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Mrs. Gaskell-Volume 1: Including Three Novellas 'Lois the Witch,… (2012) 1 copy
The English Christmas 1 copy
Hand in A Wisker Cranford 1 copy
Cranford by Mrs Gaskell 1 copy
The Collected Works of Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell: The Complete Works PergamonMedia (Highlights of World Literature) (2015) 1 copy
Cousin Phillis: To which are added: Lois the Witch, The crooked branch, Curious if true, Right at last, The grey woman, (1972) 1 copy
Cranford and other tales 1 copy
Elizabeth Gaskell 1 copy
Norte y Sur 1 copy
Gaskell, Elisabeth Archive 1 copy
Short stories. Selections^Four short stories / Elizabeth Gaskell ; introduced by Anna Walters 1 copy
Esposas e Hijas [DVD] 1 copy
Elizabeth Gaskell: The Complete Supernatural Stories (tales of ghosts and mystery: The Grey Woman, Lois the Witch,… (2018) 1 copy
All the Year Round. Bound Volume of Issues 177 to 200 from September 13, 1862 to February 21, 1863 (1863) 1 copy
Stop What You’re Doing and Read…To Warm You in Cold Weather: Little Women And Good Wives & The Cranford Chronicles (2012) 1 copy
Elizabeth Gaskell's Collected Works: Mary Barton, Cranford, North and South, Wives and Daughters, and More! (26… (2014) 1 copy
Cranford and Mary Barton 1 copy
Martha Preston 1 copy
Gaskell Shorter Works 1 copy
The Shah's English Gardener 1 copy
Disappearances 1 copy
Clopton House 1 copy
English Short Stories 1 copy
[No title] 1 copy
SYLVIA’S LOVERS 1 copy
All'ultimo momento 1 copy
Vita di Charlotte Brontë 1 copy
Le nozze di Manchester 1 copy
Silvia's Lovers 1 copy
Curioso, se fosse vero 1 copy
Cousin Phillis & Other Tales 1 copy
Works of Mrs. Gaskell 1 copy
Grey Woman and Other Tales 1 copy
Mi prima Filis novela 1 copy
North and South 1 copy
Ruth 1 copy
Noord en Zuid 1 copy
La Clarissa 1 copy
Associated Works
The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (2010) — Contributor — 146 copies
The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories, Volume One (2016) — Contributor — 133 copies
In the Shadow of Agatha Christie: Classic Crime Fiction by Forgotten Female Writers, 1850-1917 (2018) — Contributor — 89 copies
Weird Women: Classic Supernatural Fiction by Groundbreaking Female Writers: 1852-1923 (2020) — Contributor — 83 copies
Delphi Complete Works of Charles Dickens (Illustrated) (2011) — Contributor, some editions — 77 copies
The Phantom Coach: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Ghost Stories (The Connoisseur's Collections) (1900) — Contributor — 57 copies
The Darker Sex: Tales of the Supernatural and Macabre by Victorian Women Writers (2009) — Contributor — 48 copies
The Lifted Veil: The Book of Fantastic Literature by Women 1800-World War II (1806) — Contributor — 42 copies
The Elizabeth Gaskell Collection (Wives and Daughters / Cranford / North and South) (2014) — Original Books — 34 copies
The Gentlewomen of Evil: An Anthology of Rare Supernatural Stories from the Pens of Victorian Ladies, (1967) — Contributor — 28 copies
Cranford: The Collection [Cranford & Return to Cranford TV series] (2008) — Original book — 27 copies
Regarding Jane Eyre: Writers Respond to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre (1997) — Contributor — 16 copies
Isaac Asimov Presents the Best Horror and Supernatural of the 19th Century (1983) — Contributor — 16 copies
English short stories of the nineteenth century — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn
- Other names
- Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn
Stevenson, Elizabeth Cleghorn (birth name) - Birthdate
- 1810-09-29
- Date of death
- 1865-11-12
- Burial location
- Brook Street Chapel graveyard, Knutsford, Cheshire, England, UK
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- UK
- Country (for map)
- England, UK
- Birthplace
- Chelsea, London, England, UK
- Place of death
- Holybourne, Hampshire, England, UK
- Cause of death
- heart attack
- Places of residence
- Lindsay Row (now 93 Cheyne Walk)
Heathwaite, Heathside, Knutsford, Cheshire, England, UK
Manchester, Lancashire, England, UK
Barford, Warwickshire, England, UK
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, UK
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumberland, England, UK (show all 7)
Plymouth Grove, Manchester, England, UK - Education
- Avonbank School, Stratford-upon-Avon, England, UK
Barford House - Occupations
- novelist
short story writer
biographer
ghost story writer - Relationships
- Gaskell, Jane (great-great-great-grand-niece)
Stevenson, William (father)
Stevenson, John (brother)
Holland, Bryan T. (grandson)
Members
Discussions
Group read: Curious, If True by Elizabeth Gaskell / The Lifted Veil by George Eliot in Virago Modern Classics (January 28)
January 2024: Elizabeth Gaskell in Monthly Author Reads (January 27)
Victorian Q2 Read-Along: North and South in Club Read 2022 (September 2022)
Group Read, December 2021: North and South in 1001 Books to read before you die (December 2021)
Group Read, January 2017: Cranford in 1001 Books to read before you die (February 2017)
1816: Charlotte Brontë - Resources and General Discussion in Literary Centennials (January 2016)
July Group Read: Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell in 2014 Category Challenge (August 2014)
North and South, Chapters 27-52 (Spoiler Thread) in 75 Books Challenge for 2011 (January 2012)
North and South, Chapters 1-26 (Spoiler Thread) in 75 Books Challenge for 2011 (December 2011)
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (Non-Spoiler Thread) in 75 Books Challenge for 2011 (December 2011)
Anyone care to discuss, or read and discuss, 'Sylvia's Lovers' by Elizabeth Gaskell? in Girlybooks (October 2011)
Reviews
Wives and Daughters (Penguin Classics) by Elizabeth Gaskell
Ultimately Jane Austen outsold
When Southerner Margaret Hale is forced to relocate to the northern town of Milton, she finds herself hating the industrial society, offended by the townspeople and disgusted by the dirt and noise she finds there. Mill owner John Thornton represents all she has come to despise about her new home. But gradually, Margaret's attitudes soften, and she makes friends with people in the town, learning about the plight of the millworkers - their poverty and workplace struggles. As events throw Margaret and John together, she realises even two complete opposites can fall in love.… (more)
This is the 3rd book I've read by Elizabeth Gaskell and it is my least favorite. I am thinking she is not an author for me. This is the first book she wrote.
Mary Barton combines two of the Victorian readers' favourite themes: social commentary and melodrama.
Gaskell starts by introducing the reader to the Bartons, a working class family in economic times good enough for them to be enjoying a holiday outing with friends, and then an evening back at their house. She then jumps right into her story, for later that evening, John Barton's wife and unborn child died in childbirth. John and his thirteen year old daughter Mary were left on their own. John became a Trades' Union chair and a Chartist, while continuing to work.
Three years passed, and it was time for Mary to find work. Factory work was deemed unsuitable. Mary's Aunt Esther had gone that route, bought fancy clothes, and run off with an officer, never to be seen since. John Barton wasn't having that happen to his Mary. Going into domestic service was an option Mary rejected, because of the loss of freedom it entailed. Finally, she apprenticed to a respectable dressmaker and milliner. This decision process allows Gaskell to portray the lives young working class women could expect. At Miss Simmonds's place
It was 1839 in Manchester, and things were about to change drastically. One evening, one of the largest mills in the city caught fire. The Carsons' mill was destroyed and all hands were thrown out of work. The well insured owners thought this an excellent time to replace their aging machinery and build anew. The existing slack market meant full warehouses, so the owners would be able to enjoy some leisure time while the new mill was under construction.
The weekly drain of wages given for labour, useless in the present state of the market, was stopped. Gaskell tells of a winter of cold, hunger, and disease in the homes of these workers. Poverty and death forced many into more squalid housing, creating a seemingly endless downward spiral. Meanwhile, other mills were also laying off workers in the slow market. John Barton went to London with a group of fellow Chartists to present a petition to Parliament in support of the movement. Their petition was rejected. Barton returned to Manchester a changed man.
This is where the novel shifts focus somewhat, as Gaskell brings in Mary's story. Mary had a suitor, eminently acceptable to all involved. Mary, however, had her sights set on young Ben Carson, the mill owner's only son. Carson had been flirting with Mary, little realizing that she took him seriously, and actually thought she could rise to be his wife.
A murder and trial alter the whole pace and tone of the novel here. Gaskell's social commentary is still there, in her presentation of a trial for a capital offence with only circumstantial evidence. The tension created for Mary between the identity of the accused and her knowledge of the true murderer's identity carries this second half. It's a melodramatic plot line, but by Victorian standards Gaskell keeps it from getting out of hand, as it echoed some real events.
Elizabeth Gaskell lived in Manchester. Frederich Engels also lived in Manchester in the era of this novel, and it was that city's condition he described in The Condition of the Working Class in England. Although there is no evidence Gaskell had read this work, as a minister's wife, she knew her city and its problems well. The supporting characters are well drawn, and showed the reading classes that working class people had interests too, and were not merely cogs in the machine.
Mary Barton was Gaskell's first novel, published anonymously. Her detailed portrayal of everyday life led reviewers to deduce her gender, but they attributed her identity to the wrong person, so Barton had to reveal authorship. Initial criticism focussed on Gaskell's deliberate use of Lancashire dialect, prompting her husband to append two lectures on it to later editions. There was also criticism from some middle class readers, suggesting Gaskell had been too hard on the owners, whom they felt acted like benevolent patriarchs. Overall though, it received much praise for realism, and launched Gaskell on her career as a novel writer.… (more)
Gaskell starts by introducing the reader to the Bartons, a working class family in economic times good enough for them to be enjoying a holiday outing with friends, and then an evening back at their house. She then jumps right into her story, for later that evening, John Barton's wife and unborn child died in childbirth. John and his thirteen year old daughter Mary were left on their own. John became a Trades' Union chair and a Chartist, while continuing to work.
Three years passed, and it was time for Mary to find work. Factory work was deemed unsuitable. Mary's Aunt Esther had gone that route, bought fancy clothes, and run off with an officer, never to be seen since. John Barton wasn't having that happen to his Mary. Going into domestic service was an option Mary rejected, because of the loss of freedom it entailed. Finally, she apprenticed to a respectable dressmaker and milliner. This decision process allows Gaskell to portray the lives young working class women could expect. At Miss Simmonds's place
... where Mary was to work for two years without any renumeration, on consideration of being taught the business; and where afterwards she was to dine and have tea, with a small quarterly salary... a very small one, divisible into a minute weekly pittance. In summer she was to be there by six, bringing her day's meals during the first two years; in winter she was not to come till after breakfast. Her time for returning home at night must always depend on the quantity of work Miss Simmonds had to do.
It was 1839 in Manchester, and things were about to change drastically. One evening, one of the largest mills in the city caught fire. The Carsons' mill was destroyed and all hands were thrown out of work. The well insured owners thought this an excellent time to replace their aging machinery and build anew. The existing slack market meant full warehouses, so the owners would be able to enjoy some leisure time while the new mill was under construction.
The weekly drain of wages given for labour, useless in the present state of the market, was stopped. Gaskell tells of a winter of cold, hunger, and disease in the homes of these workers. Poverty and death forced many into more squalid housing, creating a seemingly endless downward spiral. Meanwhile, other mills were also laying off workers in the slow market. John Barton went to London with a group of fellow Chartists to present a petition to Parliament in support of the movement. Their petition was rejected. Barton returned to Manchester a changed man.
This is where the novel shifts focus somewhat, as Gaskell brings in Mary's story. Mary had a suitor, eminently acceptable to all involved. Mary, however, had her sights set on young Ben Carson, the mill owner's only son. Carson had been flirting with Mary, little realizing that she took him seriously, and actually thought she could rise to be his wife.
A murder and trial alter the whole pace and tone of the novel here. Gaskell's social commentary is still there, in her presentation of a trial for a capital offence with only circumstantial evidence. The tension created for Mary between the identity of the accused and her knowledge of the true murderer's identity carries this second half. It's a melodramatic plot line, but by Victorian standards Gaskell keeps it from getting out of hand, as it echoed some real events.
Elizabeth Gaskell lived in Manchester. Frederich Engels also lived in Manchester in the era of this novel, and it was that city's condition he described in The Condition of the Working Class in England. Although there is no evidence Gaskell had read this work, as a minister's wife, she knew her city and its problems well. The supporting characters are well drawn, and showed the reading classes that working class people had interests too, and were not merely cogs in the machine.
Mary Barton was Gaskell's first novel, published anonymously. Her detailed portrayal of everyday life led reviewers to deduce her gender, but they attributed her identity to the wrong person, so Barton had to reveal authorship. Initial criticism focussed on Gaskell's deliberate use of Lancashire dialect, prompting her husband to append two lectures on it to later editions. There was also criticism from some middle class readers, suggesting Gaskell had been too hard on the owners, whom they felt acted like benevolent patriarchs. Overall though, it received much praise for realism, and launched Gaskell on her career as a novel writer.… (more)
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Statistics
- Works
- 220
- Also by
- 106
- Members
- 26,681
- Popularity
- #779
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 734
- ISBNs
- 1,597
- Languages
- 21
- Favorited
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